2. THE BASIC IDEA
Feudalism was a system in the Middle Ages that
showed the social classes. The only reason it
existed was to organize the people of a kingdom.
It already existed, however, it was never put
down on paper to show the social classes.
3. HOW IT WORKS
In the Middle Ages, you were basically sorted
into categories, or social classes. Look at this
like a triangle. The king was at the very top of
the triangle, because he was the leader of the
kingdom. Then come the nobles. These people
were wealthy, with a luxurious life in large
manors. Next come the knights, the protectors
of the nobles’ estates. At the bottom are the
serfs. The triangle also shows how many people
are in each category, going from one little tip to
a big, broad area.
5. RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE CLASSES
Feudalism is just a way of organizing the social
classes; but manorialism is a description of the
relationships between classes. Start at the top
of the triangle again. The king has a lot of gold
left over from running the kingdom, as he’s the
king. So he decides to give a huge estate with a
large manor to the nobles. Now the nobles need
people to protect their estate, so they hire a
knight or knights to guard them in exchange for
food and shelter. The nobles also need people to
keep the grounds flourishing, so they hire serfs.
The serfs tend the gardens and prune the
grounds in barter for food and shelter, like the
knights.
6. HOW DID FEUDALISM HELP A KINGDOM TO
FAIL?
Feudalism is a logical system, but not all people
were happy with it (namely the serfs). The serfs
of England got together and wrote the Magna
Carta, (which was basically an English
constitution) giving them rights to houses of
their own and other various freedoms. They
forced the king to sign their freedom, so the
king lost control and feudalism was put to an end.
