02.

TAKE ME BACK TO PARADISE CITY

01 THE FOUNDATIONS OF FEUDAL EUROPE (Centuries 9th to 11th)

1. THE FEUDAL SYSTEM

A political, social and economic system called feudalism developed in Western Europe between the 9th to 11th
centuries. This system survived until the Modern Age.

MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FEUDAL SYSTEM

• The king lost power. Therefore, the king lost authority to the nobles, who also had castles and knights under their
command.
• Society was divided into closed groups. It included a minority formed of nobles and clergymen, who enjoyed
privileges such as not paying taxes.
• The economic system was based on livestock farming and agriculture. Part of the peasants’ production was for the
king and the privileged groups.

2. FEUDAL PACT RELATIONSHIPS

Starting in the 9th century, Western Europe lived under a climate of violence and insecurity related to the loss of the
power of kings. This process was favoured by the fragmentation of the Carolingian Empire and the second invasions,
and by the desire of the nobles to increase their power, which often led them to fight each other and attack the free
peasants to seize their land.

The weakness of the monarchies prevented kings from forming their own armies, so they could only pacify their
kingdoms by relying on nobles and their knights. To do this, they established a feudal or vassal pact with nobles
through which they obtained their loyalty in exchange for land. Land granted as fiefs was totally outside of royal
control. Therefore, royal authority decreased even further and was in the hands of a powerful warrior nobility.

THE KING

• The king was at the top of the hierarchy of personal relationships. He granted fiefs, also known as manors, to the
nobles in exchange for their loyalty.
• He was considered as first amongst equals; in other words, the king was the highest noble in the kingdom.
Therefore, his power was limited to his own fiefs, known as the royal domain or lands of the crown. He could only
administer justice and collect taxes on this land.

VASSALS

• Through the feudal pact, nobles received fiefs (manors). The vassal therefore became lord of the lands in the
fief and master of the serfs who worked them. Clergymen, such as bishops, could also receive fiefs and act like
feudal lords.
• Therefore, members of the nobility became direct vassals of the king. They obeyed him and helped him with his
armies when the king demanded it (auxilium). In addition, senior nobles and clergymen met with the king in the
royal curia or court to give him advice (consilium).
• Nobles with the highest lineage reproduced feudal pacts with their immediate inferiors. They were similar to those
they had established with the king. As a result, nobles with lower lineage in turn became vassals of the great
nobles, from whom they had received less important fiefs.
• The lesser nobility and knights obeyed their immediate lord and went to war when he summoned them.
1
 The remaining privileges of feudal lords can be divided into two main types:

• Jurisdictional rights. These gave the lords the power to dispense justice in their fief. In addition, the feudal
lords could only be judged by other nobles.
• Manorial rights. These offered economic privileges such as not working, collecting all kinds of taxes and
enjoying monopolies. Feudal monopolies granted nobles the exclusive right to exploit goods or services in
which the peasants were obliged to perform any activity that they had to pay for.

The nobles also benefitted from corvée, which meant peasants had to work on their lord’s land, or carry out repairs
and maintenance, for free.

SERFS

The serfs obtained certain benefits from their lord such as the right to protection by the lord’s army and the right to
live on the lands of the fief and to work on them. In return, the serfs who lived and worked in the fief had to accept
the manorial and jurisdictional privileges, as well as meeting other obligations:

• They were the serfs of a lord, who could be the king in the lands of the crown, a noble in feudal manors or a
clergyman in ecclesiastical manors.
S
• The status of serfdom regulated the relationship between the serf and the feudal lord.
t
a
• 1 The lord granted serfs a plot of land (not ownership) known as a manse. The serfs obtained enough from their
t work to subsist and be able to pay taxes.
u
s • In return, the serfs had to work on the demesne, which were the lands that the lord reserved for himself. They
2

o were usually the most productive.

f

s
• 3 In addition, the lord also granted communal spaces for hunting or collecting firewood, although he kept the best
e land for private use for these tasks.
r
f • 4 The manorial jurisdiction was very hard on serfs. The lords could even carry out abusive practices, known as feudal
d
o abuses, such as mistreating their serfs.
m

02 THE FEUDAL SOCIETY

1. THE THREE ESTATES
The feudal society was organised into three groups or social orders which would later be known as estates. Each estate
had its own obligations and rights. In addition, these were closed groups, as it was very difficult to move from one
social order to another.

