Transcript World History

Bellwork
• In the last lesson, what occurred to
Charlemagne’s empire? What affect did this
have on their government system?
World History
Middle Ages pt. 1
Rise of Feudalism and Chivalry
Objectives
• Compare the Middle Ages system of
feudalism to the Japanese style of
feudalism.
• Describe the new social stratification
system formed in Medieval Europe
• Explain the role of Chivalry in everyday life
of a knight
• Examine the manor system and the
purposes behind it.
Treaty of Verdun
• After the Treaty of
Verdun,
Charlemagne’s three
feuding grandsons
broke up the kingdom
even further.
• Part of this territory
became a battleground
as new waves of
invaders attacked
Europe.
Invasions
• Between 800 and 1000,
invasions completely
destroyed the
Carolingian Empire.
– Muslims seized Sicily and
raided Italy.
– Magyar invaders struck
from the east and
terrorized Germany and
Italy.
– Vikings sailed from the
north and terrorized all
of Europe.
Vikings
• The Vikings hailed from the cold climate of
Scandinavia, which was north of Eastern
Europe.
• They were Germanic peoples, who were
often called Northmen or Norsemen and
worshipped warlike gods.
• The Vikings even took pride in nicknames
like “Eric Bloodaxe” and “Thorfinn
Skullsplitter”.
Vikings
• Vikings carried out raids extremely quickly.
• They struck and then headed out to sea
again and by the time troops arrived, they
were usually gone.
– Viking ships were extremely well crafted. They
could carry enormous amounts of weight, but
still sail in water that was 3 feet deep– this
allowed them to traverse across Europe
completely by boat.
Vikings
• Vikings were not
only warriors, but
also traders,
farmers, and
explorers.
• Vikings ventured far
beyond Europe and
went into Russia, to
Constantinople, and
even across water
into the North
Atlantic.
– The Viking Leif
Erikson more than
likely reached
North America at
least 500 years
before Columbus
did.
• Around 1000, Viking terror faded away.
• The Vikings gradually accepted Christianity
and stopped raiding monasteries.
• As well, a warming trend in Europe made
farming easier in Scandinavia and this
caused many Scandinavians to stop raiding
other villages.
Map of Viking
Explorations
Vikings
Magyars
• As the Viking assaults
lessened, Europe
became the target of
new assaults.
• The Magyars, a nomadic
peoples, attacked on
horseback.
• They swept across
western Europe and sold
those who were
captured as slaves.
Muslims
• The Muslims struck from the south. From
there, they controlled the Mediterranean
and disrupted trade.
• The Muslims got so far as to establish a
territory in southern Spain, but also took
control of Sicily.
Effects of Invasions
• The invasions caused western Europeans to
fear for their lives.
• Central authority proved powerless to help
them and they soon looked to local leaders
for protection.
• These local leaders often had armies and
those who could defend their lands
attracted followers and gained strength.
Question: How is this similar to the lords in Japan?
Structured Society begins
• In 911, two enemies met in a peace
ceremony.
• Rollo was a Viking leader who had been
plundering the lands of Charles the Simple,
of France.
• Charles gave Rollo a huge piece of French
territory (present-day Normandy), and, in
return, Rollo pledged his allegiance to
Charles.
Structured Society
• Between 850 and 950–
during the worst years
of attack– many
leaders made similar
agreements to that of
Charles and Rollo.
• The system of
governing and
landholding called
feudalism emerged in
Europe.
Feudal System
• The feudal system was based on mutual
obligations.
• In exchange for military protection and
other services, a lord– landowner– is
granted land called a fief.
• The person receiving this land is called a
vassal. Feudalism depended on the control
of land.
Feudal Pyramid
King
$ Increases
Lord
Population
Increases
Nobles
Knights
Peasants
Feudal Pyramid
• At the top of the pyramid, the king ruled.
• Next came powerful vassals, known as
nobles and bishops– all of these people
were wealthy.
• Below them were knights, who were
warriors who pledged to defend their lord’s
land in exchange for fiefs and below them
were the peasants.
Feudal System
• In practice, the feudal system did not work
so simply.
• Relationships between various lords and
vassals were never clear cut and, in some
cases, one noble might have several lords
who gave them land.
• In some cases, the feudal system often
became a complex tangle of conflicting
loyalties.
Social Classes
• In the feudal system, status was determined
by prestige and power.
