Medieval Feudalism Reading Guide
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Unit 2: The Middle Ages • Scaffolded Reader
Intro to Middle Ages: Feudalism & Manorialism
ESL Supported
Key Terms • Vocabulario Clave
Feudalism (Feudalismo):
A social system where lords give land and protection in exchange for military service and loyalty.
Vassal (Vasallo):
A warrior or noble who swore an oath of loyalty to serve a lord in a military capacity.
Knight (Caballero):
A heavily armored horse soldier who fought for a lord and held high social status.
The Development of Feudalism
The Vikings posed a threat to the safety of people in Europe. As organized governments such as the Carolingian Empire were torn apart, people began to turn to local landed aristocrats, or nobles, to protect them. To survive, it became important to find a powerful lord who could offer protection in return for service. This led to the formation of a new political and social order in medieval Europe known as feudalism. One of the major characteristics of feudalism was the idea of vassalage, under feudalism, a man who served a lord in a military capacity.
Knights and Vassals
In Germanic society, warriors swore an oath of loyalty to their leaders and fought in battles for them. The leaders, in turn, took care of the warriors' needs. By the eighth century, a man who served a lord in a military capacity was known as a vassal.
The Frankish army had originally consisted of foot soldiers dressed in coats of mail—armor made of metal links or plates—and armed with swords. Horsemen had been throwers of spears. In the eighth century, however, larger horses and the stirrup were introduced. Now horsemen were armored in coats of mail because the larger horses could carry the weight. With stirrups to keep them on their horses, they wielded long lances that enabled them to act as battering rams. For almost 500 years, warfare in Europe was dominated by heavily armored cavalry, or knights, as they came to be called. The knights had great social prestige and formed the backbone of the European aristocracy.
Resumen en español • Spanish Summary (Párrafos 1–3)
Los ataques de los vikingos destruyeron el orden y los gobiernos centrales. Para protegerse, las personas buscaron ayuda en nobles poderosos a cambio de trabajo y servicio militar, creando el sistema del feudalismo. Los guerreros que juraban lealtad eran vasallos. Con la llegada del estribo y caballos más grandes, los caballeros con armaduras pesadas se convirtieron en la fuerza militar más poderosa y respetada de Europa medieval.
Adapted from McGraw Hill World History Page 1 of 4
Intro to Middle Ages: Feudalism & Manorialism Part II: Land & The Feudal Contract
It was expensive to have a horse, armor, and weapons. It also took more time and practice to learn to use these instruments skillfully. With the breakdown of royal governments, the more powerful nobles took control of large areas of land. When these lords wanted men to fight for them, they granted each vassal a piece of land that supported the vassal and his family. In the Early Middle Ages, when wealth was based primarily on land, it was the best gift a lord could give to a vassal.
The Feudal Contract
In feudal society, loyalty to one's lord was the chief virtue. The relationship between lord and vassal was made official by a ceremony:
Primary Source • Fuente Primaria
‘The man should put his hands together as a sign of humility, and place them between the two hands of his lord as a token that he vows everything to him and promises faith to him; and the lord should receive him and promise to keep faith with him. Then the man should say: ‘Sir, I enter your homage and faith and become your man by mouth and hands, and I swear and promise to keep faith and loyalty to you against all others.’
—from A Source Book for Medieval History
Feudalism became increasingly complicated. The vassals of a king, who were great lords, might also have vassals who would owe them military service in return for a grant of land taken from their estates. Those vassals, in turn, might likewise have vassals. At that level, the vassals would be simple knights with barely enough land to provide them income.
The lord-vassal relationship bound together greater and lesser landowners. It was an honorable relationship between free men and implied no sense of servitude. Feudalism came to be characterized by a set of unwritten rules—known as the feudal contract—that determined the relationship between a lord and his vassal. The major obligation of a vassal to his lord was to perform military service, usually about 40 days a year. When summoned, a vassal had to appear at his lord's court to give advice.
Key Terms • Vocabulario Clave
Feudal Contract (Contrato Feudal):
Unwritten agreement outlining the duties of a lord (land, protection) and vassal (military defense, advice).
Homage / Loyalty (Homenaje y Lealtad):
A sacred promise and formal ceremony where a vassal pledged to fight for and serve his lord faithfully.
