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●In Europe during the Middle Ages, the feudal and
manorial systems governed life and required people to
perform certain duties and obligations.
●Feudalism originated partly as result
of Viking and Muslim invasions
●Kings unable to defend their lands,
lands of their nobles
●Nobles had to find way to defend own
lands
●Built castles, often on hills
●Not elaborate structures; built of
wood, used as place of shelter in
case of attack
Origins of Feudalism Knights and Lords●Nobles needed trained soldiers to
defend castles
●Knights most important, highly skilled
soldiers
●Mounted knights in heavy armor best
defenders
●Being a knight expensive; had to
maintain weapons, armor, horses
●Knights demanded payment for services
●Knights were usually paid for their services with land
●Land given to knight for service was called a fief
oAnyone accepting a fief was called a vassal
oPerson from whom he accepted fief was his lord
●Historians call system of exchanging land for service the feudal system, or feudalism
Oath of Fealty
●Lords, vassals in feudal system had duties to fulfill to one another
●Knight’s chief duty as vassal to provide military service to his lord
●Had to promise to remain loyal; promise called oath of fealty
Financial Obligations
●Knight had certain financial obligations to lord
●Knight obligated to pay ransom for lord’s release if captured in battle
●Gave money to lord on special occasions, such as knighting of son
Lord’s Obligations
●Lord had to treat knights fairly, not demanding too much time, money
●Had to protect knight if attacked by enemies
●Had to act as judge in disputes between knights
●Therefore, feudalism was built upon relationships of
obligation and service.
●A Knight’s Duties to His Lord included:oProvide military service
oRemain loyal and faithful
oGive money on special occasions
●A Lord’s Duties to His Knights included:oGive land
oProtect from attack
oResolve disputes between knights
●Europe’s feudal system incredibly
complex
●Person could be both lord, vassal
●Some knights with large fiefs gave
small pieces of land to other knights,
created many levels of obligations
●One knight could serve many lords;
no prohibition against knight
accepting fiefs from more than one
noble
Lord and Vassal
●Almost everyone in system served more
than one lord
●Theoretically, everyone supposed to be
loyal to the king
●In practice, not everyone loyal
●Some powerful nobles as strong as
kings they were supposed to serve,
ignored duties as vassals
●Feudal rules specific to time, place;
could change over time; England’s rules
not same as France’s rules
Fealty to King
The feudal system was a political and social system. A related system
governed medieval economics. This system was called the manorial system
because it was built around large estates called manors.
●Manors owned by
wealthy lords,
knights
●Peasants farmed
manor fields
●Were given
protection, plots of
land to cultivate for
selves
Lords, Peasants, and
Serfs ●Most peasants on
farm were serfs,
tied to manor
●Not slaves, could
not be sold away
from manor
●But could not leave,
marry without lord’s
permission
Serfdom
●Manors had some
free people who
rented land from
lord
●Others included
landowning
peasants, skilled
workers like
blacksmiths, millers
●Also had a priest for
spiritual needs
Free People
●Most of manor’s land occupied by fields for crops, pastures for animals
●Middle Ages farmers learned that leaving field empty for year improved soil
●In time, practice developed into three-field crop rotation system
●One field planted in spring for fall
harvest
●Another field planted in winter for
spring harvest
●Third field remained unplanted for
year
Rotation●Each manor included fortified
house for noble family, village for
peasants, serfs
●Goal to make manor self-sufficient
●Typical manor also included
church, mill, blacksmith
Small Village
Consider:
Lords' farmlands were taken care of, produced food; peasants
were provided protection from invaders
●Since the power and security of a lord depended upon
his ability to defend himself, fief owners began to build
sturdy castles. Castles were designed to withstand
sieges and to mount a defense.
●At first castles were made of wood. But they were too
easy to burn down. By 1100 CE, castles were built of
stone. Thick walls surrounded a castle. Inside these
thick walls, there were many buildings.
●At the first sign of trouble, the commoners rushed to
get inside the castle walls before the gates closed and
shut them out.