• Medieval writers classified people into three
groups:
1. Those who fought (nobles and knights)
2. Those who prayed (those of the Church)
3. Those who worked (peasants)
• Social class was usually inherited.
Social classes
• In Europe during the
Middle Ages, the vast
majority of people were
peasants.
• Most peasants were serfs–
people who could not
lawfully leave the place
where they were born.
• Though bound to the
land, serfs were not slaves.
– Lords could not buy or sell
serfs, but all the wealth the
lord had came from the
serfs.
Manor System
• The manor was the lord’s estate.
• During the Middle Ages, the manor system
was the basic economic arrangement.
• The manor system rested on a set of rights
and obligations between a lord and his
serfs.
Manor System
• The lord provided the serfs with housing,
strips of farmland, and protection from
bandits.
• In return, serfs tended the lords land, cared
for his animals, and performed other tasks
for the estate.
• Peasant women worked with their
husbands.
Manor System
• All peasants, whether free or serf, owed a
lord certain duties.
• These included a few days labor each week
and a certain portion of their grain.
Manor System
• Peasants rarely traveled more than 25 miles
from their own manor.
• A manor usually covered only a few square
miles of land and consisted of the lords manor
house, a church and some workshops.
• Fields, pastures, and forests surrounded the
village and some streams ran through manors,
providing fish, which was an important source
of food.
Manor System
• The manor was largely a self-sufficient
community.
• The serfs and peasants produced nearly
everything that they or their lord needed.
• The only outside purchases were salt, iron,
and a few unusual objects and millstones,
which were used to grind flour.
The Manor System
Notice how almost
everything the
people would need
is in a localized
area. Rarely did
people leave.
Question: If the
manor was largely
self-sufficient,
what do you think
happened to trade
in much of
Europe?
Manor Life
• For the privilege of living on the lords land,
peasants paid a high price.
• They paid a tax on all grain ground in the
lords mill and any attempt to dodge taxes
was treated as a crime.
• Peasants also could only get married with
the lord’s consent and had to pay a tax on
marriage.
Manor Life
• After all these payments to the lord, peasant
families owed the village priest a tithe, or
church tax.
• The tithe represented one-tenth of their
income.
Manor life
• Serfs lived in crowded cottages with one or
two rooms. They warmed their cottages by
bringing pigs inside and the family huddled
on a pile of straw at night.
• Peasants simple diet consisted mainly of
vegetables, coarse brown bread, grain,
cheese, and soup.
Feudal Life
• Despite their hardships, serfs accepted their
lot in life as part of the church’s teachings.
Question: Why might serf’s have been so accepting of their
position in life?
• They, like most Christians at the time,
believed that God determined their place in
society.
Women
• The Church viewed
women as inferior to
men.
• In contrast, however, the
idea of romantic love
placed noblewomen on
a pedestal where they
could be worshipped.
• A true knight (as we will
see in the next lesson)
pledged to protect all
women.
Women
• However, as feudalism developed, women’s
status actually declined.
• Their roles became increasingly limited to
the home and convent.
• For the vast majority of women, their lives
remained unchanged for centuries.
Noblewomen
• Under the feudal system, a noblewoman
could inherit a state from her husband.
• Upon a lords request, she could also send
knights to war and, when her husband was
off fighting, she could act as a military
commander or warrior.
– Some women went so far as to dress in armor,
mount a warhorse, and mobilize a cavalry of
knights.
Break
• Please take two
minutes to relax and
breath.
Women’s power
• As the Middle Ages progressed, however,
noblewomen wielded less power.
• The Church played a major role in this and
as it regained power and control, it
weakened the power of women in medieval
Europe.
Setting the stage
• During the Middle Ages, nobles constantly
fought one another.
• Their feuding kept Europe fragmented and
people valued violence.
• By the 1100s, however, a code of behavior
arose and high ideals guided warriors and
glorified their roles.
Soldiers
• Mounted soldiers became valuable in combat
during the reign of Charlemagne’s grandfather,
Charles Martel.
• Charles Martel had often observed the
usefulness of cavalries in other armies, and
began to organize his troops of armored
horsemen, or knights.
Technology
• The leather saddle was
developed on the
Asian steppe around
200 B.C.
• Stirrups were
developed in India
around the same time
and both technologies
changed warfare in
Europe in the 70os.
