Feudalism

-a social order that existed during the Middle Ages

-it was based on the relationship between a lord and a vassal
-fief= land given to a vassal by his lord
-the vassal received land from the lord in exchange for military and other services
The feudal society
-consisted of „men of prayer, men of war, and men of work“
-it looked like a pyramid:

Dukes, barons, knights

King,
nobles

clergy Bishops, priests, abbots, monks and nuns

Peasants and serfs

commons

-king owned all the land in the country

-the most powerful nobles were kings´ vassals, but they also had their own vassals
-peasants worked for their lords in exchange for protection
-the social class was inherited
Nobility
-they were free and their duty was to fight for the king=they were professional fighters
-they were obliged to provide hospitality to their lord and attend important ceremonies
- they were also judges and collected taxes
- a noble female´s most important role was to get married
Knights
-knight was the most important part of an army
-their equipment was very expensive
- nobleman was trained by his lord and at the age of 21 he became a knight
Chivalry
-a code by which the kinght should behave and live
-a knight had to serve and respect 3 masters: God, his lord and his chosen lady
-the ideal knight was loyal, brave and generous
-these ideals were put into songs and stories spread mostly by troubadours
The life of peasants
-it was connected to the manor(panstvo) which was the lord´s property
-there were 2 groups of peasants: free and serfs= lower ranking peasants, couldn´t leave the manor
-the relationship between peasants and the lord was based on duties
 The lord provided land and protection to peasants
 Peasants had to give up some of their crops and work the lord´s estate
 Peasants also had to give the priest a tithe=1/10th of their income
-the manor was a self sufficient community=they could produce everything needed for everyday life
-peasants couldn´t travell more than 25 miles from their manor
-serfs were not allowed to get married without their lord´s permition
Clergy
-important element of feudalism, influenced feudal kingdoms
-church encouraged Christians to save their souls by donating money to the churches, nobles left
their lands to the church
-they influenced all levels of society because they were the only people able to read and write
-pope Gregory I the Great(590) created a new dimension of Christianity:
 The church became also a political authority
 The pope´s palace became the centre of Roman government
-their tasks:
 guiding life of people
 performing sacraments=the only way to salvation
 teaching and spreading the Word of God-they were the only literate people
-pope could make excommunication and interdict:
 an excommunicated feudal lord lost the allegiance of his subjects and dropped to the bottom
of the feudal pyramid
 interdict meant that the believers in the kingdom of the punished ruler stopped being given
sacraments
Church Hierarchy
1. Pope-head of church, latin for „father“
2. Cardinals- advisors to the Pope, controlled the archbishops and chose new Pope
3. Archbishops-controlled archdiocese and bishops
4. Bishops- controlled diocese in larger cities or provinces
5. Abbots- in charge of monasteries and local parishes(farnosti)
6. Priests- in charge of local church or parish, led religious services, cared for the sick
7. Monks- lived in monasteries
- did physical labor to support their communities
- crucial since they were in contact with people the most
Monastery
-complex community of many different buildings (granaries, breweries, library, hospital, school...)
-it followed its own rule valid for all of monasteries: Rule of Saint Benedict
- inside libraries monks copied manuscripts, copying texts for sale to help the monastery
- monks educated boys and practiced baptism, they bred animals and took care of the sick
- monks also travelled, spread Christianity and helped the poor
Church Hierarchy: Women
- women were excluded from church employment except as nuns or directors of abbeys
- abbesses-nuns in charge of convents (communities for the nuns)
- they worked with the poor and helped their religious community
- they swore never to marry, they were devoted to charity
Cooperation and conflict between the Church and Nobility
-in 700, Charles Martel and his son Pepin the Short ruled the Frankish kingdom, but they were not
kings, only major-domos
- Charles Martel stopped the Arabs at the battle of Tours-732
- Pepin defeated the Lombards who invaded Italy and donated the secured territory to the pope
- pope appointed Pepin a king and Pepin started a new dynasty=the Carolingians
- the son of Pepin=Charlemagne reunited Western Europe-France, Belgium, the Netherlands,
Switzerland, parts of Italy, Spain and Germany
- in 800 A.D Pope Leo III crowned him an emperor of a Holy Roman Empire
Conflict over Lay Investiture/Investiture controversy
- around 800 A.D kings and nobles trued to take power from the church
- Lay investiture=ceremony in which kings and nobles appointed new church officials
- Pope Gregory VII banned lay investiture and gave power back to the church
- Henry IV ordered Gregory to step down, but the pope excommunicated him
- Henry almost lost his trone and in January 1077, he begged for the pope´s forgiveness bare feet,
wtihout food
-after 3 days, the pope ended his excommunication
-they continued to fight over lay investiture until they reached a compromise in 1122:
 Concordat of Worms- said that only the church could appoint bishops, but the emperor had
the right to refuse a new bishops
Education spreads in Europe
-monasteries became too small to provide education
-people were meeting outside or in taverns, eventually began to construct universities and colleges
-there were 4 faculties at medieval universities: Liberal Arts, Medicine, Law, Theology
-the oldest university in Europe=University of Bologna, others: University of Paris(Sorbonne), Oxford,
Cambridge..
-the oldest university in our region= University of Prague, others: Krakow University, University of
Vienna
Schism-Split in Christianity
-there were huge differences between Eastern and Western Christianity
-in 730, the Byzantine Emperor Leo III banned the use of icons
-the pope (Gregory III) supported the use of icons=>he excommunicated Leo
-in 843 Empress Theodora restored the use of icons, but the differences between the Eastern and
Western churches continued to grow
-in 1054, the pope and the partriarch of Constantinople excommunicated each other
-after this schism, Christianity was divided between the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern
Orthodox Church
Towns and urban life
The rise of Towns
-after the Western Roman Empire collapsed, population moved to the countryside and cities lost
their importance
-the Manor System and the invasions of the Vikings and Magyars reduced trading activities
-between 11-13th AD new towns were created:
 Some towns were former Roman cities
 Some grew out of important ports
 Some were built on important trade roads
-all towns had a market=they were marketplaces
-later, towns became centres of production where craftsmen and artisans lived
Freedoms and Privileges
-towns had special privileges and citizens had special freedoms
-the most important right was personal freedom-citizen was neither a vassal nor a part of clergy
-citizens sometimes didn´t have to pay tolls, they could govern themselves and hold their own
courts
-the sources of towns´ power and wealth were trade and taxes
-later, towns built walls around themselves and even had small armies
The guilds
-unions of craftsnen that practised a trade
-no one outside a particular guild could practice the particular craft
-guilds controlled:
 Quality and price of products
 Care of widows and orphans
 Defence of the town
 Number of craftsmen and training of new ones
-only masters of the craft could be members of a guild
-before becoming a master, one had to be an apprentice and journeyman first
Urban life
-not ideal
-towns were not planned properly and with the rise of population, the space became limited
-there was bad quality of water, constant fires and smell of waste lying infront of houses