3/7/2024 0 Comments Tools lords and knights![]() Even bishops and abbots might be vassals and lead their own vassals into battle.Īs time passed, lords came to make alliances with each other to insure the safety of their landholdings. A vassal might have more than one lord but his first allegiance was to his first (ledge) lord. Vassalage obliged a man to pay his lord a regular fee and to follow his lord in war. ![]() The lord promised to protect the fief and to administer justice to his vassal and family. Sometimes he was given the right to collect a toll on a road or bridge. At this investiture, the vassal received a written charter or a staff or even a clod of dirt as a symbol of the land (fief) that was being given to him. , p.96.) Feudalism’s emphasis on loyalty and service just paralleled the values of the Christian Church.Ī man became a vassal by kneeling before the lord and placing his hands between those of his superior he would swear fealty to the lord as long as he lived. Christ was regarded “as a young warrior, hastening to do combat with evil through his death of the Cross” according to John B. Christianity emphasized that loyalty and service be given to God, and the church portrayed Christ as the embodiment of both. The king was God’s vassal, and every other man was another man’s vassal. The second kind, political feudalism, was the relationship among the nobles and the king. The lord became lawgiver, judge, and defender. In return for his protection and the right to work the lands, the peasants performed services and paid fees. Economic feudalism refers to the relationship between a lord and his free peasants, serfs and slaves. Feudalism could be divided into two kinds. It was based on an exchange of loyalty and service for protection and land. In the manor house or castle, the lord was served by his peasants and supported by his knights.įeudalism thus evolved as a system or organization in Medieval society. Power became centralized in a feudal lord who ruled the subjects living on his estates. Over the centuries grew the manorial or feudal system. In return, the people pledged to such protectors obedience, services and/or payments. They looked to the largest landowner or the physically strongest among them to organize and lead them against invaders. ![]() Without the Roman legions and a central authority to protect communities, people had to depend upon themselves for military defense. The Middle Ages is more than a period between it is part of the continuum of human development. Yet the Middle Ages is not to be viewed as a transitional period it made new beginnings that can be traced up to the present and helped shape our modern world. In time, society would develop to the point that it would be ready to begin a new, “modern” chapter in human history with the age of discovery and exploration. Yet from this period of confusion, a new type of civilization would grow and reach its crest during the 12th and 13th centuries. The common faith would give comfort to all people because, in this period of turmoil, it fostered hope as the way to God and salvation.Īs life in Western Europe’s communities became isolated, trade declined, roads and cities decayed, and a unified authority was shattered. The language would bond literate people despite the variety of political divisions and emerging national languages. Only two Roman legacies continued into the Middle Ages-a common Catholic faith and the Latin language. As a result, Western Civilization, during the years from 500 to 1000, grew poorer both in the progress of ideas and things. The people attracted to the Roman world were too primitive to adopt the Roman way of life, to inexperienced to maintain education, and did not master the Roman system of law and government. The Medieval period and its civilization did not appear all at once but developed slowly during the decline of the Roman Empire. It is the human element that we must touch in order to fully understand the past. The manners and customs may change from age to age, but the human connection remains. It is our human nature that links us whatever period of history that we study. We are all human and share the same desires, hopes and needs. For us, it seems so long ago an age remembered in textbooks, museums, and in the ruins of castles. To the kings and serfs of the Middle Ages, their period was modern because they were living it. Any period of history is “modern” to the people who are living at the time. ![]()
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