Resumen en español • Spanish Summary (Párrafos 4–7)
El equipo militar era muy caro, por lo que los señores entregaban tierras a los vasallos para que pudieran alimentarse y comprar armaduras. La relación se sellaba mediante una ceremonia solemne de lealtad (*homenaje*). Este pacto no escrito, llamado contrato feudal, establecía que el vasallo debía servir como soldado unos 40 días al año y acudir a la corte del señor para aconsejarlo; a cambio, el señor le aseguraba tierras y protección militar.
Adapted from McGraw Hill World History Page 2 of 4
Intro to Middle Ages: Feudalism & Manorialism Part III: The Manorial System
The Manorial System
Landholding nobles were a military elite whose ability to be warriors depended on having the leisure time to pursue the arts of war. Landed estates, located on the fiefs (under feudalism, a grant of land made to a vassal; the vassal held political authority within his fief) given to a vassal by his lord and worked by peasants, gave the economic support that made the economic system of manorialism possible.
A manor was an agricultural estate that a lord ran and peasants worked. Increasing numbers of free peasants became serfs, or peasants legally bound to the manor. Serfs had to give labor services, pay rents, and be subject to the lord's control. By 800, probably 60 percent of western Europeans were serfs.
A serf's labor services included working the lord's land, which made up one-third to one-half of the cultivated land scattered throughout the manor. Peasants used the rest of the estate's land to grow food for themselves. Serfs usually worked about three days a week for their lords and paid rents by giving the lords a share of every product they raised. Serfs also paid the lords for the use of the manor's common pasturelands, streams, ponds, and woodlands.
Lords had a variety of legal rights over the serfs on their estates. Serfs could not leave the manor without the lord's permission. Lords often had political authority on their lands, which gave them the right to try peasants in their own courts. Even with these restrictions, however, serfs were not slaves. The land assigned to serfs to support themselves usually could not be taken away, and their responsibilities to the lord remained fairly fixed. It was also the lord's duty to protect his serfs, giving them the safety to farm the land.
Key Terms • Vocabulario Clave
Fief (Feudo):
A grant of land given to a vassal that provided food, income, and political control.
Manor (Señorío / Finca):
A self-sufficient farming estate governed by a lord and cultivated by peasant workers.
Serf (Siervo):
A peasant legally tied to the land; not a slave, but could not leave without permission.
Concept Check • Feudalism vs. Manorialism
Feudalism: Political & Military
Nobles & Knights exchange land for loyalty and military defense.
Manorialism: Economic & Agricultural
Lords & Serfs exchange farming labor and crops for safety and land.
Resumen en español • Spanish Summary (Párrafos 8–11)
El manorialismo era la base económica de la época. El manor o señorío era una granja autosuficiente dirigida por un señor. La mayoría de los campesinos eran siervos: trabajaban las tierras del señor unos 3 días por semana y entregaban parte de sus cosechas. No eran esclavos porque no se podían vender ni despojar de su sustento, pero estaban atados a la tierra y no podían irse sin permiso. A cambio, el señor les brindaba defensa ante invasiones.
Adapted from McGraw Hill World History Page 3 of 4
Assessment & Comprehension Check
Guiding Questions
Use the Sentence Starters Usa los marcos de oración
Word Bank:
Vikings protection fief / land military service loyalty serfs manor
1. What factors led to the new political and social order known as feudalism?
Sentence Starter: Feudalism developed because threats from the __________________ destroyed governments, forcing people to turn to local __________________ for protection.
2. What did lords have to do in exchange for the military service of knights and vassals?
Sentence Starter: In exchange for military service, lords granted each vassal a piece of __________________ (a fief) and promised to provide __________________.
3. Why was land the most important gift a lord could give a vassal?
Sentence Starter: Land was the most important gift because wealth in the Middle Ages was based on __________________, and it allowed the vassal to afford __________________.
4. What was life like for nobles and peasants under the economic system of manorialism?
Sentence Starter: For nobles, manorialism gave them the wealth and time to train as __________________. For serfs and peasants, life meant working the lord's land, paying __________________, and receiving __________________.
Adapted from McGraw Hill World History Page 4 of 4
