MEDIEVAL SOCIETY

Medieval people weren’t equals. The society was divided intro three groups according to their privileges, rights and duties

Those groups were known as estates:

NOBILITY:

• They were the knights and their families

• The king was also a noble

• Their duty was to defend the population

• It was a priviledge state because:

• They did not pay taxes

• They did not do manual work

• They take part in the government

CLERGY:

• They were the monks, priests and nuns

• Their duty was to pray for the spiritual salvation of the people

• They also took part in the government of some kingdoms

• This state was divided because some of them came from the Nobility and the rest from the working state

• It was a priviledge state because:

• They did not pay taxes

• Some of them held important positions in the government

• The Clergy had its own judicial system

WORKERS:

• Most of them were peasants, but there were also craftsmen and merchants in the cities

•Their duty was to produce food and other things for the society

•There were many differences between the workers from the countryside and those from the cities

•They didn’t have priviledge and they had to pay all the taxes

THE NOBLESThe nobility had privileges because they didn’t have to pay taxes, but not all the nobles had the same life and wealth

Some nobles were very rich, almost like the king, and they owned large fiefs, a private army and castles.

However, most of them only had their horses and weapons and usually fought for another noble. They were the knights

NOBLEMENNoblemen had a clear duty: Fight and defend their serfs and their king

They started a training when they were eight years old. They were pages and they served to an important noble

When they were fifteen years old they became squires and they also served to a noble

If they were brave and capable, they became knights in a ceremony

Nobles did not have wars all the time. As a result, they trained in tournaments and hunting

NOBLEWOMENTheir main duty was to marry and have children in order to continue the lineage

They were forced to get married when they were children. Most of the times, the main reason of a marriage was a political deal

However, noblewomen did other things like:

-Organise the servants

-Educate their children

-Sewing and weaving

-Pray

They did not have freedom because they have to obey their parents and then their husbands

THE CLERGY• They were the monks, priests and nuns

• Their duty was to pray for the spiritual salvation of the people

• They also took part in the government of some kingdoms

• This state was divided because some of them came from the Nobility and the rest from the working state

• It was a priviledge state because:

• They did not pay taxes

• Some of them held important positions in the government

• The Clergy had its own judicial system

ORGANIZATION OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Catholic Church had a total hierarchy

The Pope was the head of the Church. He was not only a religious leader but also the ruler of the Papal State in Italy

Popes came from the nobility and they had a big influence in the Western European monarchies because they could excommunicate kings

If a king was excommunicated, he lost all his power

Below the Pope, the Catholic Church was organized in two branches:

-Secular Clergy

-Regular Clergy

SECULAR CLERGY

Definition: Bishops and priest who do not belong to any religious order or a monastery

The leaders were the bishops. They controlled a diocese and a cathedral

A diocese was like a province inside of the Catholic Church. It was divided in various parishes where priests worked and prayed in churches

REGULAR CLERGY

Definition: Members of the Church who belonged to a religious order

Each religious

order was ruled by an

abbot

Then, the superiors of each order

controlled a monastery

Friars, monks and nuns

worked lived in

monasteries.

RELIGIOUS ORDERSDefinition:

In Christianity, a group of men or women who live under religious vows.

The three vows commonly taken are to relinquish all possessions and personal choices (vows of poverty and obedience) and not to get married (a vow of chastity). Religious orders are found in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church

Besides, each religious order had a different kind of rule. For example, Franciscans had a rule in order to protect the nature .

However, there were many differences between the religious orders:

• Some orders were closed

• Each order had a habit or custome in order to distinguish them

• Some orders were rich and other orders lived in the poverty

THE PEASANTS

90% of the population of the European population were peasant

They belonged to the working state and they didn’t have privileges

There were two types of peasants

SERFS FREEMEN

EVERYDAY LIFE OF PEASANTS

They lived in small villages and their houses were very poor.

Besides, they lived also with their animals

Peasant not only grew food, but also did other things like:

Make clothes

Make furniture

Build and repare houses

THEY WERE SELF-SUFICIENT

But their conditions of life were very poor

They were very weak because their diet was low in proteins (fish and meat)

As a result, many of them died when there were disasters like droughts, floods, plagues or wars

HOMEWORKWrite three compositions describing a day in your life if you were a noble, a priest and a peasant during the

Middle Ages.

(Each composition must have 150 words)

Write by hand all the compostions on a separate paper

THE PEASANTS’ WORKWorking from sunrise to sunset

The whole family worked

They used basic tools

They didn’t use fertilisers. Thus, they left half of their land fallow every year. The next year, that part of land would be fertile again

sickles scythes hoes

Roman plough

WHAT WAS FEUDALISM?IT WAS A SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEM TO...

BOOST THE CONTROL OF THE NOBLES OVER

THEIR LANDS

As a result, nobles had a total control over their

lands or fief.

The king did not have a total power in their lands.

Why?

Because the nobles ruled in the name of the king in exchange of a fief or manor (lands and castle). However, nobles had the practical power in their lands

Thus, they limited the power of the king

ESTABLISH A HIERARCHY BETWEEN

DIFFERENT NOBLES AND NOBLES WITH THEIR

SERFS

FEUDALISM WAS ALSO A CHAIN OF POWER TO

1. Great nobles accepted the supremacy of the king.

2. However those nobles had a total power in their lands.

3. They became vassals of the king.

4. They paid homage sworing to defend him in the war

5. In exachange they had lands and the total power in those lands

Great nobles also made that deal with lower nobles.

Great nobles – or barons - gave them a smaller fief, and the lower nobles supported him in case of war or paying

taxes

In theory, king could control all the nobles. But the reality was that great nobles had more power

and they sometimes challenged and fought

against the king

This chain of power had also a relation between peasants and

nobles.

Peasants worked for the nobles, and the nobles protected them

A FIEF1. IT WAS ALSO CALLED MANOR

2. WHAT WAS A FIEF?THE LAND THAT A KING GAVE TO A NOBLE IN EXCHANGE OF HIS LOYALTY

3. WHAT DID A FIEF HAVE?

CASTLE VILLAGES

DEMESNE: EVERYTHING WHICH WAS GROWN THERE WAS A TOTAL PROPERTY OF THE LORD

AGRICULTURAL LAND

LANDS RENTED BY THE PEASANTS

FOREST

WHICH WERE THE POWERS OF THE LORD IN HIS FIEF?

To administer justice

To collect taxes:

• From the rent of the peasants’ land

• From the mill, the oven and the press

• The toll from bridges and borders of the fief

To allow peasant to hunt or collect wood in his forest

Some peasants worked in the demesne of the lord