GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

MIDDLE AGES REA

Analyzes the Middle Ages as a historical period that gave rise to social institutions,

economic and political in relation to the same period of pre-Columbian societies

MIDDLE AGES AND FEUDAL SYSTEM

MIDDLE AGES: Stage in the history of Europe that extends over a period of ten centuries, from the
disintegration of the Western Roman Empire (476) until the fall of the Byzantine Empire (1453) or
until the discovery of America (1492). It is characterized by:
 The invasions and conquests of the barbarians, over the various provinces of the Roman Empire.
 The establishment of the Carolingian Empire by Charlemagne, a Frankish warrior who attempted to rebuild
the ancient empire of Rome.
 The birth, in Arabia, of a new religion, Islam, preached by Muhammad.
 The invasion of Spain by the Muslims, who were definitively expelled by the
Catholic Monarchs Isabel and Ferdinand.
 The implementation of a new economic and social system: feudalism, a system by which some
few landowners took over the lands of almost all of Europe and its inhabitants, whom
They would allow them to exploit their lands in exchange for a tax.
 The Crusades, which were religious and military expeditions, to recover the tomb of Christ.
 Social inequality and the predominance of the Church were other characteristics of this time.

THE FEUDAL SYSTEM: The failure of Charlemagne's centralizing political project led to the
enthronement without major counterweights, of a political, economic and social system called the
Feudalism.
There was a hierarchy of lords and vassals linked through vassalage. By vassalage, a vassal
was offered to a lord, establishing a contract where the vassal owed obedience and loyalty, and the lord
owed protection. This was the only way to guarantee order. The privileges of the nobility
They had to make sure everything worked. For this they resorted to mutual dependency agreements
known as feudal-vassal relations, which could be of two types:
1. Vassalage. It is a pact between two members of the nobility of different categories. The knight of
lower rank became a vassal of the most powerful noble through the Ceremony of
Tribute and Investiture. The vassal paid homage to the lord—humbling himself before him—and he
He invested by giving him a sword, or a staff if he was religious. The lord protected the vassal and
granted a fief (a castle, a monastery or a simple salary), in exchange, the vassal swore to him
fidelity and was obliged to provide him with military aid and advice.
2. Encomienda. It is a pact between the peasants and the feudal lord. The lord welcomed the peasants
in his fiefdom, he provided them with a small portion of land (manso) so that they could subsist and
It protected them if they were attacked. In exchange, the peasant became his servant and went to double duty.
jurisdiction of the feudal lord: the Territorial Lordship, which obliged the peasant to pay a part of
his income to the nobleman; and the Jurisdictional Lordship, which turned the feudal lord into a ruler and judge
of the territory in which the peasant lived.
Social Classes: Society was organized in an estate manner, in the so-called estates or
social classes: nobility, clergy and peasantry (men who war, those who pray and those who
work, according to a formulation of the time).

FEUDAL NOBILITY. The bellatores or warriors were the Nobility, in them we distinguish: The high nobility
(marquises, counts and dukes) owned large fiefs; and the lower nobility or knights (barons,
infanzones, hidalgos...), with small fiefs, were vassals of the most powerful.

 FEUDAL CLERGY. The orators or clerics were the Church: some formed a powerful elite called
high clergy (abbots, bishops), and other more humble ones (village priests or monks) were subordinate
to his authority.
 Peasants or plain people: The laboratores or workers were the common people, therefore, the most
numerous, and were generally subject to the other estates. They were composed of
peasants, servants of the feudal lords, and who were the most numerous, and by artisans, who
They were rare and lived in the few cities that there were. If they depended on the king (royalty) and not on a
feudal lord, prospered more.
The three orders were a basic consequence of the social structure at the fall of the Roman Empire. So,
The feudal lords were the continuation of those great landowners who had reigned almost
without counterweights (except the Carolingian parenthesis) since the second century, while the peasantry was
the continuation of ancient Roman agriculture. The clergy, for their part, had their place thanks to the influence
that the Catholic Church had exercised since the end of the Empire and the beginning of the Middle Ages. He
He was a peasant by inheritance, and rarely had the opportunity to rise in level. The nobleman was
generally by inheritance, although sometimes someone could be ennobled as a soldier of fortune,
after a victorious arms race. The clergy, for their part, were recruited by co-option. All
This gave the feudal system an extraordinary stability, where there was "a place for everyone."
man, and each man in his place", while at the same time an extraordinary flexibility, because it allowed the
political and economic power atomize throughout Europe, from Spain to Poland..

