Medieval Society Medieval Society In under five minutes

Medieval Society

Medieval Society In under five minutes European society was organized in a hierarchical system called Feudalism was based on land, loyalty and duty Lords owned land, had knights who swore fealty and protected the land, and had peasants who worked the land Some peasants were freemen who rented land, others were serfs who were under their Lord's command Peasants had to give their lord a portion of what they produced They were expected to do any other work the lord ordered Were often illiterate

Feudal Pyramid Who does this system favour? The Feudal system was in effect for hundreds of years in Europe However, it eventually began to weaken and disappeared altogether Think-Pair-Share: What may have caused this?

Feudal System – Good or Bad? • “[The peasant] found it impossible to accumulate any wealth and for centuries remained in a situation of extreme poverty and almost complete lack of freedom. What the peasants and serfs did receive in return was the protection of the lord's army and if needed, the right to run into the castle walls. . . To survive, to achieve some kind of stability, millions of people suffered repression, impoverishment and exploitation. ” – • Cynthia Smith “In spite of the harsh life to which it condemned peasants, manorialism was. . . highly successful. . . The emergence of manorialism. . . was followed by three centuries of agricultural boom. . . Throughout Europe, the serfs cut down forests, drained swamps, and brought grasslands under the plow. Thousands of new villages sprang up, and by 1300 the population of Europe had risen roughly forty million to about one hundred million. ” – Thomas H. Greer and Gavin Lewis

Analyzing Image • Questions to consider: – What does the image show? – Who created the image and why? – When was the image created? – What was the purpose of the image? • To entertain, to inform, to persuade?

• Title of the image is “Haying” • It was created between 1412 and 1416 • The artists were the Limbourg Brothers – Pol, Herman and Johan • It was one of many miniatures produced for a prayer book called Les tres riches heures du Duc de Berry – Duke of Berry was the King of France's brother

Town Life • Towns grew around castles or monasteries • Towns were usually dirty and crowded – Often infested with rats • They offered new opportunities and freedoms to those we did not want to be indentured • Production of goods and trades was organized by guilds – Master, Journeyman, Apprentice