Restoration of Order

1
Restoration of Order

• Feudalism and the Manor

2
The Turn of the Millennium

• Before the year 1000 Christians were expecting
  the world to end
• This fear, along with reformed monasticism in the
  10th century allowed the papacy to consolidate
  power into the power that is recognized as the
  Roman Catholic Church today
• Surpluses of grain revitalized urban population
  and bolstered trade
• The Feudal system that began under the
  Carolingians began to solidify into a form of
  government as it dictated the culture, society,
  and economics of the 10th and 11th centuries

3
Economic and Social Changes

• Manorialism- the economic ordering of
  agricultural production and the organization of
  the lives of the peasants involved with that
  production
• Feudalism- describes the relationship between a
  lord and his vassals and to the society itself
• In the middle ages 90 of the population was
  peasants while 10 was nobility, clergy, and
  merchants

4
Manorialism

• Medieval Europe had a mix of agricultural methods
• Some areas were farmed by free peasants who owned
  land and mixed cultivation with fishing or
  herding
• Most of the grain came from large manors with
  serfs who were unfree peasants that worked the
  land
• The manor was a community of peasants organized
  under the authority of a lord
• Was a unit of economic, judicial, and social
  organization
• Characteristic of southeast England, northern
  France, western Germany, and the Rhone and Po
  river valleys

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Drawing of a Manor
6
Medieval Manor
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8
The Lords Control

• Serfs and their children could not leave the
  manor without the lords permission
• The Lord ran a manorial court which could levy
  fines
• The lord charged serfs to use his mill or
  winepress
• The lord provided the local police and court
  system
• Men had to work at least 3 days a week on the
  lords land and had to provide special services
  at certain times of the year
• Peasant paid rent in money and goods
• Peasants had to give mandatory gifts at holidays
• If a man chose to marry off his daughter he paid
  the lord
• If a serf moved from the manor he paid a yearly
  fine until he returned

9
Housing and Food

• Lived in villages surrounded by fields
• Peasants built stone houses and extended families
  lived together
• Where stone was scarce, they built A-frame houses
  with woven branches and clay
• They slept on a straw pallet and usually
  displayed a crucifix in the room
• They ate mostly grain with the addition of eggs,
  cheese, beans, oats, peas, and a bit of meat
  (mutton)
• They drank either beer or wine depending on where
  they lived

10
Feudalism

• Describes the personal bonds among the elite
  society
• Refers to a patron/client relationship between
  two freemen
• Vassal- a person who put himself under the
  protection of a lord in exchange foe military aid
• Lord and vassal both came from the upper classes
  of society
• The vassal had to come to the aid of the lord and
  the lord owed the same to the vassal
• Fief- the land that is given to the vassal from
  the lord
• A vassal could receive fiefs from different lords
  but could only have one liege