The document discusses feudal Europe, beginning with the Carolingian Empire established by Charlemagne in the 8th century. After Charlemagne's death, the empire was divided among his grandsons. It then describes the second wave of invasions from Vikings, Magyars, and Muslims in the 9th-10th centuries, which weakened royal authority. This led to the rise of feudalism, a political and economic system where kings granted land to nobles who provided military service, and nobles granted land to knights and vassals, who also provided service. Feudal society was divided into three estates - nobility, clergy, and peasants - and was based around a rural, self-sufficient

1. FEUDAL EUROPE
UNIT 2

2. Feudal Europe
1. The Carolingian Empire.
a) What was the Carolingian Empire?
b) The división of the empire.
2. The second wave of invasions.
a) The new invasions.
b) The weakness of royal authority.
3. Feudalism.
a) What was feudalism?
b) Life on a fief.

3. Feudal Europe
4. Feudal society.
a) What were the three estates?
b) The nobility.
 Noblewomen.
c) The peasants.
 Serfs and free peasants.
 Agricultural work.
 Everyday life.
d) The Church.
 The role of the Church.
 Church organisation.
 The spread of Christianity.

4. 1. The Carolingian Empire:
A.WhatwastheCarolingianEmpire?
• A Frankish Kingdom was established in
present-day France after the fall of the
Roman Empire.
• 8th century: real rulers were officials called
the Mayors of the Palace.
• Battle of Poitiers or Tours (732): Charles
Martel (Mayor of the Palace) defeated the
Muslims.
• Charles Martel’s descendants became
Frankish kings.
 CHARLEMAGNE, Martel’s grandson, was the main of all those kings.

5. CHARLEMAGNE

6.  In 800, the Pope crowned Charlemagne Holy Roman
Emperor and started the Carolingian Empire.
 The organization of the territory was divided into:
o Counties: administrative units as big as cities and ruled by
counts.
o Marches: border regions usually defended by an army
commanded by a marquis.
Counts and marquis were directly appointed by the emperor
and had to make an oath of fealty.
o Missi dominici royal inspectors who supervised regional
administration.
 Charlemagne established his permanent home and capital in
Aachen, near the Rhine River.
 After Charlemagne´s death, the empire remained unified a
few more years, when is only child, Luis the Pious succeeded
him.
CHARLEMAGNE

7. 1. The Carolingian Empire:
B.ThedivisionoftheEmpire.
After the death of Louis, his descendants
fought each other until the year 843, when
the Treaty of Verdun divided the Empire
into three parts, which were ruled by
Charlemagne’s grandsons:
Charles the Bald: ruled in the west.
Louis the German: ruled in the east.
Lothair: ruled in the centre.

8. 1. The Carolingian Empire: Activities (pages 28 & 29).

9. 2. The second wave of invasions:
A.Thenewinvasions.
In the 9th and 10th centuries, there was a “second wave” of invasions in Europe:
• The Vikings from Scandinavia attacked Europe and settled in regions as the British
Isles, northern France and southern Italy.
• The Magyars (Hungarians) from the Asia Steppe attacked eastern of Europe and
founded Kingdom of Hungary.
• Independent Muslim raiders, based in northern Africa, attacked the Mediterranean
coast.
The invasions created a climate of great fear and insecurity: God was punished them
and the world would end in the year 1000.

10. Activities(page31).

11. 2. The second wave of invasions:
B.Theweaknessofroyalauthority.
After the break-up of the Carolingian Empire (9th century), Europe was divided into small
states.
Kingdoms did not have permanent capital cities. Monarchs travelled with a court.
A group of advisers called the royal council (curia) helped the monarch to rule.
Kings had little effective power:
 Many royal decisions only affected monarch’s territories, not the whole kingdom.
 When monarchs died, their kingdoms were divided as inheritance.
 Royal armies were small and monarchs depended on armies raised by powerful lords.
 Kings lacked the power to collect taxes from their subjects.
The failure of the European monarchs to resist the second wave of
invasions led to the emergence of powerful regional lords who could
offer protection to the local population.

12. 3. Feudalism: A.WhatwasFeudalism?
Feudalism was the main political, social and economic system in Europe
between the 10th and 13th centuries.
Climate of
insecurity
Kings gave
land to the
nobles
Second wave
of invasions
Nobles gave
military
assistance
Nobles
became king’s
vassals
Knights
became
nobles’
vassals
Nobles gave
land to
knights
Knights gave
military
assistance
NETWORK OF FEUDAL TIES

13. 3. Feudalism: A.WhatwasFeudalism?
 How to become a vassal?: THE CEREMONY OF HOMAGE
 The future vassal promised his
lord personal loyalty and
military assistance.
 In return, the lord gave the
vassal a fief (feudo) -a large
piece of land or other privileges,
such as collecting city taxes .-
 Disadvantages of feudalism:
 Feudal lords were virtually
independent.
 Continuous conflicts between
the kings andfeudal lords, or
between the lords.

