Feudal Society
- Feudalism: refers to the political and social order of societies that decentralize public authority and responsibility rather than vest them in a central government.
- Protect their lands and maintain public order during a period of weak central authority and invasions.
- Revolved around political and military relationships.
- Most important: Lord & Vassals
- Lord
- Provided the vassal with a grant known as a benefice, such as grants of lands, or fiefs, with which the vassal supported himself and his family--it allowed the vassal to devote his time and energy to the service of his lord rather than to his family.
- Provided resources the vassal needed to maintain horses and to outfit himself with expensive military equipment, such as armor and weapons.
- A lord with several vassals might himself be a vassal to a higher lord, who might be one of the several vassals to yet a greater lord in a line of relationships extending from local communities to a king.
- Vassal
- Owed his lord loyalty, obedience, respect, counsel, and military service.
- Supervised his own affairs and maintained order on the lands that made up his benefice, when his services were not needed.
- Spent a lot of time learning and practicing horsemanship and military arts.
- Women could be vassals, but could not fight.
- Became increasingly important to the social order, due to their political and legal rights over their benefices--resulted in them becoming responsible for the organization of local public works projects, the resolution of legal disputes, and the administration of justice, and a hereditary class of political authorities as well as military specialists.
- Were able to pass their benefices along to their heirs.
- Dependence on the personal relationship between lord and vassal lead to instability into the political order--vassals sometimes decide to pursue their own interests rather than those of their lords.
Manor System
- A large estate consisting of fields, meadows, forests, agricultural tools, domestic animals, and sometimes lakes, or rivers, as well as serfs bound to land.
- Principle form of agricultural organization.
- Self-sufficient communities
- Rural society
- Lord of the manor: a prominent political or military figure who had a place in the feudal hierarchy.
- Provided government, administration, police services, and justice for the manor.
- Maintained mills, bakeries, breweries, and wineries
- Serfs: produced most of the iron tools, leather goods, domestic utensils, and textiles that the manorial community needed.
- High middle ages: craft skills developed on manors, which helped the economic development in western Europe.
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