Two of these estates, the nobility and clergymen, were entitled to privileges. However, most of the population, which
belonged to the third estate, also called commoners, did not have any privileges. This social structure was based on
the activities that each group carried out in society. The king was at the top of the social pyramid.

NOBLES: BELLATORES

• At that time, the nobility was considered a privileged group that had the mission of defending the other social
orders. This meant war was their way of life. There were different categories of nobility:
• The high nobility. It was very powerful. Its members owned large estates, and were able to influence decisions
in the kingdom. They were direct vassals of the monarchs, and sometimes just as powerful as them.
• There was a low and middle nobility. It was composed of knights and lords with fewer possessions, who served
the high nobility.
• To be noble, a person had to be born to one of the privileged families. To rise in rank within the nobility, nobles
had to acquire merits in wars, or marry into families of middle or high nobility, or even royal families.
• Their wealth meant that only nobles were able to maintain the equipment required of a knight (horse, armour,
etc.). The most powerful nobles formed their own armies of knights and foot soldiers (hueste), and made them
available to the king or the feudal lord.

2
THE CLERGY: ORATORES

• The order of oratores was responsible for praying for society at large. This was a privileged group whose
members formed part of the Church, although there were important differences between them:
• The higher clergy. Its members came from the nobility and had greater responsibility and prestige, such as
bishops and abbots in monasteries. They had their own lands and serfs.
• The lower clergy. It included rural parish priests and humble monks who came from the peasantry.
• Apart from this division by social status, the clergy was also divided by their way of life:
• The regular clergy. The regular clergy lived in monasteries and followed a strict code of conduct. They were
called monks and obeyed an abbot. There were also convents for women, with nuns and abbesses.
• The secular clergy. This was the clergy who did not live in monasteries, for example, priests and bishops.
• As a privileged group, the clergy did not pay taxes, but collected them. The taxes they received came in the
form of tithes, which were one tenth of the peasants’ harvest or livestock farming. These tithes were obligatory
payments to help maintain the Church.

PEASANTS: LABORATORES

• The third estate, which most of the population belonged to, did not have any privileges. They maintained the
rest of society through their work and by paying taxes.
• The main economic activities in a ruralised world were agriculture and livestock farming, so the vast majority
of the third estate were peasants. However, there were also craftsmen, such as blacksmiths, weavers,
carpenters, stonemasons, etc.
• A minority of peasants were free peasants. They were the owners of their own land, but this situation was not
very common. It was difficult for them to maintain their independence as they were under pressure from the
lord. Therefore, most peasants were serfs who were subject to the serfdom system in the fiefs.

2. THE FEUDAL ECONOMY

Agriculture and livestock farming were the basis of the feudal economy. However, these activities were not very
productive. Although the serfs had resources like communal lands, which were usually used as pastures, they often
had to ask the lord for loans due to bad crops, meaning that their dependence increased.

In addition, the technical means used to grow crops were very rudimentary and, therefore, the land had a low
yield. Technical improvements which increased agricultural productivity were only introduced after the 11th century.

ADVANCES IN FARMING IN THE 11TH CENTURY

The serfs began to implement some innovations:

• Using manure to fertilise the soil

• The mouldboard plough, which enabled better soil rotation.

3
 • To increase the productivity of the land, the serfs started using a three-year rotation system. This consisted of
alternating crops of grains and pulses with fallow, when the land is left uncultivated to help regenerate it.

03. THE HIGH MIDDLE AGES (11TH–13TH CENTURIES)

1. THE RESURGENCE OF CITIES
The 11th century saw a huge urban boom in medieval Europe. Towns and cities grew in number, in population, and in
social and economic importance. Urban development went hand in hand with better living conditions, which also
improved in the rural environment. From the 11th century onwards, technical innovations in agriculture increased
productivity, resulting in a better diet. This had several major consequences:

• The rural population grew and life expectancy increased.

• Many peasants emigrated to towns and cities, which contributed to their growth.
• Agricultural surpluses were created. As the surplus food was not needed to feed the local population, it was
sold in city markets, stimulating trade and generating wealth.

