Feudalism

= By Zoe, Cally, Adrienne and Corinna =

Feudalism was a type of government system that took place in medieval Europe. The government system began in A.D. 500 and ended in A.D.1500. William the Conqueror brought a new type of feudalism to England from France in 1066 when he thought the English government was failing. He gradually decided to create feudalism. Feudalism is where a king gives land to his best knights and friends. Anyone who had received land from the king, took an oath to serve the king. They would have to give military services to the king whenever he called for war. The people that received land from the king, became the lords of that section of land. They were given a church, a village, and villagers. Also, the lords were completely in charge of the laws in their town and could change them as they pleased.
 * __ What is Feudalism? __**



Medieval Life - Feudalism

__** What Were the Roles in the Feudal Pyramid? **__ There were different roles in the middle ages for different people. The king was in charge of the lords and the lords maintained their town and lands. The lowest class (the peasants/villains)had to be farmers and take care of the land or be servants for the lord. Barons/Lords were very important too. Most barons were people who the king trusted most or had done something amazing in battle for the king. The king would grant land to the barons and that would be like the baron's mini kingdom. In a baron's kingdom he could grant land to knights. Knights were very powerful too. A knight could give a piece of his land to a peasant or farmer.

Many people towards the end of the middle ages didn’t like the idea of feudalism. Most of the people who didn’t like feudalism were the lowest class and peasants because they realized it was an unfair lifestyle.They destroyed what they could. They also robbed the castles of the wealthy. Even with all that destruction, the angry villagers were not finished. They even threw rocks at the lords' horses!
 * __ Was There Any Rebellion During Feudalism? __**

There also was another type of rebellion in the kingdoms. The knights started to rebel at the end of the medieval period. They decided that if they had as much money as the king or the lord, why should they follow him? When a king would ask the receivers of given land to serve in war, they ignored it and said no, even though the receivers took an oath. After a while, the king got weaker because he didn’t have enough troops to support his kingdom.

[|"Knights in Battle"] By Frank Green on [|Flickr]

__** The Noble's Rights **__ Knights, barons/lords had very good lives, other than the fact that they would have to fight for the king to keep their received land. When they weren’t in war, they lived on their land and had the lower class working for them. These nobles could run their domain like a miniature kingdom. They had the complete judicial power over anything that might happen. Most of the crimes committed were small enough to just be paid for by a fine. A noble on a good, large amount of land could produce a nice income by getting the fines and his peoples’ taxes. Knights, barons and lords could tax their workers as highly as they wanted to, but if they weren’t merciful, they would get spoken to by their superiors a lot. If they found any shipwrecks or minerals on their land, they would be able to keep what they found. The nobles could also wear spurs of metal on their boots, the metal of the spurs determine what rank of knight they were. Spurs are devices with spikes on them worn on a riders heel to make their horse go faster. Even though all of these different nobles lives were great, the barons had the best lives. If a baron were to come to a knight’s land, they would be required to give shelter and food to the barons.

__** The Fall of Feudalism **__ At first feudalism worked well, but as time went on everyone realized it wasn’t fair. People also started to use money, so the land based economy feudalism, soon turned into a money based economy. The knights and barons gave up fighting for the king and just paid a rent for their domain, this cut their right With no fighters left for the king to use, he had to buy fighters for the wars he had to fight. Since the king had to actually buy fighters he was considered even weaker than before. The warfare would get paid for by taxes and loans, this made the nobles weaker. When a noble became too weak, the king would take back his land. As this weakening was happening, the peasants would move into bigger towns and win their freedom. That destroyed the rule of a Lords ownership over his peasants. At the end of the middle ages, feudalism still somewhat existed, but King Henry VIII gave the last blow. In the feudal pyramid, the pope was higher than the king. King Henry VIII broke away from the pope, and the feudal system had ended.



by Julia Riber Pitt. Random Ramblings

CITATIONS FOR SITES.

"Feudalism." //Middle Ages//. Middle Ages.org/uk. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. .

"Medieval Life - Feudalism." //History on the Net Main Page//. History on the Net. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. .

"The Middle Ages: Feudal Life." //Learner.org//. Learner.org. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. .

"THE MIDDLE AGES: THE FEUDAL SYSTEM." //ThinkQuest//. Oracle Foundation. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. .