FEUDALISM
The lords: In the Middle Ages there was a very high social class, made up of a privileged group of warriors and
religious, the latter being prominent members of the Church. The warrior nobility lived in the castles and
Their main occupations were war and combat tournaments between knights. Your income
They came from the tributes that their servants paid them for the usufruct of their lands. The knights were
of a social class a little lower than the military and religious landowners, and could be reached,
thanks to some merit during a war or combat.
The priests, abbots and bishops belonged to the same social group as the warrior nobility, and were the
responsible for the direction of one of the most important institutions of the Middle Ages: the Church.
The importance of the Church had been consolidated long ago, when the Roman Empire had
donated large areas of territory in different parts of Europe. This power made life
of bishops and abbots was deformed away from the basic principles of Catholicism: poverty,
obedience and chastity. They led a life of wealth, vassals who paid homage and tribute and
servants who worked the land.
To justify this comfortable way of life, theologians claimed that to keep society in
harmony there should be these three interdependent social classes: those who warred, those who prayed and
those who worked. Other important functions of the church were that in many monasteries and
Churches dedicated themselves to translating, interpreting and archiving all the books of the time, which made them
will transform into true centers of culture. The language used was Latin, considered as
cultured and universal language. Priests were also trained there.

The Peasants or Servants

The peasants were the lowest social class of this time, and they dedicated themselves to animal husbandry and farming.
agriculture. They had been developing these activities for several centuries, when the
Decline of the Roman Empire. Each family functioned as a production unit and they produced.
what is necessary to live. Over time they also had to produce to support the nobility.
war and religious. The peasants also joined together forming villages, located in the middle of
large expanses of fields. They were very poor, made up of houses made of adobe and straw.

In these communities there were also other people who carried out other types of activities, they were the
artisans, they worked with wood, metals, clay, leather, etc. His works were used in the
agricultural production and in everyday life. The peasants were not owners, in fact the
The real duels were those of the nobility mentioned above.
The castles: The feudal lords lived in fortified castles, which were built on the banks of the
rivers or on the tops of hills, and they dominated all the important roads. Were
admirably prepared for defense; In them was accumulated everything necessary for life and
land. To enter the castle it was first necessary to cross the moat that surrounded it, over a bridge.
movable and then had to be passed under the grate that protected the door and which was erected in times of peace.
This door was found sandwiched between two towers. Sometimes there were walls that enclosed the castle.
cultivated fields; so that the lords had there, and at the same time, their palace and their
camp, a whole domain provided with the most necessary things. Immense underground spaces served as
warehouses, prison and asylum, depending on the circumstances.

Activity: based on reading, answer the following questions:

1. Write four characteristics of the Middle Ages
2. What did the failure of Charlemagne's centralizing political project lead to?
3. Describe each of the two feudal – vassal relations: vassalage and encomienda
4. What is territorial lordship?
5. What is jurisdictional lordship?
6. What did the lord offer his servants in the fief?
7. Prepare the social pyramid of the social classes of the Middle Ages. Describe each class within
of the pyramid, and in front make a small drawing that represents each class
8. What is the origin of the feudal lords?
9. What is the origin of the peasantry?
10. What is the origin of the clergy?
11. Make a conceptual map about the characteristics of the Lords
12. How was the importance of the Church consolidated?
13. How did the Theologians justify the existence of the three social classes?
14. What were the important functions of the Church?
15. Make a conceptual map about the characteristics of peasants or serfs?