The Feudal System
For many years the
Empire ruled the whole of Europe. It
in the year 487 AD. Suddenly everywhere was
. Powerful
and their armies burned down towns and cities, stole anything of
value and killed many ordinary people.
As a result a new way to organise
was called the
was developed. It
system. It describes a way of life where
people promised
and in return were granted
to farm.
They also got
and justice in return for agreeing to
the lord’s battles with him.
This system stretched from the
tenants-in-chief (or the
at the top through to the
), and the sub-tenants (or
down to the lowest member of society, the
.
The benefits included that people were
as well as
)
and had
. The disadvantages were that the lord had
complete
over those who served him. This meant that
peasants had to ask permission to
marry
Roman
chaos
society
shelter
safe
feudal
protection
travel
king
.
collapsed
control
warlords
food
service
knights
fight
or
peasants
land
lords
The life of peasants
The peasant’s life was one of hard work. Most people in the Middle
Ages lived in small villages of 20 or 30 families. The land was divided
into 3 huge fields. Each year 2 were sown with crops while one was
left fallow (unused) to allow it to recover. Each peasant had some
strips of land in each field. Most peasants had only one ox so they
had to join with other families to obtain the team of oxen needed to
pull a plough. After ploughing the land was sown with grain (wheat,
rye or barley) or peas and beans.
Most peasants also had a few cows, goats and sheep. Cows and
goats gave milk and cheese. Most peasants also kept chickens for
eggs. They also kept pigs. Peasants were allowed to graze their
livestock on common land. In the autumn they let their pigs roam in
the woods to eat acorns and beechnuts. However they did not have
enough food to keep many animals through the winter. Most of the
livestock was slaughtered in autumn and the meat was salted to
preserve it.
However life was not all hard work. People were allowed to rest on
Holy days (from which we get our word holiday). During them poor
people danced and wrestled. They also played a very rough form of
football. The men from 2 villages played on a ‘pitch’, which might
include woods and streams! There were no rules so broken limbs and
other injuries were common. People also enjoyed cruel 'sports' like
cockfighting and bear baiting. (A bear was chained to a post and
dogs were trained to attack it). Gambling was also common.