People who lived in cities became known as the bourgeoisie, as the primitive walled settlements, inhabited by
merchants near castles and bridges, were known as ‘boroughs’ or ‘burgs’. Many modern-day cities have a variant of
this word in their name, such as Burgos and Strasbourg.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF MEDIEVAL CITIES

Many cities were founded within the lands of a secular or ecclesiastic manor, organised around a fortress or a church.
These cities had special rights, as the lords were interested in promoting economic activity and developing trade. These
urban privileges meant that the population and their economic activities could grow; as a result, cities gradually gained
their independence from the control of the manor.

• Some cities were under the direct authority of the king and were not subject to the feudal regime. They were
known as cities of the crown.
• The increase in population led to the growth of different neighbourhoods within cities. To protect them,
a wall was built or an existing one was expanded.
• Cities had a thriving artistic life, and the bourgeoisie contributed to their splendour by contributing money to
build cathedrals and large buildings.
• The urban population worked in different activities, such as trade, crafts, administration, etc.
4
The feudal structure of society was maintained. The nobility and the clergy continued to be the privileged classes.
Although inhabitants of cities enjoyed more freedom than peasants, there were big differences within the urban
population.

THE POPULATION OF MEDIEVAL CITIES

• Great merchants and bankers were among the richest groups. Their wealth was based on the possession of
goods and money, but not on land ownership. They dominated the municipal government, forming the
urban oligarchy.
• Below them were traders and craftsmen. They were joined by professionals related to the arts and the law.
These trades were boosted by the development of cultural life, due to the foundation of ecclesiastic
universities.
• The largest group was made up of the least skilled craftsmen and traders, and by peasants who worked in the
fields surrounding the city. Finally, the most disadvantaged social class included beggars with no resources.
• The most important urban professions were those of merchants, bankers, craftsmen and men of law, which
did not fit into the three-estate class system. In fact, the interests of cities were often in opposition to those of
the nobility. Kings took advantage of this situation, supporting the economic development of cities to counter
the power of the nobles. In addition, monarchs also obtained economic benefits in exchange for their support
as they collected various taxes from the cities, and their trade and craft activities.

GUILDS

Guilds were associations of craftsmen with the same trade. They were rigidly hierarchical: at the top were a small
number of masters; then the officials; and, at the bottom, the apprentices. Guilds were regulated by strict rules
regarding working conditions, the quality of the products, working hours and prices.

Craftsmen belonging to a guild usually lived in the same street or neighbourhood, which were given the name of the
profession: dyers, embroiderers, tanners, etc.

THE ORIGIN OF PARLIAMENTS

• Parliaments, or Cortes, emerged when townspeople joined the assemblies of the feudal curiae. The origin of
the parliaments was based on the social hierarchy of the estates of the realm, since the parliaments included
the clergy, the nobility and the bourgeoisie.
• Their function was to advise kings on the drafting of laws and, above all, to authorise payment for additional
services or taxes.
• These assemblies had different names: they were called Cortes in Castilla and in Aragón, Parliament in England
and Estates-General in France.

2. TRADE
After the fall of the Roman Empire, long-distance trade had almost totally disappeared in much of Western Europe.
The insecurity of roads, lack of coins and general poverty meant that only basic goods were traded for subsistence.
However, in the High Middle Ages, particularly from the 12th century onwards, there was major economic expansion
that favoured the revitalisation of trade, both in local markets and in long-distance trade.

This trade expansion was due to several reasons:

• There were technical advances in transport. The four-wheeled cart came into general use, and improvements
in navigation were made (the compass and astrolabe).
• Safer trade routes were established.
• More currencies were put in circulation: ducat (Venice) and florin (Florence).
• The guilds were created.

5
 • New types of jobs emerged, such as bankers and moneylenders, who introduced loans to finance voyages and
the use of promissory notes (payment orders).
• Fairs were organised; these were trade meetings for merchants under the protection of kings and nobles to
ensure their safety. The most important were those held in Champagne (France).

