Middle Ages

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Middle Ages

• Feudalism

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FEUDALISM

• A political and military system based on the
  holding of land, with the emphasis on local
  protection, local government, and local
  self-sufficiency
• At the heart of feudalism was an agreement
  between lord and vassal.

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• Lord- In the feudal system, the person who makes
  a grant of land to another person
• Vassal- A person who receives land and pledges
  military service.
• Vassalage grew out of the late Roman practice of
  commendation, where a patron would seal an
  offer of protection by clasping the hands of his
  clients
• Loyalty was the bond between the vassal and the
  lord. There was an oath sworn between them that
  was like a written contract today.

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• Fief- (fee) the piece of land given to a vassal
  by a lord (ex) fee for military service.
• Serf- A peasant who was bound to a manor and owes
  duties to the lord of the manor
• Manor- A small estate from which a lords family
  gained its livelihood

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Europe 800CE
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Europe 1300 CE
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High Middle Ages1000-1500 AD

• Better Weather
• End Nomadic Invasions
• Agricultural Inventions
• Increase in population, literacy, education
  cathedral building
• Bubonic Plague

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• Cathedrals

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Flying Buttress

• Buttress was introduced when the weight of the
  ceiling would tend to buckle the walls outward
  and large piles of stone would be stacked along
  the wall in intervals to buttress (support) the
  walls from pushing outward- these piles of stone
  became included in the architecture- allowed to
  spread the weight to different points

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Crusades

• Crusades into the Middle East
• Original purpose was to DEFEND Christianity-
  indirectly SPREAD Christianity
• Organized by the church
• Military religious disasters
• However, financial success for merchants

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Economic Impact of Crusades

• Move from paying taxes in what you grow to the
  revival of trade
• Barter system to exchange of currency
• New developments- 1. Manufacturing system, 2.
  stock-market, 3. banks
• Being close to Asian markets drives the above.

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Social impact of Crusades

• Goes from structured society to society with new
  class
• From manorial system to trade
• Kings become more powerful
• Serfdom dwindles
• Class mobility changes

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Changes Continuities

• Changes
• Departure from urban societies (Rome) to personal
  loyalties of lord and vassal
• Social Structure
• Clergy (those who pray)
• Nobles (those who fight)
• Serfs (those who work)
• Serfdom disappears (western Europe) in the late
  14th century with the appearance of the plague
• Revival of cities

• Continuities
• Patriarchy stayed firmly in place
• Slavery serfdom