1. Renaissance
Chapter One:
Times of Change

2. Middle Ages
• Most of Europe was organized in a system
called feudalism
• Feudalism was set up in a hierarchy
• Whatever level of the feudalism hierarchy
you were born in is the level you would die
in (if born into peasantry, you would live
and die as a peasant)
• Feudalism was based on land, loyalty, and
duty

3. Feudalism – Knights and Nobles
• In order for nobles or knights to obtain
land they would have to swear oaths of
allegiance (loyalty to the king)
– Pieces of land were referred to as manors or
fiefs

4. Feudalism – Barons and Bishops
• Barons and Bishops had the same
amount of power
• Bishops were given land from the crown
• Over time the church became a very large
landowner
• This led to the church being very important
to the people of medieval times

5. Country Life
• Most people in the middle ages were peasants
• Peasants lived in rural villages that were located
on a manor
• Peasants worked cooperatively helping each
other do various tasks (like plowing and haying)
• In exchange for use of the land the peasants
had to pay the nobles a portion of what they
produced
• On top of paying them for the land, they were
also expected to build roads, clear forests, and
do any other work that the lord ordered.

6. • Peasants were uneducated
• Some peasants were known as freemen
who rented land from the lord or worked
for pay.
• Most peasants were serfs
• Serfs were not allowed to leave the manor
without permission

7. Town Life
• Most towns were located near a castle, palace,
or a large monastery
• Peasants would build stone walls around their
town to protect them from rival cities and lords
• Towns were overcrowded and dirty, but provided
a chance for freedom and new opportunities
– Freedoms included: doing whatever they wished,
marrying whoever they wanted, and being free to
make money

8. Towns
• Guilds controlled the prices of goods, set quality
standards, and decided who would be allowed to
train or apprentice for certain trades
• Guilds also took care of family members if an
accident occurred
• In order to open your own shop you would have
to become a master, but first you would have to
train to become a journeyman to get admitted
into the guild. From there you would work to
become a master

9. Challenging the Feudal System
• Feudal system remained strong for hundreds of
years
• In 1337 war broke out between England and
France
• This war was called “The Hundred Year War”
• This war caused the peasants to revolt because
they were the ones who had to pay for it
– War is expensive so what the crown did to pay for the
war was raise the taxes that the peasants paid
• Peasants banded together and killed many
nobles and burned manor houses

10. The Black Death
• The black death was the next blow to the
feudal system
• Millions of Europeans died between 1346
and 1350
• Outbreaks of the plague continued for the
next several hundred years
• This caused labour shortages on the
manor and many feudal estates went
bankrupt

11. The Black Death
• Nobles began renting and selling land to
the serfs
• Serfs were released from their obligation
to their lords
• All of this came about because the
reduced labour force
• Serfs were able to leave one lord to go
work for another…we start to see a
competitive market place for workers

12. A tidbit about clocks
• People normally told time by using sun
dials, water clocks, and hourglasses.
• People started to become more
dependent on the time so in the
early 1300s mechanical clocks
were developed

13. Wealth
• With the rise of towns, society became less rigid
• People were now able to move up from one social
level to another
• A new structure began to emerge
• Power was now based on money, not ownership of
land
• People were more interested in material position
and began displaying their wealth through the
clothing they wore, decorations, furniture, and food
• Sumptuary Laws were introduced because of the
new found wealth

14. Sumptuary Laws
• Sumptuary laws were put in place to
control consumption (how people spent
their money)
• This restricted what people of different
classes could wear

15. Society Based on Religion
• Religion was a central part of people’s
lives
• Worldview was shaped by the Christian
church
• Because life was filled with sickness,
famine, and war, the hope of a better life
after death was important (suffer today,
paradise tomorrow)

16. The Church Hierarchy
Pope
Archbishop
Bishops
Priests
Parishioners

17. The Church Community
• Every group in the church hierarchy had the duty
to be obedient to the group above it and to
provide services to the group below
• Members of the congregation were expected to
pay the church a tithe (a portion of their crops or
earnings)
• During the middles ages thousands of churches
were built
– Between the years 900 A.D. and 1000 A.D. over 1500
churches were built just in France
• Monks and nuns were well educated

18. Changing Attitudes Towards
Religion
• Black Death made people question faith
• Everyone was affected, even the church
• No one was safe
• People felt that God had abandoned them
because their prayers were unanswered
and people kept dying
• People also questioned the wealth of the
church
• A big change was occuring

19. A New Age
• The emergence of busy towns and a merchant
class meant that society was less rigidly
organized.
• Worldly pleasure became more important
• What came next was called the “Renaissance”
• This term was coined by French historian Jules
Michelet
• Renaissance was the rebirth of classical
knowledge and learning
• The Renaissance movement began in Italy and
spread through Europe