WHY WAS FEUDALISM NECESSARY?

[Pages:9]WHY WAS FEUDALISM NECESSARY?

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A New Social Order: Feudalism

? Feudalism Structures Society

? 850 to 950, feudalism emerges--political system based on land control

? A lord (landowner) gives fiefs (land grants) in exchange for services

? Vassals--people who receive fiefs--become powerful landholders

Workers on the Manor

? There were two groups of peasant workers on the manor

? Freemen- skilled workers who paid rent and could leave the manor whenever they wished. (They usually had a skill needed by others on the manor.)

? Serfs ? workers bound to the land by contract with the nobles. (They had no freedom - they were the noble's property.)

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Feudal Contract

LORDS

GIVE SERVICE TO

GIVE PROTECTION TO

VASSALS

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CONSTRUCTING THE PYRAMID OF POWER

LOYALTY AND SERVICE

KING

LAND

LOYALTY AND MILITARY SERVICE

POWERFUL NOBLES

LESSER NOBLES (KNIGHTS)

LAND AND PROTECTION

LABOR

PROTECTION

SERFS AND FREEMEN

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Manors: The Economic Side of Feudalism

? The Harshness of Manor Life ? Peasants pay taxes to use mill and bakery; pay a tithe to priest ? Tithe--a church tax--is equal to one-tenth of a peasant's income ? Serfs live in crowded cottages with dirt floors, straw for beds ? Daily grind of raising crops, livestock; feeding and clothing family ? Poor diet, illness, malnutrition make life expectancy 35 years ? Serfs generally accept their lives as part of God's plan

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