Feudalism developed in Europe as a decentralized political system where public powers were held by private lords. In England, William the Conqueror established a strong monarchy after the Norman invasion in 1066. Over time, English kings consolidated control and developed institutions like Parliament, limiting aristocratic power. In France, the Capetian dynasty established a powerful centralized bureaucracy with the king as the ultimate feudal lord. The Holy Roman Empire remained fragmented, with an weak emperor dependent on the church and independent German princes. The Crusades were partly a religious campaign sponsored by the papacy but also helped consolidate royal power in Europe.

1. Chapter 9
FEUDALISM & THE
CONSOLIDATION OF
EUROPE

2. FEUDALISM
Feudalism: A highly decentralized political system in which public powers of minting, justice,
Taxation and defense were vested in the hands of a private lord.

3. WHAT WAS THE RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN FEUDALISM AND THE RISE
OF NATIONAL MONARCHIES?

4. Fief: contract in which someone granted
something of value to someone else in return for a
service
• Land grant implied subordination
• Vassal
• Lord
• Homage
Most developed and lasted the longest in France
• 10th and 11th centuries-minimal feudal pyramids
• 12th & 13th powerful lords insisted on pyramid structure
FEUDALISM 101

5. Lord
Land grant implied subordination
Vassal
Could grant land to subordinate
Vassals
Homage
Duty owed in return for Land Grant
Ceremonial or Military

6. Wi l l iam the
Conqueror
– Edward I
1066 -
1307
FEUDALISM AND THE RISE OF
THE ENGLISH MONARCHY

7. FEUDALISM AND ADMINISTRATIVE
GOVERNMENT IN ENGLAND
 England
 Battle of Hastings 1066
 William the Conqueror (1066-1100)
 Normans—extensive grants of English land
 King
 Only the king could coin money
 National land tax
 Summon population to arms
 All landholders owed loyalty to crown

9. THE DOMESDAY BOOK 1085
Compiled by William to survey his English lands
Who owned the land before 1066.
Who owned the land at the time of Domesday in 1086.
How it changed hands.
What that land was worth, and what manors it was associated with.
How many peasants (called bordars and villani) tended that land.

10. HENRY I (1100-1135)
 Created the Exchequer
 Appointed sherif fs to supervise counties
 Traveling circuit judges
 Checked power of landowners and sheriffs

11. HENRY II (1154-1189)
 Henry II (1154-1189)
 Grandson of Henry I
 Ruled Normandy; Anjou; Aquitaine & England through
marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine
 Eleanor originally married to Louis VII of France
 Louis had marriage annulled when she failed to bear
him sons
 Eleanor received the land (her dowry) back
 Henry married her 8 weeks later and the lands of
Aquitaine went to Henry
 Expanded use of juries to determine facts in civil (not
criminal) cases
 Conflict with the Church
 Henry’s knights murder Thomas Becket Archbishop of
Canterbury in 1170 after he sides with the Church
against Henry
 Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer written in context
of pilgrimage to Canterbury

12. TOMBS OF HENRY I I OF ENGLAND
& ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE

13.  Richard I (aka Richard Lionhear t ) (R 1188-1199)
 3rd Crusade
 Spent only 6 months in England During his reign
 Imprisoned in Germany and Ransomed by John I

14. JOHN I OF ENGLAND (R. 1199-1216)
 Taxes and fines on aristocracy and free ar tisans to
recover lands in France and ransom Richard I
 1214 fai led mi l itary campaign in France
 1215 Runnymede, forced to sign Magna Car ta

15.  Henry I I I (1216-1272)
 Perfected legal system “English Common Law”
 Taxed both Nobles and commoners in proportion to their
income

16. EDWARD I OF ENGLAND (R.
1272-1307)
 Parl iament
 Assembly of nobles, clergy and townsmen
 Announce tax levies
 Hear judicial cases involving higher nobility
 Review local administration
 Hear complaints

18. WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES IN DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL
MONARCHIES IN ENGLAND, FRANCE AND GERMANY (HOLY
ROMAN EMPIRE)?
 England
 Administrative System
 Departments of Exchequer, Sherif fs and Courts; no one department
controls all power
 All landowners (including Church) must pay taxes and provide military
support to the king;
 Negotiations between King and Aristocracy limits the power of the King —
beginning of Constitutional government (Magna Carta);
 Distance from Church leadership in Rome encourages independence of
monarchs;
 Development of Parliament and beginning of participation in government
by merchants and wealthy artisans.

19. FRANCE • Cent ral i zed
Bureauc rac y
• Protec tor s of
Popes
• King as
Feudal Lord

20. Produced uninterrupted line of
sons for 300 years
 Long-France
lived
Direct rule over Paris and
surrounding area
Rich agriculture
Protectors of popes
Patronized University of Paris
(Sorbonne)
Capet Dynasty

21.  Louis VI (the Fat) (1108-1137)
 Consolidated control over land around Paris
 Louis VII (1137-1180)
 Incited rebellions by Henr y II’s sons against
their father
 Kept Henry II from increasing power in France

22. Philip II (1179-1223)
 Philip II (1179-1223)
 Went on 3rd Crusade with Richard Lionheart
 Built a wall around Paris before he left on Crusade
 Claimed homage from John in return for lands in
France (which John already owned as son of Henry)
 Confiscated lands
 Appointed royal of ficials with judicial, military and
administrative authority (no separation of powers)

23. Louis IX (Saint Louis) (1226-1270)
• Increased French
control of lands in
France
• Engaged in last
crusades
• Purchased Holy
Crown of Jesus
Christ from Baldwin
II of Constantinople
• Expelled all Jews
engaged in Usury
from France
• Instituted an
Inquisition
• Engaged in self-flagellation

24. PHILIP IV (1285-1314)
• Wars against Flanders and
England
• Raised taxes on commoners but
not nobility who were exempt
from paying direct taxes to
crown
• Estates General
• Expelled all Jews from France
• Burned Grand Master of Knights
Templar at the stake

25. FRENCH MONARCHS
 Created a power ful & centralized bureaucracy with King as
ultimate feudal Lord.
 Close ties with Roman Cathol ic Church as defenders of the
Pope
 Feudal system suppor ts the power of Kings
 Warrior ethos & Christian ethos combine in France
 “Song of Roland”

26. WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES IN DEVELOPMENT OF
NATIONAL MONARCHIES IN ENGLAND, FRANCE AND
GERMANY (HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE)?
 France
 Focused on increasing territory by taking land from English monarch;
 King appointed aristocrats to posts which include collecting taxes,
enforcing the law, and judiciary;
 French Kings as “protectors of the Pope” engaged in militar y
campaigns in Italy and church politics in Rome;
 Controversy over taxing authority of King over church lands;
 Estates General: appearance of consultation but not supported by the
monarch
 1st Estate Aristocracy - no taxes
 2nd Estate Church – resisted taxes
 3rd Estate Everybody else – high taxes

27. Weak
Monarch
propped
up by
Church
HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE &
GERMAN PRINCES

28. CENTRALITY OF CHURCH TO
POWER OF KING
INDEPENDENCE OF PRINCES
Germany
 Territories
 Switzerland
 Eastern France
 Belgium & Netherlands
 Northern Italy
 Relied heavily on cooperation with Church
 Church leaders frequently members of royal family
appointed by emperor
 Henry IV & Henry V (1056-1125)
 Conflicts with Dukes of Saxony & Pope Gregory VII
 Civil war
 Investiture
 Enabled German princes to rule “principalities” with larger
independence than existed in France or England
 New Emperors must be elected from among the Princes
and approved by the Pope