14. 3. Feudalism: B.Lifeonafief.
 Feudal society was rural (urban life had decline since late Roman times).
 Each fief produced almost everything it required, so trade declined.
 A lord’s fief was usually a rural state:
 The demesne was the land that the lord used directly (castle, farmland, fields and forest)
where the serfs worked.
 The lord also granted plots of land to free peasants. In return, they payed taxes and provided
services.
 Feudal lords had absolute authority and administered justice.
 The lord owned the mill, the press and the oven and the peasants had to pay to use.
Merchants payed a toll when they crossed land or bridges.
 Each fief contained one or more villages.

15. 3. Feudalism: B.Lifeonafief.

16. 4. Feudal Society.
A. WHAT WERE THE THREE ESTATES?
Medieval society was organised into three social
groups, called estates:
• 1st estate: the nobility had a military role.
• 2nd estate: the clergy were all those who
belonged to the Church.
• 3rd estate: the rest of the population
(merchants, craftsmen and peasants or serfs).
Except for the clergy, people stayed in the same
estate for all their lives.
The privileged estates were the nobility and the
clergy: they did not have to pay taxes or do
manual labour.
SERFS

17. 4. Feudal Society.
B. THE NOBILITY.
• The upper nobility were great feudal lords with castles and large estates (Duke, Count or
Marquis).
• The lower nobility were knigths who sometimes owned only their horses and weapons.
Nobles were dedicated to war. As young children they began their education as pages and then
became squires. They made knights in a special ceremony at the age of about 20.
Knights participated in tournaments to improve their skills
and to gain prestige.
In wartime, the king requested military help from all his
noble vassals, who in turn formed armies made up of their
own vassal knights.

18. 2. What were the privileged
estates? Why?
4. What obligations did the
kings, nobles, knights and
peasants or serfs each
have with the feudal
system?

19. 4. Feudal Society.
C. THE PEASANTS.
The peasants made up the majority of population in the Middle Ages. There were two types of
peasants:
• Serfs were completely under the authority of their feudal lord.
• Free peasants owned small plots of land. They paid taxes to the lord and the Church and to use
the mill and other services. They could make their own personal decisions.
Peasants were self-sufficient (they produced everything that they needed).
They had a hard life: ate poorly and did not have medicine, so life wav short.

20. 4. Feudal Society.
D. THE CHURCH.
 THE ROLE OF THE CHURCH.
Religion was crucial in the Middle Ages. Church had influence in people’s life and other important
fields:
 Political. The Pope was the high authority of the
Roman Catholic Church and he had the power to
excommunicate (or expel) rulers from the
Church. Emperors and kings often used church
leaders as their main advisers.
 Economic. The Church received donations of land in return for prayers, and became a very wealthy
landowner. The peasants paid a tithe, which was a share of their harvest.
 Cultural. Few people could read and write apart from clergy.
Monks copied manuscripts in the scriptorium and artwork was
created for churches and cathedrals.

21. 1. The Roman Catholic Church was
rich, but where did it gets its money
from?
2. In your own words, explain the
difference between regular and
secular clergy.
3. What did women who belonged
to the Church do?
4. Why did the Pope have so much
political influence?

22.  THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY.
Most of Europe was already Christian on the early Middle Ages, but its frontiers expanded from
the 11th century onwards.
• The Crusades were military expeditions to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims.
• The military orders, like the Knights Templar, were established during the Crusades. They were
made up of monks who were also warriors.

23. • Many Christians made pilgrimages to Jerusalem, Rome or Santiago de Compostela.
• Christianity expanded also into other parts of Europe: on the Iberian Peninsula (military
expeditions against the Muslims); in northern Europe (peoples who still had pagan beliefs); and
eastern Europe (from the Byzantine Empire to Slavs).

24. The expansion of Christianity
3. What were the main
centres of pilgrimage?
4. What are the religions
show in the map? Were they
are located?
5. Does the map show the
state of Christianity at a
exact time or ots evolution?
Reason your answer.

25. In the feudal system, the
king, nobles, and peasants
all had different
responsibilities and rights.
The system was quite
complicated, but basically:
one person gave protection
and/or land to someone
else. In return, the other
person had to figth or work
for their protector.
Summary: the feudal system.