Technology
• With the use of this technology, knights
became firmly placed on their horses.
• Frankish knights, galloping full tilt, could
knock over enemy foot soldiers and riders
on horseback.
• Gradually, mounted warriors became the
most important part of an army.
Role of the Knight
• By the 11th century, western Europe was a
battleground of warring nobles vying for
power.
• To defend their territories, feudal lords
raised private armies.
• In exchange for military service, feudal
lords use their most abundant resource–
land.
Role of the Knight
• Lords rewarded
knights, their most
skilled warriors, with
fiefs.
• Wealth from the fiefs
allowed knights to
focus on war and pay
for the cost of
weapons, armor, and
warhorses.
Role of the Knight
• As the lords vassal, a knights main
obligation was to serve in battle.
• From each of his knights, a lord
required nothing less than 40 days
of combat service.
• When a knight was not fighting,
they often trained for war.
Chivalry
• Early in the Middle Ages, knights were
expected to display courage and loyalty to
their lord.
• By the 1100s, the code of chivalry, a complex
set of ideals, demanded that a knight fight
bravely in defense of three masters:
1. Feudal lord
2. Heavenly lord
3. Chosen Lady
Chivalry
• A chivalrous knight
protected the weak
and poor and the ideal
knight was loyal,
brave, and courteous.
– Most knights, however,
did not meet these
standards. They often
treated the lower
classes brutally.
Question: How is chivalry
similar to the code of
honor that Samurai live by,
bushido?
Chivalry
• Knights who failed to meet these standards
faced public shame.
• First, his armor was taken, his shield
cracked, a sword broken over his head.
• People then threw a knight into a coffin,
dragged him to the local church, where a
mock funeral service was held.
Glory
• Sons of nobles began to train for
knighthood at a early age and learned the
code of chivalry.
• After being dubbed a knight, most young
men traveled with companions and gained
experience fighting in local wars.
• Some knights took part in mock battles
called tournaments.
Glory
• Tournaments
combined recreation
with combat training.
• Two armies of knights
charged each other
and, like in real
battles, it could be
fierce and bloody.
• Winners would often
demand large ransoms
from defeated knights.
Warfare
• By 1100s, stone castles were encircled by
massive walls and guard towers.
• These castles dominated much of the
countryside in western Europe.
• The castle was the home of the lord and
lady, knights and other men-at-arms, and
servants.
– It was also a fortress, designed for defense.
Warfare
• A castle siege was a gory
sight.
• Attacking armies used a
wide array of strategic
weapons to force castle
residents to surrender.
• Defenders of a castle
poured boiling water,
hot oil, or molten lead
on attackers.
• Expert archers were
stationed on the roof of
the castle and could fire
with deadly precision
using crossbows.
Literature of Chivalry
• While the battles were gory, medieval
literature downplayed the brutality of
knighthood and feudal warfare.
• Many stories idealized castle life and
glorified knighthood.
Literature of Chivalry
• Feudal lords and their
ladies listened to epic
poems that recounted
the deeds and
adventures of many
heroic knights.
• Some stories were about
legendary heroes, such
as King Arthur and
Charlemagne.
– These stories often
represent courage, faith,
and chivalry.
Literature of Chivalry
• Under the code of
chivalry, a knight’s
duty to his lady
became as important
as his duty to his lord.
• In many poems, the
hero’s difficulties
resulted from a
conflict between those
two obligations.
Authority
• While medieval life centered around the
great deeds of knights and heroic tales,
behind the scenes lay the Church.
• The Church, as we will see in the next
lesson, controlled or influenced practically
every aspect of medieval life.
Questions
• If you have a question, please ask now.
Next lesson
• In the next lesson, we will be discussing the
pervasive role of the Church in medieval
Europe.
Review
1.
If a knight broke his code of honor, what would happen to
him?
2. What two technologies allowed medieval Europeans to invest
more in horseback warriors?
3. How did knights practice their military skills?
4. Who were a knights “three masters”?
5. Why did feudalism begin to develop in Europe (what caused
it)?
6. Who were the Vikings and what did they do to Europe?
7. What five groups made up the pyramid of the feudal system?
8. What did the vassal provide for the lord in return for land?
9. Why did serfs– along with everyone else in society– accept
their role in life?
10. How is warfare for a knight different from the literature
describing their lives?
11. Comparison: How is a knight similar to or different from the
Japanese Samurai?