●After their successful invasion and conquest of England, the Normans began a period of castle building that was to last right through the medieval period.
●Although castles had been built in England since the time of the Romans, they had never been built with such speed or across such a wide area.
●The earliest castles built by the Normans were either constructed within an existing Roman Fort or were Motte and Bailey castles.
●These were soon replaced by Stone Keep castles as they offered better protection from attack.
●Concentric castles developed during the 12th and 13th Centuries and were virtually impossible to conquer.
● Earliest form ● Built from scratch by the Normans● two parts: the Motte and the Bailey● Motte -a large hill made of earth on which was
built a wooden keep or lookout. The outer edge was then surrounded with a large wooden fence called a palisade.
● Bailey -separated from the Motte by a wooden bridge that could be removed if the Bailey was occupied by enemies. part of the castle where people lived and animals were kept. A large castle might have more than one Bailey.
● both the Motte and Bailey would be surrounded by a ditch, sometimes filled with water. A drawbridge was used for access to the castle.
● replaced the Motte and Bailey castles as it offered a better form of defense. A stone keep was the central feature, with thick walls and few windows. Entrance to the keep was by stone steps leading to the first floor. The kitchens were situated on the ground floor while living quarters were on the upper floors.
● The first keeps were rectangular in shape but later ones were often circular.
● surrounded by a thick stone wall containing turrets for lookouts.
● The Bailey was now the area outside the keep but within the outer walls and shelter for animals or craft workshops might be built against the walls. The entire castle might be surrounded by a ditch or moat and entrance to the castle was by drawbridge.
●The central feature of
the stone keep castle,
this space was
reserved for the lord
who owned the castle,
or his guests or
representatives.
●last place of refuge if
the outer defenses
fell.
● developed in the 12th and 13th Centuries and offered the best protection against attack.
● The main feature of the concentric castle is its walls. An inner wall built of thick stone with turrets positioned at intervals is then surrounded by an equally thick but lower stone wall. The walls are built at different levels so that archers on the inner walls can fire over the archers on the outer walls.
● The space between the two walls was known as the 'death hole' for being trapped within the walls would almost certainly result in death for the attacker. The entire castle was then often surrounded with a moat and entry would be across a drawbridge.
● Typical military confrontation in medieval times was for one side to
mount an attack on opponent's castle.
● This is called siege warfare.
● When properly defended, they had the choice whether to assault the
castle directly or to starve the people out by blocking food deliveries, or
to employ war machines specifically designed to destroy or circumvent
castle defenses.
● If besieging armies decided on a direct assault, there was a wide
variety of siege tools that could be used to try to penetrate castle
fortresses.
●Siege engines are devices that are designed to break or circumvent city walls and other fortifications.
●Two examples of common siege engines during the Middle Ages are the catapult and the trebuchet.
●Catapults and trebuchets used mechanical energy to fling large projectiles to batter down stone walls.
●Also used were the battering ram and the siege tower, a wooden tower on wheels that allowed attackers to climb up and over castle walls, while protected somewhat from enemy arrows.
●Another weapon was the petard, an explosive device designed specifically for breaching gates and walls. The petard had to be placed directly against the surface of the fortress.
● setting fires against castle walls in an effort to decompose
the cement that held together the individual stones so they
could be readily knocked over.
●indirect means was the practice of mining, whereby tunnels
were dug under the walls to weaken the foundations and
destroy them.
●catapulting of diseased animals or human corpses over the
walls in order to promote disease which would force the
defenders to surrender, a primitive form of biological
warfare.
England's Edward I is said to have used a fearsome machine,
called "Warwolf," to batter his enemies' castle walls into rubble.
Historians think Warwolf was a wooden trebuchet, a missile-
throwing siege weapon that dominated siege warfare until cannons
were invented. In the Scottish countryside, teams build two
trebuchet designs side by side, using medieval building techniques.
Will either, or both, be capable of destroying a model castle wall at
a distance of 200 yards (182 meters)?