Feudal System – Tracy Dong

Why was it introduced and when was it introduced?

Feudalism was an exchange of land for military service. The feudal system had an effect of England and Europe the most, it was almost like a pyramid. Fiefs had promised powerful lords to serve them for life, the pyramid of feudalism has this strict pecking order, you had to be either one of the estates. 90% of the people were peasants so you count it up 10% actually had money.  The feudal system was introduced in the Middle Ages which was after the roman empire fell. It was first introduced from King Charlemagne because he needed help on controlling the land and people in the 700s (eighth century) in france. Later in time after the battle of the Hastings and when William the conqueror had defeated Harold, he took the crown of England and changed the face of England for years. William was french and since Charlemagne had introduced it, he decided to introduce it to England. The Feudal system had three estates:

1st estate: The church (pope)

2nd estate: The Royal Family (King, Queen, Prince, Princess, etc.), The Noblemen and  Knights

3rd estate: Merchants and Peasants

The Serfs were not in either of the estates since they were more poor than others. Some other countries had different estates, for example, japan had emperors.

How is the medieval time compared to the modern?

In the medieval times they had royal families, we still have them but the queen of England rules many nations. In the medieval time there were many kings and queens for many other countries. On earth right now we have countries with people starving but with our support we give to the poor, back then no rich men or women had given money to the poor to buy food, we think differently today. Everyone deserves the same rights, we now have prime ministers, mayors, etc.

What did the peasants do after they have made tools and farmed?

Peasants had to give 10% of the food to the church, 90% of the food to the Lord of the land and 10% which they keep to theirselves. They had to do so many work. They made the clothes, food, tools, weapons, etc. They practically even design the clothes, the 1st and 2nd estate didn’t know how to make them so it was all up to the peasants and merchants to make the things, sell or give to the landlord.

Why and how did the Feudal System die out?

The Black Plague/Death had started to spread around the world, it was known that it came from, China but truly came from India and from their rats crawled on to trading ships and it spread around the world. They were coming to a time where the less fortunate people started dying and there was no one to make equipment and things so the feudal system over time went down. Some peasants actually got rich during that time since the rich people had died and someone had to take their role.

The Lord’s land where the peasants live.

Bibliography:

~ http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_did_the_feudal_system_start

~ http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/feudalism.htm

~ http://www.google.com/

~ Humanities Alive history textbook. (Jacaranda)

Feudal System – Emily Salloum

What is the Feudal System?

The Feudal System is a system that was developed to help stabilize Europe. The system was mainly a personal agreement between two people. Kings, Dukes and Nobles all had to raise an army, which the Feudal system assisted. It was the basis by which the upper nobility class maintained control over the lower classes.

Tracts of land were granted by the King or Lord who gave the land to a lesser Lord, by doing this they became the latter’s overlord. The receiver became the Vassal of the overlord. In return for the overlord giving the Vassal land, they had to pay them homage and fealty. The overlords Vassal was obligated to fight for the overlord for a certain amount of time. If the Vassal had his own Vassals, then they also were obligated to fight.

A Vassal had more than one responsibility; sitting on the Lords court to judge the guilt or innocence of other Vassals might have been another responsibility.

The Feudal system was a complicated system that was the basis by which the upper nobility class maintained control over the lower classes.

When was the Feudal System introduced to England and how did that change the governance of  the country?

When the Roman Empire fell, there was no form of central government until King Charlemagne came to rule. King Charlemagne ruled from 768 – 814.

While Charlemagne was King, western Europe was stable, but the death of Charlemagne led to another breakdown in central government as there was no one to keep his empire together. The lack of central government led to the development of the Feudal system.

The Feudal System was introduced following the battle of Hastings in 1066 by William the Conqueror. William became the King of England after he won the Battle of Hastings. Being the King, he was able to introduce new Laws and there was new government over England.

The governance of England was dramatically changed because of William. It was such a dramatic change because William was from France, so the languages were different, he introduced the Feudal System which was a new form of law and stability and he had also promised his men wealth and rich pickings.

As you can imagine, William being the King, changed the governance of England very much.

Why weren’t the peasants involved in the Feudal System?

Kings, powerful Lords and lesser Nobles were all involved in the Feudal System. All of these people were considered Warriors. Warriors were people who went out on raids and fought for their lives and for their people.

The peasantry were the only people who were not considered as warriors. Therefore, peasants were not involved in the Feudal System.

Peasants were also the lowest class of nobility. This means that they were below all of the other classes, and no one below them. Because of this, they could not have a Vassal, or be an overlord if they were involved in the Feudal System, so it would be unfair to make them Vassals when they themselves could not have their own Vassals.

This is why the peasants were not involved in the Feudal System.

What responsibilities did the Vassals have?

The responsibilities of Vassals varied depending on their overlord. A Vassals overlord would become the Vassals overlord at a ceremony with the King. At this ceremony, the overlord would inform the Vassal of his duties.

The Vassal would have responsibilities such as serving his lord in battle (when the Lord went to battle against someone, the Vassal would have to fight as well), providing food and shelter for the overlord when needed, and sometimes he also had to sit on the Lords court where he would judge the guilt or innocence of another Vassal.

In the case of a visit from his overlord, the Vassal was responsible for providing food and shelter for his lord and all of his party. The Vassal also had to pay the Arson demanded if his lord was unfortunate enough to be captured by an enemy.

These were some of the responsibilities of a Vassal.

What happened if a Vassal was serving more than one overlord?

In the rare case that a Vassal was serving more that one lord, there was not much of a problem. The Vassal would just continue his duties as a Vassal, serving both lords.

This would result in a problem only if the two overlords that the Vassal was serving both went to war or went to war against each other. If both lords were fighting against different people, the Vassal would have to provide some of his own Vassals to fight for one lord and he would fight for the other.

If  both lords went to battle against each other, the Vassal would have to serve both lords again by sending some of his own Vassals to fight for one lord, while he fights for the other lord.

This is what happened if a Vassal was serving more than one lord.

Bibliography:

http://library.thinkquest.org/10949/fief/hifeudal.html

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/feudalism.htm

http://www.english-online.at/history/vikings/viking-warriors.htm

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