![]() Villages and manors sound sort of like the same thing then, but often weren’t. This building also sometimes serves as an office for the lord’s appointed officers, and it may serve as the lord’s house when he’s visiting. The food stuffs they produce are collected at the manor house, which is often more like a barn, before going to the lord. ![]() Rather than collect taxes in coin, or even in kind, the lord collects it through labor: peasants are bound to work on the manor farm some portion of every week. Physically, the manor is a large farm or set of farms. It also related the peasantry to their local lord (who could be a noble or a church facility), via petty local officials. It organizes agricultural output and labor, instead of military service, and therefore defines the lives of the peasants, who farm land. Separate and parallel to feudalism is another system of social organization, manorialism. In general, kings gained more central authority through the time period. They also band together to resist impositions from their lords: there is a constant tug of war between kings and their sworn vassals. Individuals jockey for prestige, wealth and power with those around them whether it’s in the royal court or a backwoods province. There are rivalries, legal disputes, money problems, old grievances, marriage arrangements…on and on. Every member of the continuum is concerned with those immediately above and below him, as well as his peers. This brings us to the struggles inherent within the feudal classes. There is authority, but it is heavily constrained, both by tradition and the real-world power each class has. These relationships are legal but also highly personal, built on pledges of loyalty, struggle in war, and familial connections - most of the gentry are inter-related somehow. The dukes similarly are bound to the earls beneath them, and so on down to the lowly country knights. The king nominally grants lands and titles to his dukes, and in return expects military aid. That is, the nobility or gentry.įeudalism establishes a hierarchical order of mutual dependency. Feudalism describes relationships between elites: it does not pertain to peasants or even mere wealthy individuals, but specifically those with titles and land. We are familiar with this term, but usually use it too broadly. As with any bit of historical summary, be aware that there was enormous variation over time and space.) Feudalismįirst, let’s tackle the namesake of the article. (I am most familiar with medieval England, and will use terms and make generalizations that work there. But in the popular imagination, everyone in the middle ages is a warrior. Medieval peasants were not kings, and their lives weren’t governed by the same systems or traditions.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |