Theory of the Unit Feudalism 2º ESO History

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FEUDALISM
CONTENTS
 Origins and characteristics of feudalism
 The fief
 Feudal society
 Feudal monarchy
 Christian Church
 Economy
 The Crusades
 Romanesque Art
Origins and characteristics of feudalism
Europe lived in a rural society in which people lived in farms and villages and where people lived from
agriculture and cattle raising. Society became rural at the end of the Roman Empire due to several reasons:
 Trade and imperial power weakened.
 Landowners walled their estates and recruited their own armies.
 People sought nobility’s protection instead of emperor’s.
Feudalism began in Europe after Charlemagne’s death (814) when Europe lived a period of instability
owing to Vikings, Magyars and Muslims’ invasions.
 Kings gave power to local noblemen in exchange for swearing allegiance to the Crown and helping him
with their armies.
 Peasants sought protection of noblemen and they worked in their lands.
Society and control over the land changed once feudalism was established. Land was divided into great
estates or fiefs, where feudal lords ruled over these lands autonomously and peasants were ruled by these

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noblemen. Society was divided into strata or social classes:
Nobility and clergy were landowners and held political charges and power.
Peasants farmed lands and had no privileges.
The fief
A fief was a large area of land that belonged to the king, noblemen or clergymen over which they ruled.
They were divided into two major parts:
 Demesne. It was the territory the lord used and had several parts too:
Residence of the lord, which used to be a castle or a manor.
Lands for cultivation and pastures.
There were forests to get wood and hunting.
 Holdings. They were the rest of the fief and were composed of small plots of lands rented to the
peasants.
Peasants farmed those lands and gave part of the harvest to the lord. Moreover they worked sometimes in
the demesne. They had to pay for using lord’s facilities: mill, oven, press, bridges... Fiefs used to be self-
sufficient since there were not many commercial routes. Crops were obtained in the fief itself, and they also
raised the cattle. Moreover, garments and tools were made there.

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Feudal society
There were several strata that were completely independent, which people were born into (save clergy):
 Privileged strata were noblemen and clergymen. They did not pay any taxes and had different judicial
systems. They were a very small minority of the population.
 Nobility: It was a privileged stratum that held a lot of power.
They owned many lands and ruled over them.
Their main job was to fight, they were knights.
 Upper nobility. They were direct vassals of the king and they were dukes, marquises, counts, and
barons.
 Lower nobility. They were just knights and people who owned horses and weapons.
Noblemen were educated in a strict way. Before being 12 years old their fathers taught them hunting,

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horseback riding, and how to use weapons. They
were pages. Once they turned 12 they went to
another nobleman or the king’s castle to join the
other young noblemen and they became squires.
They were knighted when they were 21. Then they
could serve the king and rule any army. Noblemen
had bonds of dependency among them, so a more
powerful nobleman protected some weaker
noblemen and they paid homage to him in the
ceremony of vassalage. The vassal gave a present (obsequium) to his lord, who gave protection (mitium) to
the vassal. The vassal swore allegiance to his lord, to obey him and to fight with him. The lord protected him
and let him a part of the plunder. A vassal could swear allegiance to more than one lord. Lords could be
vassals of some stronger lords. At the beginning that relationship lasted for life, but it passed to the heirs
after the Capitulary of Quercy (877).
 Clergy: It was another privileged stratum that had different kinds of clergymen:
Secular clergy. Priests were part of this group. They were in charge of parishes and depended on their
diocese’s bishop.
Regular clergy. It was formed by monks, and nuns that followed their order’s rule.
Monks and nuns had taken the vows of the order: poverty, chastity, and obedience. Their main duties were to
pray and to work (Ora et labora).
According to their religious order they
wore different habits. They lived in
monasteries in the countryside. They were
built around the church, next to which
there was a cloister and a chapterhouse.
There used to be a library and a
scriptorium. They had farms and lands
were vassals and serfs worked. They were
given many lands by the kings or
noblemen and created large fiefs.
The Benedictine Order of Cluny (Cluniac Order) was the main one after its reform in 910. The Order of
the Cistercians became popular after reforming the Benedictine rule in 1098. There was also an upper
clergy (Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops and some abbots) and a lower clergy (parish priests, chaplains).

