C. Chapter 21 Feudalism

D. Chapter 21 Feudalism

By Sharon McNutt

Feudalism in Western Europe

TCI Lesson 4

3.4 The Manor System

​

Life on the manor was hard but provided nearly everything they needed, including security.​

After the Fall of Rome

• When Rome fell to invading barbarians in 476 C.E., Europe was left with no central government or system of defense.  

• The most powerful rulers were those who controlled the most land and had the greatest warriors.

• One powerful group during this time was the Franks (from whom modern-day France takes its name). 

​A SELF CONTAINED WORLD

Notes

The rough accommodations of peasants and serfs

were part of everyday life in Europe’s feudal society.

​

The homes were part of the manor system, which tied

the lowest class of people to the land and their lord.

​

The manor was the feudal system’s basic unit, a walled-in,

self-contained world located on land belonging to a lord.

​

A typical manor included a manor house, a church, a village,

and lands with meadows, forests, pastures, and farms.

Lesson 3.4 - Manor System

Multiple Choice

Which of these was a result of the fall of Rome?

• the decline of Christianity

• a lack of a central government

• an end to attacks by barbarians

• the growth of a strong economy

Notes

The village provided such necessary businesses as a mill,

bakery, and forge where metal was worked into tools.

​

The manor’s farmland was divided into strips: one for the lord,

one for the church, and the rest for the peasants and serfs.

​

These laborers farmed the lord’s lands as well as their own.

​

They paid the lord rent for their land and fees for everything

they used on the manor, including the woods and meadows.

​

Lesson 3.4 - Manor System

Charlemagne

• Known as the greatest Frankish king.

• The Church was an important part of society and he promised to protect the Church from attack. In exchange, Pope Leo crowned him Holy Roman Emperor.

• Charlemagne unified nearly all the Christian lands of Europe into a single empire.

• After his death, the empire fell back into chaos.

Multiple Choice

This was a self-contained world located on land belonging to a lord.

It included a church, a village and lands.

• Manor

• County

• Parish

• Suburb

Multiple Choice

For which achievement is Charlemagne most remembered?

• He declared war against England.

• He became the first Christian ruler.

• He united much of Europe.

• He taught his people to write.

Multiple Choice

A manors farmland was divided between the lord, the church and:

• vassals

• king

• peasants and serfs

• knights

Western Europe was threatened by three main groups:

• Muslims, or the followers of the religion of Islam, advanced from the Middle East and northern Africa into what is now Spain. 

• The Magyars, a central Asian people, pressed in from the east.

• Vikings swept down from present-day Norway and Denmark.

LIFE ON THE MANOR

Notes

Life for peasants and serfs on the manor was hard.

​

Their average lifespan was 30 years, and that was if

they survived infancy. One out of six children did not.

​

Those who grew into adulthood spent their lives performing hard physical labor and got by on diets of bread, cheese, and vegetables.

​

Peasants and serfs did get time off, though, on Sundays and religious holidays. With the lord’s permission, they attend nearby fairs/markets.

Lesson 3.4 - Manor System

Multiple Choice

Which of the following best describes the Vikings?

• Northern people who made fierce raids on European villages.

• Muslim nomads who traded in goods from the Middle East

• Germanic people who swept south to topple the Roman Empire

• Central European people who originally migrated from Asia

Multiple Choice

Which statement best describes life on the manor for peasants and serfs?

• Life was easy, peasants and serfs could freely attend fairs and markets as well as having every Sunday off from work.

• Life was hard with the average lifespan of 30 years and one out of six children not surviving infancy.

• Life was hard with an average lifespan of 20 years and 50% of the children dying before they reached adulthood.

• Life was easy, peasants and serfs ate bread, cheese and vegetables and got time off for religious holidays.

Multiple Choice

What belongs in the empty box to complete the cause-and-effect diagram?

