History and culture 2 THE RISE AND DECLINE OF FEUDALISM
Scenario
The feudal system: a pyramidal society
▶ Pyramid of feudal hierarchy.
The Normans introduced the feudal system into England. The country that William I had conquered in 1066 was a rural territory that the King subdivided among the Norman lords who had fought with him and the Church that was supporting him. In the feudal social system the King was at the top of the social ladder. Below him were the barons, who included all the nobles who were direct vassals of the King, regardless of their rank, and bishops. Bishops and abbots held the land on behalf of the Church. The nobility’s best soldiers, the knights, were loyal to the barons and received lands in return for their favours. KING All these categories not only owned the land but also the people who lived and worked on it: the landless serfs who were at the bottom of the feudal pyramid. Serfs were ‘unfree’ and tied to the land: they shaped the farming landscape and had to work BARONS long hours for the landlord, but not all peasants were serfs. Many were freemen who owned their own land, but had to pay a high rent to greater landowners. The feudal system began a slow yet inexorable decline in the 13th and 14th KNIGHTS centuries. Some great events contributed to this remarkable social change: the signing of the Magna Carta, the Black Death and the Peasants’ Revolt. The Magna Carta of 1215 with its idea of a limited monarchy led to the PEASANTS foundation of modern democracy. Killing up to half of the population, the Black Death was the largest disaster in European history. The 1381 Peasants’ Revolt called for the abolition of serfdom, threatening the existing social structure and the country’s ruling elite. SERFS
Women in the Middle Ages
▲ An illustration of Christine de Pizan, poet and author at the court of King Charles V of France, from The Book of the Queen (ca. 1410).
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The role of women gradually grew in importance during the Middle Ages. Aristocratic women could exercise considerable power through their possession of land. Though women generally had to accept combined marriages, they could nonetheless enjoy a certain degree of independence and some economic rights. Another field where women enjoyed considerable authority was religion. Monasteries and nunneries were often run by abbesses. In the convent, nuns were usually given some sort of education, and they, in turn, provided education for upper-class girls. As for the lower classes, peasant women had many domestic responsibilities, including caring for children, preparing food, and tending livestock. During the harvest, women often joined their husbands in the fields to bring in the crops. Women often participated in vital cottage industries, such as brewing, baking and manufacturing textiles. Women living in towns assisted men in a variety of trades and crafts, including the production of textiles, leather goods, and metal work. Some women ran market-stalls and inns, while others worked as nurses and even acted as medical practitioners.
1 From the origins to the end of the Middle Ages EUROPASS © Casa Editrice G. Principato SpA
