Development of European Feudalism

1. Development of European Feudalism From the Moldboard Plow to the Crusades

2. European divisions • Europe • Galileo’s (1564-1642) defense of Copernican astronomy banned by Church • In Germany, Protestant Kepler continues Copernican studies • > Political and religious divisions favor • continuation of science • and emergence of capitalism

3. European Period of Warring States • No unifying State after Charlemagne • crowned emperor by Pope Leo III on Christmas day, CE 800; d. 814 • Period of warring states of Europe: 1100 years • Attempts by Spain in 16-17th c. • by France under Napoleon: early 19th c. • by Germany under Hitler: 20th c. • > 21st century: European Union • Merchants grow stronger between divided state powers in Europe • In England and France they ally with King against feudal lords

4. Advantages of Division • In large centralized states, the ruler can stop the merchants: • China, Ottoman Empire • But not where states are divided: weakly centralized feudal states: • India and Europe • In feudal India, merchants are stymied by caste taboos against warfare • But European merchants fight to defend their independence of feudal lords

5. Importance of feudalism • 1) Why Europe? > because of capitalism • 2) Why capitalism? > because of feudalism • 3) Next question: why feudalism?

6. New European Empire • Charlemagne crowned emperor by Pope Leo II on Christmas day, 800 • = Unity, partnership of Church and State • But by 900 this new united empire has basically disappeared. • How long did Charlemagne’s empire last? • >New social arrangement of Medieval European feudalism • So why did this all-European empire fall apart?

7. Why did a feudal society emerge in Europe? • Why did Charlemagne’s all-European state fall? • Why did civilization develop so late in Europe? • Nature of early European technology • Social relations of production • Political consequences • Critique of medieval Christian religion – St. Francis of Assisi returns to the teachings of Jesus

8. 1 Superficial Conquests • Charles Martel (the Hammer) • stops Muslim invasion in France – 732 • Grandson Charles the Great – “Charlemagne” – (Charles the Big and Tall) • crowned king of France-Germany in 800 • >First and only All-European State • How big was Charlemagne’s army?

9. How big was Charlemagne’s army? • Number of soldiers: 5,000 • Aided by spiritual power of Church • Muslim armies: over 100,000 soldiers

10. Fall of Early European States • Division at death of Charlemagne into three parts • Sons get equal inheritance from father • Later rule: “primogeniture” • United still, with allegiance to the Pope • Why did this first and only all-European state fall?

12. Power of the Viking Raiders • Viking (Scandinavian Norsemen) raids: • Main weapon • Longboats can carry 50 warriors • 3 foot draft allows deep access into interior • Rapid attack on villages and retreat • Powerlessness of king’s centralized army to stop them • Who can stop them?

14. Solution: Knight in Shining Armor • New fighting technology • Large horse • Lance • Stirrup • Need to be located close to all villages • Small local armies of knights • Life-long training required • What is the only way to defeat this weaponry?

16. Social basis of Knighhood: Manor System • 1) Serfdom arises during Roman period • Slaves had become too expensive as the empire stopped expanding • Serfs were cheaper, worked harder because they shared with the landlord in the wealth they produced • But northern territories beyond the empire involved free agricultural villages • Explanation for this is given below

17. Why peasants chose to abandon their freedom • 2) Free villages “enserf” themselves to Lord for protection from raiders • Peasants’ voluntary surrender of freedom • Lord’s “noblesse oblige” • Exchange product, labor for defense • Recall: functions of the state • Land, produce divided: • e.g., 2/3 for peasants, 1/3 for lord

18. European feudalism • Result: thousands of little feudal states, • each with its own set of laws • Loose hierarchy among lords: “vassalage” • Voluntary “pledge of allegiance” to higher lord, and of lords (barons) to King • >Vikings defeated • But they also triumph • Norsemen (Northmen) rule “Normandy” • Conquer England in 1066

19. 2 Why was Europe late? • Europe inherits past technology of all history • =advantage of a late civilization • Europe’s natural agricultural potential • Rich farming land • Mild climate, rainfall • Compare to Arabian desert, China’s 1/12 arability • Until 500 CE: covered in forests • Why not clear the forests?

