View a Powerpoint presentation on Feudalism. These changes in society would lead to the Renaissance-the rebirth of Europe and the beginning of modern history.ĭownload this lesson as Microsoft Word file or as an Adobe Acrobat file. The introduction of gunpowder and long-range cannons made knights fighting with swords on horseback an outdated form of warfare that was expensive to train and support.Īt about the same time, cities were growing in population for the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire. A terrible disease called the Black Death claimed the lives of millions of Europeans in the fourteenth century, so in many places there were not enough peasants to farm the vast estates. The feudal system proved impractical by the end of the Middle Ages. For centuries, a person’s life was all but guaranteed to be exactly like their parents’ lives. It can be broadly defined as a system for structuring society around relationships derived from the holding of land, known as a fiefdom or fief, in exchange for service or labour. A serf who lived on the manor of a Lord was likely the descendant of a peasant who had served the ancestor of that Lord. Feudalism - Feudalism was a form of government common during medieval Europe that involved society being structured in a very rigid and hierarchical way. Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries. There was very little social mobility, or chance to move upward in status during the Middle Ages. Lords often forced families to pay a tax when a member of their household died to compensate for the manor’s loss of labor. Feudalism in the Middle Ages by Simon Newman In order to attain security after the fall of the Roman Empire, against Germanic barbarians, Islamic invaders, and pagan enemies, European kingdoms gradually accepted the customs of feudalism. Serfs were encouraged to have many children because a small family might not have enough daylight hours to tend their family plot after their work in the Lord’s fields was complete. Although feudalism develops as early as the 8th century, under the Carolingian dynasty, it does not prevail widely in Europe until the 10th century - by which time virtually the entire continent is Christian.
Serfs were not allowed to marry without permission from the Lord the family of a serf would have to turn over additional crops when someone wanted to marry and leave the manor. When did Feudalism begin and end By the end of the 12th century the papacy has more feudal vassals than any temporal ruler. In exchange, serfs were required to work a particular number of days on the lord’s personal fields. The Lord provided the serf and his family a safe place to live and land to grow food. Serfs could not be sold as slaves, but they could not leave their manor without permission from the Lord.
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