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Raiders, Traders and Crusaders:

Feudalism, Manorialism, and Chivalry

Guiding Questions

1.What are the characteristics and contributing factors to the development of the socio-political system of feudalism and the economic system of manoralism?

2.How does the literature of chivalry transcend the culture in which it was created and convey universal themes?

3.How does the role of women change during this time period?

Invasions Trouble Western Europe

• Age of Invasions: 700 to 1000

• Muslims from the south seize Sicily, raid Italy, and sack Rome

• Magyar invaders struck from the east

• Vikings, the most dreaded, sailed from the north

• Remember Charlemagne could not repel further Viking and Magyar invasions

Vikings: Raiders, Traders, Explorers

• Germanic people from Scandinavia – called Northmen or Norsemen

• Worshiped warlike gods

• Raided with terrifying speed –beached their ships, struck, and quickly shoved out to sea

• Ships held, at most, 300 warriors – could sail in 3 feet of water, up shallow creeks to loot inland villages and monasteries

theoldgiftshop.com

ruf.rice.edu

Vikings: Raiders, Traders, Explorers

• Also traders, farmers, and explorers

• Journeyed down rivers into Russia and Constantinople

• Leif Ericson – explorer who mostly likely reached North America (AD 1000), almost 500 years before Columbus

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Vikings: Raiders, Traders, Explorers

• Vikings gradually converted to Christianity and stopped raiding monasteries

• The climate also changed (warmed), allowing lands in Scandinavia to be more easily farmed

Vikings: The Raiders

Click on the map for an excellent interactive site about Vikings

Magyars and Muslims

• Magyars – nomads who attacked from the east on horseback

– Did not settle conquered lands

– Captured people to sell as slaves

– Attacked isolated villages and monasteries

• Muslims struck from the south and attacked the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts

Socio-political Effects of Invasion

• Invasions from Vikings, Magyars, and Muslims caused disorder and suffering throughout Europe

• Central authority was proved ineffective

• Many people sought protection under local rulers

Restructuring Society

• Charles the Simple granted the Viking leader Rollo a huge piece of French territory – Normandy

• Rollo placed his hands between the king’s hands and swore a pledge of loyalty

Beginning of Fedualism

• Other warriors and rulers made agreements similar to Charles and Rollo

• Feudalism is a system of governing and landholding

• Similar system existed in China during the Zhou dynasty or Japan beginning in the 4th

century

A New Social Order

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Social Stratification

• Social classes: 1. those who fought (nobles and knights)

2. those who prayed

3. those who worked

• Serfs where peasants who could not lawfully leave the land on which they were born – not slaves because they could not be sold

• Free peasants often have rights to land in the open-field system (community field, not the lords field)

Feudal Pyramid

Feudalism in Japan

Shogun

Daimyo Daimyo

Samurai Samurai Samurai

Peasant PeasantPeasantPeasant

Land - Shoen

Land - Shoen

Protection

Loyalty

Loyalty

Food

Feudal

Society

The emperor

reigned, but did

not always rule!

Code of Bushido

* Fidelity

* Politeness

* Virility

* Simplicity

Heian Period:

Cultural Borrowing

1. Chinese writing.

2.Chinese artistic styles.

3.Buddhism [in the form of ZEN].

4.BUT, not the Chinese civil service system!

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Zen Buddhism

A Japanese variation of theMahayana formof Buddhism,which came fromIndia throughChina.

It reinforced theBushido values ofmental and self-discipline.

Ashikaga Age: 1338-1573

► Shoguns fought for power.

Laws are unclear.

Less efficient than the Kamakura.

Armies of samurai protectedthe country.

The Age of the Warring States:

(1467 - 1568)

Castles built on hills in different provinces.

Power shifts from above tobelow.

Europeans arrive in Japan bringing firearms & Christianity.

Christianity & foreign tradeflourish.

C

A

S

T

L

E

S

Osaka Castle

Back to Europe

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Economic Side of Feudalism

• Manor: the lord’s estate

• Manorial system was based on a set of rights and obligations between lords and serfs

• Lords provided housing, strips of land, and protection (fief like field)

• Serfs farmed the land, cared for the animals, and maintained the estate

Manor: Self-Contained World

• All peasants owed the lord weekly labor (at least a few days), as well as a portion of their grain

• Only a few square miles of land

• Consisted of a lord’s house, church, workshops, and a village

• About 15 to 30 families lived in the village, which was surrounded by fields, pastures, and forests

• Let’s be Inquirers while we analyze the layout

Harshness of Manor Life

• Peasants paid a tax on all grain ground in the lord’s mill – baking bread elsewhere was a crime

• Peasants also paid a tax for marriage, which was only allowed with the lord’s consent

• Peasant families owed the village priest a tithe, or church tax – 1/10th of their income

• Serf’s accepted their reality, believed that God determined a person’s place in society

Carcassonne: A Medieval Castle

Warriors on Horseback

• Nobles constantly fought one another

• Kept Europe in a fragmented state

• Charles Martel, Charlemagne’s grandfather, learned the power of cavalry from observing the Muslims– Muslim civilization in Spain

were called the Moors

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Warriors on Horseback

• Charles Martel organized armored horsemen called knights

• Saddles from the Asia and stirrups from India helped the soldier stand up while riding and maneuver heavier weapons

• Feudal lords raised their own armies

– Their vassals (knights) fought about 40 days per year and were paid in fiefs (land)

– While not at war, they wrestled, hunted, and trained for battle

Education of Knight

1. Page– Age 7 went off to another lord’s

castle

– Learned courtly manners

– Played chess for strategy and sword fighting for skills

2. Squire– Age 14, became a servant to a knight

(armor, weapons, horse)

3. Knight– Age 21, became full-fledged knight

• Themes downplayed the brutality of feudal knighthood, praised castle life, and spoke a knight’s undying love for a lady

• Lords and ladies enjoyed epic poems: battle stories and stories about legends like King Arthur

Literature of Chivalry

• Troubadours: poet-musicians of the castle

- Wrote short verses about the joys and sorrows of romantic love

How do these themes relate to today’s music?

Read The Art of Courtly Love and answer the guided reading questions on the next slide.

Guided Reading

• What does the writer claim love will do to a man? How might this be?

• Why do you think the promotion of monogamous relationships was important? Is it still important today?

Shifting Role of Women

• Church viewed women as inferior to men

• Romantic love put women on a pedestal

• Women are confined to the home or convent

• For centuries, women were mostly powerless

• Role was to take care of the home, bear children, and perform endless labor

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Women in Power

• Noblewomen could inherit an estate from her husband– Lords often passed land down to their sons, not daughters

– Could not receive land for fighting, like a knight

• With her lord’s permission, she could send knights to battle and mobilize cavalry – Some dressed in armor and rode warhorses

– Defended castle alongside soldiers

• Status declined as Middle Ages progressed– Church reclaimed convents and monasteries that

noblewomen had founded

Guiding Questions

1.What are the characteristics and contributing factors to the development of the socio-political system of feudalism and the economic system of manoralism?a. Nobles are granted the use of lands that belong

to the king in exchange for loyalty, military service, and protection of the people who live on the lands

b. Countries become administered by warrior families in exchange for land and titles

Guiding Questions

2. How does the literature of chivalry transcend the culture in which it was created and convey universal themes?

• Multiple answers.

Guiding Questions

3. How does the role of women change during this time period?

– Romantic love put women on a pedestal

– Noblewomen could inherit an estate from her husband

– With her lord’s permission, she could send knights to battle and mobilize cavalry

– Status declined as Middle Ages progressed