20. The ecological problem • Rich soil but heavy with clay • Too hard to plow with traditional “scratch plow” • Rain, but at the wrong time and too much • Spring rains drown young wheat plants • Hence, planting on sides of hills • Water drains more easily • Chalky soil easier to cultivate

21. 3 Solution: the Moldboard Plow • Invented about 500 CE among German tribes • Three blades • Vertical: Plowshare (colter) • Horizontal: Ear • Curved moldboard • Heavy – drawn by up to 8 oxen • Furrow – direction of slope to river • Plowland – mound between two furrows • > Natural drainage, Long acre

25. Technological approach again • Recall Antigone: passage about “wonder” of man with animal-drawn plow • Compare to China’s rice production • Extension of technological approach, magnified: power over nature • Technological approach to nature culminates in the industrial revolution

26. 4 Social Production • New problem: High cost of moldboard plow for poor peasants • Solution: share animals, labor between members of community • Result: continuity of ancient communal/ cooperative mode of production of early kinship groups • Impedes internal division of peasant farmers into rich and poor (as in Greece and Rome)

27. Social consequences • 1) 500-800 Free independent agricultural villages • System of dividing the land equally among peasant families (village cooperation) • 2) 900- Charlemagne’s weakly unifed empire fails due to Viking invasions • 3) Feudal system provides protection • Cooperative villages under local feudal rulers • Elected peasant leader deals with feudal lord

28. Into the modern age • 4) 1700 – to present => Cooperative work in manufactories, factories, offices • Capitalism is a system of cooperative production and individualistic ownership • The merchant/capitalist replaces the feudal lord • The free worker replaces the serf • Workers continue to work in a cooperative system: as in a factory

29. 5 Political problem • Problem: after the Vikings are defeated? • A system of warrior knights with no external enemy to fight • Knights will fight each other: implosion of feudal system

30. Solution to the problem • Pope Urban II calls for Crusade to fight Muslim “infidels” and capture Jerusalem. • 8 Crusades (1095-1291) • Political aspect: strengthens the power of Pope as leader of united Europe • Church, monasteries become the biggest feudal landowner

31. First Victims of Crusades: European Jews • “Look now, we are going to seek out our profanity and to take vengeance on the Ishmaelites for our Messiah, when here are the Jews who murdered and crucified him. Let us first avenge ourselves on them and exterminate them from among the nations so that the name of Israel will no longer be remembered or let them adopt our faith.” • Holy War, by Karen Armstrong, p. 73

32. 6 St. Francis of Assisi (1181 – 1226) • Rejects wealth of his family • Follows the way of Jesus (Imitation of Christ) • Adopt strict poverty • Not seek spiritual salvation in rich monasteries • But go to the people and walk the talk • Recall four stages of religion • St. Francis: 4th stage: the reformer who evokes the words of the Founder against the external religion created in the name of the Founder (3rd stage)

33. What does the Bible say? • “. . . The Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two . . . Into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. . . ‘Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. Carry neither money bag, sack, nor sandals . . . And whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. And heal the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.” Luke 10;1 . . . 9

34. Historical Impact • “[T]he new wealth and power of their Church offended some Roman Catholics, and the challenged the Church to live up to its early ideals of compassion for the poor and simplicity in everyday living. New orders of priests and of nuns began to form as a way of returning to those ideals: Franciscans following the teachings of St. Francis of Assisi” Spodek 433

35. The heresy of poverty • The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco) • Film, starring Sean Connery • Franciscans, other sects adopting poverty, seen as dangerous revolutionaries • Church condemns as a dangerous heresy: that Jesus demanded poverty of his followers • What did Jesus teach? • “Consider the lilies of the fields and the birds of the air …”

36. Jesus: Consider the lilies

37. Jewel in the Lotus