What is Feudalism?• After Charlemagne’s empire fell, landowning

nobles became more powerful, & peasants looked to nobles for protection. Under the system known as feudalism, landowning nobles governed & protected the people in return for services, such as serving as a solider for farming the nobles’ land.

• Nobles were both lords & vassals. A vassal was a noble who served a lord of a higher rank.

• Fief – land granted to a vassal.

What is Feudalism?• Knights were vassals who fought in war on

horseback. They wore coats of armor called mail.

• Fiefs were called manors. Lords ruled manors, & peasants farmed the land. Some peasants were free, had rights, & could move. Most peasants were serfs, which meant they could not leave the manor, own property, or marry without the lords approval. Lords protected serfs.

What is Feudalism?• To gain freedom, a serf could run away &

remain in a town for a year. The he or she would be considered free. By the end of the Middle Ages, many serfs could buy their freedom.

• New technology increased crop productivity in the Middle Ages. The wheeled plow, the horse collar, water & wind-powered mills, & crop rotation helped farmers produced more food.

Life in Feudal Europe

What Was Peasant Life

Like?

How did Nobles Live?

• Trade and CitiesMain idea

How were cities

governed?

Main idea

Crafts & Guilds

Main idea

What was city life

like?

Life in Feudal EuropeWhat Was Peasant Life Like?How did Nobles Live?

Trade and CitiesMain idea

How were cities governed?

Main idea

Crafts & GuildsMain idea

What was city life like?