• Development of farming

• Expansion of freedoms

• Rise in prosperity

• Increase in attacks

Multiple Choice

The diet of serfs mostly consisted of bread, cheese and ____.

• Fruit

• Fish

• Vegetables

• Meat

Establishing Order

• Feudalism provided people with protection and safety by establishing a stable social order.

• Under this system, people were bound to one another by promises of loyalty. 

• All the land belonged to the monarch (usually a king, but sometimes a queen). A large amount of land was also owned by the Church. 

Notes

While peasants and serfs lived in one-room huts with dirt floors, the lord and his family lived more comfortably in the manor house.

​

The rooms in this fortified stone house had tiled

floors, tapestries on the walls, and fine furnishings.

​

After managing his lands, judging court cases,

or hunting wild game, the lord would feast on meat,

fish, bread, cheese, and fruit in his large dining room.

Lesson 3.4 - Manor System

Multiple Choice

What was the purpose of feudalism?

• it spread democracy by giving the people a voice in their own government

• it provided people with protection and safety by establishing a stable social order

• it created a fair society by balancing the powers of the monarch and the people

• it looked after the welfare of all the people by making sure they had all the necessities of life

Multiple Choice

The floor in a peasants home was most likely made of:

• Wood

• Tiles

• Stone

• Dirt

Strict Social System

• The king kept some land for himself and gave fiefs (FEEFS), or land grants, to his most important lords, who became his vassals.

• A lord then enlisted lesser lords and knights as his vassals.  

• At the bottom of the social system were peasants or serfs. Lords rented some of their land to the peasants who worked for them.  

Notes

Peasants and serfs were sometimes admitted to the manor

house on holidays or when the estate was under attack.

​

The church was the center of life on the manor. Church officials conducted religious services and also cared for the sick and needy.

​​

The church required peasants and serfs to work land for free and to give one-tenth of their produce to the church, but workers did this willingly because they believed that doing these things was the key to escaping eternal punishment and a better life after death.

Lesson 3.4 - Manor System

Multiple Choice

A king gave his most important lords fiefs, which were

• grants of land.

• large celebrations.

• war horses.

• market licenses.

Multiple Choice

When would serfs and peasants enter the manor house?

• Only at the end of the day (after the sun went down).

• On Sundays for Church services.

• Anytime - that's where they lived.

• On holidays or when the estate was under attack.

The Manorial System

• Most lords and wealthier knights lived on manors, or large estates.

• A manor included a castle or manor house, one or more villages, and the surrounding farmland.

• Manors were in the country, far from towns, which required peasants to produce everything the people on the manor needed.  

Multiple Choice

Who cared for the sick and the needy in a manor?

• church officials

• lord of the manor

• knights of the manor

• shamans and healers

Multiple Choice

Manors were self-sufficient, which means that they produced everything that people on the manor needed to live.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Why did peasants and serfs willingly give one tenth of their produce to the church?

• They believed that doing so was the key to escaping eternal punishment and having a better life after death.

• In many cases, the church paid more for their produce than the lord.

• The church provided protection when the manor was under attack.

• The church provided religious services and instructed children in the Bible.

• The monarch granted fiefs to the lords. In exchange, lords promised to provide protection and taxes to the monarch.

• Lords provided land and food to knights who, in exchange, promised to protect the manor.

• Lords provided land to farm to live and farm to peasants, who in return, produced food for the manor and paid their rents and taxes.

Ties of Loyalty

In the feudal system, people pledged loyalty to a lord—a ruler or powerful landholder. In return, they received protection from that lord. Warriors fought on behalf of their lords, and peasants worked the land. At the bottom of the system were serfs, or peasants who were not free to leave the lord's land without permission.

Multiple Choice

Which shows the correct order ranked from highest to lowest within the Feudal system of Medieval Europe?

• lords, monarch, peasants/serfs, knights

• knights, monarch, lords, peasants/serfs

• monarch, lords, knights, peasants/serfs

• monarch, knights, lords, peasants/serfs