29. INVESTITURE CONFLICT
 Pope Gregory VI I (1073-1085)
 Election violently supported by a mob of Romans
 Violated terms of Papal decree of 1059
 Caused friction between Pope and Henry IV
 Could a lay person appoint Bishops or Abbots?
 Gregory VII prohibited all clerics from accepting church of fices from a
layman even if the layman was a king
 Henry IV refused to accept this and appointed a new archbishop in Milan
 Gregory reminded Henry that Gregory was the successor to St. Peter and
Henry owed Gregory the same obedience
 Gregory renounced his obedience to Gregory reminding Gregory that his
election as Pope violated the decree of 1059
 Gregory excommunicated Henry and called on his subjects to rebel
 Saxon Nobility renewed their civil war
 Henry must humble himself at Canossa

31. POPE GREGORY VII

32. WAX FUNERAL EFFIGY OF GREGORY VI I :
SALERNO CATHEDRAL

33. WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES IN DEVELOPMENT OF
NATIONAL MONARCHIES IN ENGLAND, FRANCE AND
GERMANY (HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE)?
 Germany (Holy Roman Empire)
 Principalities: territories ruled by princes who were not strong
enough to force other princes to accept them as the “lord”
 Princes elected the Holy Roman Emperor who had to then be
approved by the Pope resulting in Papal interference in secular
authority of Emperor;
 Princes maintained taxing, enforcement, and judicial authority
 Never developed strong central authority and Germany remained
divided into Principalities;

34. Pol i t ical and
Economic
Campaign
or Rel igious
Pi lgrimage
& Holy War
THE CRUSADES

35. CHIVALRY
 Societal Divisions according to Alfred the Great
 Men who fight--Aristocrats
 Men who pray—Church (Leaders were aristocrats)
 Men who work—not aristocrats—includes lowliest peasant to wealthy
merchant
 Chevalerie: conduct becoming men who ride horses
 Vir tues of a warrior aristocracy
 Prowess
 Courage
 Loyalty
 Generosity
 Clerical Hierarchy
 Pope-bishops-priests
 First Duties: to King or Church, Lady, the weak and the poor

36. KNIGHTS OF CHRIST JAN VAN EYCK

37. ORIGINAL PURPOSES
 Byzantine Emperor, Alexius hoped to use Norman
mercenaries to defend Byzantium from Sel juk
Turks.
 Urban II wanted to demonstrate to Kings of Western
Europe that the Papacy could command an army
that might enforce Papal decrees wi th mi l i tary
might.
 U rban II’s c al l to Crus ade
 Clermont in France
 1095
 Any knight who wished to join in the fight to liberate the Holy
Land from its Muslim Captors
 Anyone fighting or dying in the service of Christ would win
total absolution from sins and be transported to heaven
 Glory, booty, salvation

38. COUNCIL OF CLERMONT 1095

39. POPE URBAN II

40. INNOCENT III

41. FOURTH LATERAN COUNCIL OF 1215
 Pope as Supreme head of the Church
 2nd in authori ty is Patriarch of Constantinople
 Doctrine of Transubstantiation
 Required Jews and Musl ims to wear special
identi fication to distinguish them from Christians
 Requi red Sacramental Confession at least 1 time
per year
 High conduct for Priests than lai ty
 No new Rel igious Orders
 Rules for trial and punishment of heretics and their
protectors

42. MOST OF THE CRUSADES WERE
UNSUCCESSFUL MILITARY VENTURES
 Debatable impact
 Most visible remnants were castles and distrust between East and
West
 Some cultural diffusion but more beneficial interaction occurred in
Spain between Moors and Spanish Christians
 Argument: by sending contentious nobility abroad to fight, Kings in
Europe consolidated their power more completely
 Increased power and prestige of the Church in Western Europe
 Success of the 1st Crusade raised the self confidence of Europeans
 Solidified cultural and religious boundaries between Islam,
Byzantium and Western Europe
 Jews were of ten the scapegoat
 Beginnings of inquisitions, heresy trials and witch-hunts