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 Common people (villains):
Peasants were free people that could move freely outside the fief. They were compelled to pay the tithe
(tenth part of their annual income) to the Church. Part of their production was paid to the lord as taxes. At
the beginning it was in kind, but currency became common later. They had the duty of working in the lord’s
lands to plough, to reap… They had to pay taxes for using the lord’s mill, oven or press.
Serfs did not own any land to farm. They were semi-slaves. Serfs farmed the lord’s lands in exchange for
clothes or food. They could not leave the fief without any seigniorial permission.
Feudal monarchy
The King was the head of the social pyramid; although he was just a feudal lord more (primus inter pares).
His power based on how many troops he could recruit, and sometimes great lords did not want to recognise
the royal power. That way, there were many wars among noblemen once the king was weak or a minor in
order to control him. The Kings considered that they had the divine right to reign. They were advised by the
Royal Council, which was composed by noble and ecclesiastical authorities.
Christian Church
The Church had a major role in that society. The Papacy strengthened its power against nobility and
monarchs. There were many religious feasts that paced the year. The Church tried to rename weekdays in
order to forget their Latin and pagan names. It only succeeded in Portuguese. The Church regulated the
Peace of God and the Truce of God. The first one protected every clergyman, traveller or those people who
worked for the Church, as well as merchants and their goods. The second one was a truce in the battles
between every Thursday and Monday that was recommended by the Church in order to attend freely the
religious services. It comprised also Advent, Lent and Easter. Kings and noblemen gave many lands and
money to the Church, which made them major landowners. The Church assisted population through the
foundation of hospitals and orphanages. Many pilgrimage routes were promoted to obtain forgiveness.
Rome and Jerusalem were major pilgrimage cities, but St. James’ Way was established to visit St. James’
tomb in Santiago de Compostela.
Economy
New farming techniques were developed in this period. Roman plough was substituted by the mouldboard
plough, which could move land deeper, but some previous tools were still used by peasants (hoe, sickle, and
scythe). Horseshoe became common for horses and horses and oxen were better yoked to ploughs.
Moreover, new hydraulic techniques developed, such as watermill that used water streams to grind cereals.
Foundries were located next to rivers to produce better iron tools (mainly sickles and axes).

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Crop rotation was established as a three-field system, so oats and barley were sown in spring, wheat and
rye were sown in autumn, and legumes (peas, beans...) became common in agriculture. Some parts of the
land were left fallow so that it may be more fertile. Many forests were ploughed up to increase farming land,
and although production and population grew thanks to these new techniques, productivity was still quite
low.
The Crusades
In 1078 the Turks from Baghdad invaded Jerusalem and prohibited the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The Pope
Urban II in 1095 addressed Christians to re-conquer Jerusalem and the Holy Land against Muslims. He
pleaded for help to the rest of the kings in Europe and promised forgiveness of the sins to everyone who
participated in his will. The Papacy also established a new tax to fund the campaign (Bull of Crusade). Most
of the crusaders came from France, from England, and from Germany (Holy Roman Empire). Crusaders
departed from France and Italy on 15 August 1096 and they arrived in Jerusalem on 7 June 1099 and finally
conquered the city on 15 July 1099. All the remaining Jews and Muslims were massacred.
After the conquest of Holy Land some military feudal states were established, such as the Kingdom of
Jerusalem. Moreover, Military Orders were founded to preserve the control over the Holy Land, which
were composed by military monks (Order of the Hospitallers, Order of the Holy Sepulchre, Order of the
Temple, Teutonic Order, etc. All these orders had their own symbols and their knights wore habits. They
built many castles in Near East, like Krak des Chevaliers (Syria). They obtained many fiefs in Europe and
got a lot of power.
Trade between East and West developed thanks to the Crusades, so Genoa, Venice, and Pisa were the cities
which obtained more profit from this situation. Conquests were ephemeral due to the continuous struggles
among the different crusader states and with the Byzantine emperor. Fanaticism and religious intolerance
were promoted, and Jerusalem was finally lost by Crusaders once Saladin, the Seljuq sultan, conquered the
city in 1187.
There were eight crusades between
1095 and 1272. Only the first Crusade
managed to conquer Jerusalem, the
other ones were completely
unsuccessful.

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Romanesque art
Romanesque art is mostly religious and it spread thanks to the Benedictine order. This style lasted between
the 10th century and the late 12th century. The beginning is affected by the Millennial Fear in year 1000,
when many Christian believers thought the Apocalypses was coming. The final period came because of the
arrival of an urban culture in the Late Middle Ages.
Romanesque art was created in Burgundy (France), and its characteristics are more or less common in all
Catholic Europe. Architecture is the main art that developed in this style. It is common the use of the round
arch, the barrel vault, and the groin vault. Churches and monasteries were the main buildings that they
constructed. Churches had Latin cross ground plans with side aisles, and some of the pilgrimage churches
had aisles in the apse (ambulatory). Major buildings are St. Sernin (Toulouse, France), the Cathedral of
Pisa (Italy), the Cathedral of
Durham (UK) and the
Cathedral of Santiago de
Compostela (Spain).
Sculpture is really linked to
architecture and it appears on
capitals and portals. It is not a
realistic sculpture, because
figures are completely rigid
with no movement. Motifs are mostly religious and they had didactic
functions because of most of people were illiterate. The usual themes are
the Pantocrator (Judge Christ, the Tetramorfos (Christ and the four animals representing the Evangelists)
and the Virgin.
Painting is also linked to architecture and we preserve wall paintings.
Most of the remains are on the vaults of the apses, where we can appreciate
the plain and bright colours. They do not have any movement or
expression, but everyone understood their meaning because of the
repeating iconography. The themes are the same ones as in sculpture.