EUROPEAN TRADE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 13TH CENTURY

• On the North Sea and Baltic route, the traded products were wood, iron and salted fish. Cities like Lübeck and
Hamburg formed an important trade association, called the Hanseatic League.
• On the route to the East, one of the most famous merchants of the 13th century was Marco Polo, who reached
China and described his journeys in the book The Travels of Marco Polo.
• On the Atlantic route, wines and products from the Mediterranean were traded. In addition, Cantabrian and
Basque merchants transported Castilian wool which was sold in textile production centres like Ghent and
Brugge.
• On the Mediterranean Sea route, merchants from the Crown of Aragón and cities like Genoa and Venice
competed with Muslims and Byzantines. Luxury goods from the East were traded, such as silk, perfumes and
spices, as were other cheaper ones, such as woollen cloth.

EUROPE IN 1300

The pope in Rome was the highest moral authority of Catholicism and also aspired to hold political superiority above
that of kings and emperors. His aim was to establish a theocracy, a system of government in which religious power is
imposed over civil power. To do this, the popes had substantial assets and their own territories, the Papal States.

After the fall of the Carolingian Empire, three independent kingdoms emerged. The Easternmost kingdom was the Holy
Roman Empire and was founded in 962. This institution sought to be the defender of Christianity and the pope, so its
emperors considered themselves superior to all other powers. Emperors were elected by an assembly of nobles and
bishops known as the Diet.

6
04. THE LATE MIDDLE AGES (14TH–15TH CENTURIES)
1. THE CRISIS OF THE 14TH CENTURY
During the 14th century, feudal Europe was affected by a series of problems that slowed the development of the
previous centuries. These problems were reflected in a general crisis which became apparent in various ways.

RELIGIOUS CRISIS

Within Catholicism, there was a confrontation that led to the Western Schism. This was a period of rupture within the
Church, from 1378 to 1417, during which there were two popes: one in Rome and the other in Avignon (France).

POLITICAL CRISIS

The Hundred Years’ War took place. This was a serious conflict between the most powerful monarchies of the time,
France and England, and it spread to other kingdoms.

DEMOGRAPHIC CRISIS

The population of Europe fell by over a third during the 14th century. The causes were hunger that was due to many
years of bad harvests, almost constant wars and the Black Death. The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic
that, from 1348, devastated an already weakened society.

SOCIAL CRISIS

• Feudal society experienced a crisis that was reflected in many different social conflicts.
• In the countryside. Peasants revolted against their lords to free themselves from the abuses of the rigid
manorial system. In addition, there were clashes between nobles which affected the serfs who lived in their
fiefdoms.
• In the cities. The poorest people and the lower levels of the craft guilds revolted against the urban oligarchy.
There were also disputes within the urban oligarchy for the control of municipal power.
• Mass revolts. The masses, terrorised by the Black Death and hunger, and influenced by fanatical preachers,
violently pursued Jews, foreigners, the wealthy or anyone who they believed was responsible for their
situation.

2. THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES

The 15th century represented a period of recovery, especially in trade. The Mediterranean, Baltic and North Sea routes
were maintained and helped banking families accumulate great wealth. These bankers lent money to merchants and
kings, which contributed to strengthening their power and making the upper urban bourgeoisie wealthy.

The rise in craft activities and trade was linked to the economic growth of cities and the need to find precious metals
to use for commercial transactions. This was one of the situations that led to the geographical discoveries of the 15th
and 16th centuries.

EUROPE IN THE 15TH CENTURY

Most Europeans lived in kingdoms, such as Portugal, Castilla, England and France. In some cases, several kingdoms
were united under one sovereign, creating composite monarchies formed by equal kingdoms that maintained their
laws and institutions. Some examples were those of Poland, the Kalmar Union (Denmark, Sweden and Norway) and
the Crown of Aragón.

There were other independent political entities that were not known as kingdoms but acted as such. This was the case
with the duchies of Burgundy or Austria. There were also cases like those of the Italian republics, led by urban elites,
and the Papal States, ruled by the pope in Rome.

7
The Holy Roman Empire continued to be an important political entity, but it had little internal coherence. The title of
emperor offered more prestige than power, as the large number of territories that made up the Holy Roman Empire,
including Italian republics and kingdoms like Bohemia, enjoyed great independence.