Feudalism

1. Feudalism By Lucas Nicholas and Emile Boyd Period 8

2. What was feudalism? • Feudalism was a system of contractual relationships among the members of the upper class in medieval Europe, in which lords made grants of fiefs to vassals in return for pledges of military and political service.

3. Mutual Obligations • The relationships between the lords and vassals were based on the exchange of land for loyalty and military systems. Pledges known as contracts were a tradition, under the system the lord would grant his vassal a fief, which is an estate. The fiefs could range for hundreds of square miles and the fiefs came with peasants to work on the land.

4. Noble women during feudalism • Noble women played an active role in their society. They had rights and a sense of freedom. • Women would take hand in politics. • When men are off fighting women were given their duties. • Preformed necessary medical tasks.

5. Lord’s Manors • Manors were the lord’s estate, which included villages and surrounding land. During the middle ages the manors were self sufficient. • They included: • Cottages and huts in a village • Nearby water mill in order to grind grain • A church • The lord’s house

6. Defending a castle • A castle was the basic defense structure. It was allowed people to stay for extended periods of time. • it included: • A mote - a ditch around the castle filled with water. • A drawbridge – a deployable bridge that creates a path over the mote. • Strong stone walls – Held strong when hit by flaming arrows or boulders.

7. Social Classes Their social class classified knights and nobles at decent places on the pyramid. Peasants usually worked on farms and other hard labor to produce materials and foods for the nobles.

8. Peasants • Peasants that were on a manor, or lord’s estate were called serfs. The serfs were bound to the land and when the land was given to a new emperor so were the serfs. Serfs needed permission to leave the manor and prepared food for the lord.

9. Chivalry • Chivalry was a code of conduct that knights adopted during the later Middle Ages. Knights were required to be brave, loyal to their lords, and be true to their words. Knights also had to fight with a sense of fairness, such as not attacking an enemy with their armor off, and captives had to be treated nicely. Chivalry was only for nobleman.

10. Warfare in feudalism Warfare played a great role in feudalism. Boys trained to be knights at the age of seven. They would learn how to fight and ride and how to keep their weapons in good condition. Different lords would conquer castles and other lands by war. They also held tournaments in addition to actual warfare.