The Middle Ages

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The Middle Ages

• Life in the Middle Ages
• 4 elements governing life
• Feudalism
• - de-centralized government
• - no dominant political institution
• - set of rules governing relationships ?
  involved upper class only

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The Middle Ages

Feudal Contract My liege lord, I,
_______________, do willingly enter into homage
and faith and become your sworn man, and to you
and your heirs will I faithfully bear body,
chattels, and earthly worship, and I will keep
faith and loyalty to you against all others. In
addition, I swear I will perform the following
services Signed this ___ day in the month
of_______ in the year of our Lord, ________
X________________________________ I,
________________, do promise to you, as my vassal
and liegeman, that I and my heirs will guarantee
to you and your heirs the lands you hold of me,
against all others, that you may hold said lands
in peace. Signed this ___ day in the month
of_______ in the year of our Lord, ________
X________________________________
Kingdom of Yip the Great
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The Middle Ages

• Political system
• involved lord (grants land and provides
  protection), vassal (receives land and offers
  services), and fief (land itself)
• feudal contract
• spelled out obligations of all parties
• for eternity

• designed to provide framework for governing
• relationships often complex owe obligations to
  conflicting parties
• vassals become more powerful than lords/kings

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The Middle Ages
I, Thiebault, count palatine of Troyes, make
known to those present and to come that I have
given in fee to Jocelyn d'Avalon and his heirs
the manor which is called Gillencourt, which is
of the castellanerie of La Ferte sur Aube and
whatever the same Jocelyn shall be able to
acquire in the same manor I have granted to him
and his heirs in augmentation of that fief I have
granted, moreover, to him that in no free manor
of mine will I retain men who are of this gift.
The same Jocelyn, moreover, on account of this
has become my liege man, saving however, his
allegiance to Gerard d'Arcy, and to the lord duke
of Burgundy, and to Peter, count of Auxerre. Done
at Chouaude, by my own witness, in the year of
the Incarnation of our Lord 1200 in the month of
January. Given by the hand of Walter, my
chancellor note of Milo.
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The Middle Ages

• 2. Manorialism
• Economic and social system of the Middle Ages
• governed how people lived and made a living
• includes everybody kings, nobility, priests,
  peasants, serfs
• serf tied to land, limited to no freedom
  work for lord of manor 3-4 days, work for
  themselves 2-3 days

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The Middle Ages

• provides protection and some certainty for
  serfs
• self-sufficiency
• manorialism (along with feudalism) would slowly
  be replaced as organizing structure of Middle
  Ages as towns grew and new farming techniques
  developed ? no longer need as much intensive labor

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The Middle Ages

• 3. Chivalry code of conduct governing nobility
• had to be brave
• protect the weak
• fight fairly
• loyal to friends, keep word, treat conquered
  foes fairly
• courteous to women
• - generally treated only nobles fairly
• To become knight
• page ? learn manner begin training w/weapons
• squire ? knights asst take care of horse,
  weapons clothing

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The Middle Ages

• 4. Church (again)
• Hierarchy priests (sacraments), bishops
  (diocese), archbishop (several dioceses), pope
  curia (advisers to pope)
• key to salvation for people
• had power to excommunicate (deprive membership
  in church)

Problems in the Medieval Church - Lay investiture
appointment of clergy by secular authority -
Worldly lives of priests -Simony - payment for
positions in the church - Heresy - beliefs
against church teachings ? led to creation of
Inquisition to root out thinking that threatened
unity of Church
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The Middle Ages

• Growth of Nations
• England
• early Middle Ages ? ruled by Saxon kings
• related to Viking invaders
• Edward the Confessor (1042-1066) ? no heirs
  leaves England to both Harold of Wessex and
  William of Normandy

• Harold of Wessex (1066)
• no compromise
• last Saxon king
• Battle of Hastings (Oct., 1066)

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The Middle Ages

• Three factors going against Harold
• Rebellion fatigue
• papal support for William
• omens
• last time England was successfully invaded by
  foreign power!!

• William the Conqueror (1066-1087)
• excellent administrator
• Domesday Book
• brings French culture to backwaters England
• controls English nobility

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The Middle Ages

• Three sons ( one daughter)
• Robert, William, Henry
• Robert ? Normandy, William II (1087-1100) ?
  England
• Henry ? nothing

• Robert goes on Crusade
• William II goes hunting (dies)
• Henry I (1100-1135) Robert also gives
  Normandy to Henry (how kind!)
• excellent administrator of both holdings
• one legitimate son (and one legitimate daughter)

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The Middle Ages

• son William dies tragically leaving Matilda as
  only legitimate heir
• barons do not accept Matilda
• choose Stephen I (1135-1154) ? Matildas cousin
  grandson of William the Conqueror through
  daughter
• 1135-1154 The Anarchy (or When Christ his
  Saints Slept

• Matildas son Henry II (1154-1189) becomes heir
  after death of Stephens son
• ends civil war

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The Middle Ages

• Henry II
• Married to Eleanor of Aquitaine (11 yrs older)
• made Henry most powerful man in Europe
  England, Anjou, Brittany, Maine, Normandy, and
  now Aquitaine!
• ends civil war
• effective administrator
• laws jury system, circuit judges, common law

• Eleanor of Aquitaine
• married to 2 kings (Louis VII of France Henry
  II) mother to 2 kings (Richard I John I)
• courtly love, chivalry
• adventure

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The Middle Ages

• Problems
• fight w/ Thomas Becket and church
• murder of Becket causes loss of prestige
• fight w/ family ?Eleanor Richard
• Eleanor incites open rebellion by son Richard
  against Henry
• dies after being defeated by Richard

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The Middle Ages

• Richard I (1189-1199) the Lion-Hearted
• favorite of Eleanor
• spendthrift ? wars
• Third Crusade
• insignificant king but important in English
  folklore

• succeeded by brother John I (1199-1216)
• Runnymeade
• Magna Carta
• Johns grandson ? Edward I (1272-1307)
• parliament
• powerful monarch

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The Middle Ages

• France
• Last Carolingian king -987
• Hugh Capet appointed king of France ? weak
  monarch controlling small area
• Capetian line of kings grow strong over next 3
  centuries centered around Paris

• Marriage creating alliances among French
  families
• rivalry with Richard I John I ? taking land
  from England
• encouraging commerce trade
• Philip Augustus II (son of Louis VII)
• Philip the Fair ? Parlement of Paris Estates
  General

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The Middle Ages

• Spain controlled by Umayyads (Muslim)
• Germany Italy
• both unable to achieve independence due to
  fighting amongst princes, Holy Roman Emperors,
  popes

Europe 1273-1378