Feudal

ism

The Manor System

Peasant Life

Peasants had to pay many taxes to the lord.

Houses were very small and had dirt floors.

Average life expectancy was about 35 years.

Believed that God determined a person’s place in society.

Knights

To defend their territories, lords raised private armies of knights. In exchange for military

service, knights were rewarded with land.

Knight’s began training at age 7. Became a full Knight at age

21.

Pasted time by training for war.

Knights & Warfare

Tournaments Combined recreation

with combat training. Jousting

Knights guarded castles The castle was designed

for defense Moats Watch towers Thick walls

Literature of Chivalry

Medieval literature downplayed the brutality of knighthood and feudal warfare.

Troubadours were traveling poet-musicians. King Arthur The Song of Roland

Under the code of chivalry, a knight’s duty to his lady became as important as his duty to his lord. The hero’s difficulties resulted from a conflict

between these two obligations.

Women’s Role in Feudal Society

• Women were viewed as inferior to men.

• Noblewomen– Ran the castle/manor while husband was

away.– The lives of most noblewomen were

limited.– Couldn’t inherit land.

• Peasant Women– Poor and powerless.– Performed essential work necessary to

maintain life on the manor.

Feudalism - a political system in which a lord owned all the land while vassals and serfs farmed it.

Noble- belonging to a hereditary class with high social or political status; aristocratic.

Knight- a man who served his sovereign or lord as a mounted soldier in armor.

Vassal- a person granted the use of land, in return for rendering homage, fealty, and usually military service or its equivalent to a lord

Serf- a person required to render services to a lord, commonly attached to the lord's land.

Chivalry- the rules and customs of medieval knighthood, including courtesy, generosity, valor, and dexterity in arms.