medieval society and feudalism

1. MEDIEVAL SOCIETY

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. THE NOBLES
The 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

6. NOBLEMEN
Noblemen 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

7. NOBLEWOMEN
Their 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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.

12. RELIGIOUS ORDERS
Definition:
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

13. THE PEASANTS
They belonged to the working state and they didn’t have privileges
90% of the population of the European population were peasant
There were two types of peasants
SERFS FREEMEN

14. EVERYDAY LIFE OF PEASANTS
They lived in small villages and their houses were very poor.
Besides, they lived also with their animals

15. Peasant not only grew food, but also did other things like:
Make clothes
Make furniture
Build and repare houses
THEY WERE SELF-SUFICIENT

16. 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

17. HOMEWORK
Write 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

18. THE PEASANTS’ WORK
Working from sunrise to sunset
The whole family worked
They used basic tools
sickles scythes hoes
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
Roman plough

19. 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

20. FEUDALISM WAS ALSO A CHAIN OF POWER TO
ESTABLISH A
HIERARCHY BETWEEN
DIFFERENT NOBLES AND
NOBLES WITH THEIR
SERFS
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

21. 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

22. A FIEF
1. IT WAS ALSO CALLED MANOR
2. WHAT WAS A FIEF? THE LAND THAT A KING GAVE TO A
NOBLE IN EXCHANGE OF HIS LOYALTY

23. 3. WHAT DID A FIEF HAVE?
CASTLE VILLAGES
AGRICULTURAL LAND
DEMESNE: EVERYTHING
WHICH WAS GROWN
THERE WAS A TOTAL
PROPERTY OF THE LORD
LANDS RENTED
BY THE
PEASANTS
FOREST

25. 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