07/09/2015
Social Class in Medieval Europe
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
Feudalism
 Feudalism was not a medieval term
Invented in seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by English and French lawyers
(used disapprovingly due to connection to aristocratic privileges)
 Feudalism becomes a term for economic, political and social/cultural structures
created by relationships b/w lords and vassals
Fiefs or estates were held for the lord, as reward for military service or as an
inheritance where services were required
 Medieval people would have used terms like Lordship and Vassalage
 Vassal comes from the Celtic word meaning “boy”
these men were “the boys” or gangs of thugs who fought on behalf of a local
warlord (6th and 7th c.)
Warlord provided protection, maintenance and a share in booty in exchange for
loyalty and service
 Vassals lived in their lords household (quarters were provided)
fed, clothed and armed by their lord
Feudalism Cont.
 In the 8th and 9th c. warlords/kings began to give barons (noblemen) parcels of land
(fiefs) instead of money
Still used as reward for military service or as an inheritance where services were
required
Land became the powerbase
 Nobles began splitting up their land between lesser knights, who became their
vassals
 These lesser knights granted land to their own vassals
 Lowest knights, would only have small piece of land
there were come landless vassals (were the minority)
 Lords retained ownership of the land (fiefs or estates were held for the lord)
Lords could recover it from a disloyal vassal (replacing them with someone else)
Feudal Obligations (late 10th c.)
Lords Obligation to Vassals
 Protect vassal from physical harm
 Provide vassal with a fief, after oath of fealty
 Not to “disparage” a vassal by insulting him
 Maintain a court to settle disputes
 Act as guardian to vassals children of the vassal died (if daughter inherited he
arranged her marriage)

Vassals Obligations to Lord
 Swear fealty to lord
 military service (40 days per year)
 Advise lord upon request
 Act as host and provider when lord visited
 Military service was also owed (originally for larger fiefs)
 Feudal Taxes:
Provide gifts of money when lord’s eldest daughter married or when eldest son was
knighted
Contribute to ransom if lord was captured
1
07/09/2015
Contribute to ransom if lord was captured
Deceased vassals son had to pay an inheritance tax (relief) to take ownership of
father’s land
Developed from the Anglo-Saxon heriot (derived from heregeatwa, literally army
trappings)
Tribute payment to a lord after the death of a tenant consisting of borrowed
military equipment (horse, armour, weapons)
6
7
Bottom of the Ladder
 the commoners
Artisans, tanners, blacksmiths, and carpenters – these were freemen, paying rent
or providing service for land use
 Most were farmers (peasants)
some were freemen (renting land from the lord in exchange for protection), most
were serfs

8
9
10
11
12
13
Serfs
 Legally bound to their lord’s land
Not slaves, could not be bought or sold
 Serfdom was hereditary
 Could not leave the land
 Could own property, and build a home
 If land changed hands, the new lord took over control of the serfs
 Could gain freedom if they escaped to a town for a year and a day

Lord’s Obligation to Serfs
 Protection during wars and raids
 Provide them with land to build a home on, and small strip of land to farm
 Administer justice – treating them fairly
 Not to seize land unless a serfs obligations had not been met
Serfs Obligations
 Backbreaking labour
 Work three days a week on the lords land (more during harvest)
 Annual tax for their homes, and strips of field
 Paid fees to use the lords roads, bridges, mill for grinding grain, oven for baking, and
wine press
 Payments made in form of labour, farm produce, animals, goods (cloth, furniture,
etc.)
The Three Estates of Medieval Society
Clergy (oratores - those who pray)
 Led people in terms of spiritual matters
 Given power by king
King appointed them, gave them ring and staff (symbols of spiritual and temporal
authority)
Bishops and abbots swore fealty to king
 Bishops and abbots from the nobility
Usually relatives of kings and higher aristocrats
2
07/09/2015
Usually relatives of kings and higher aristocrats
 King gave land to the clergy
 Everyone paid a tithe to the church (10 percent of annual wealth)
 Church officials and monasteries often had vassals to fight for them; while at same
time being vassals of the king
Conflict of interests developed
14
Warriors & Nobles (bellatores – those who fight)
 Gained status based on landed wealth (accumulated fiefs), exercise of authority over
others
 Higher nobles were great landowners, controlling large territories
 Lower nobles, descendants of minor knights, newly rich merchants, and wealthy
farmers
 Arms were a nobleman’s profession
Distinguished themselves in battle; cemented their position in society
 Smallest group in terms of population
 Were often both vassals and lords
Was the lord of several vassals; but also vassal to the king
 By 14th c. knighthood had become purely hereditary
Distinguished from other classes not by his military accomplishments, but by coat
of arms, dress and behaviour
15
16
Workers/Peasants (laboratores – those who work)
 Largest and lowest group in medieval Europe.
 Lived and worked on manors of nobility
 They had their own dwellings, and lived of the produce of their own labour.
 Sold surplus after they paid their lord and fed their family.
 Upper classes paid them little attention
Seen as source of revenue
 In Saxony and other parts of Germany most were free peasant; however in France
and England most were serfs
17
18
19
20
1
2
Inheritance
 Early on all children would inherit (sons and daughters)
 In 10th and 11th c. land and wealth passed to first born son – primogeniture
 What became of the other sons?
Some became knights, others became members of clergy (monks, abbots, bishops)
Meant the interests of nobles and clergy were often similar if not the same
Were all men of property/wealth, lords of vassals, and loyal to those who
appointed them into power positions (often the king)
 Many would move to cities
Made their own way
 Daughters didn’t inherit
Love and Marriage
Nobility
 Marriage was not based on love
 Marriage was an economic contract
 Also had a political element
 Parent’s set up marriage
those being married had little or no say
3
4
3
1
07/09/2015
2
3
4
21
22
23
those being married had little or no say
Peasants
 More often able to marry for love
Marriages still arranged by parents
 Result of being lowest level of society
not as concerned with economics of marriage.
 Free to chose spouses within the village
had to ask lord’s permission when marrying outside the village
Marriage and the Church
 Purpose of marriage was production of children (referred to in texts as ‘the bed’)
 In early middle ages the church had nothing to do with marriage
Was a family affair, following local customs
Usually took form of cohabitation (living together)
Most formal form of marriage:
Husband-to-be gave his future bride a massive dowry (clothes, bedding, livestock,
land)
After marriage consummated: gave wife a morning gift (often furniture)
 500-1000 saw conflict between church and local customs regarding marriage
Marriage declared a sacrament in 1215 (at Fourth Lateran Council)
Church was looking to exert more influence in society
Church marriage now legally necessary to prove legitimacy of offspring and
uncontested inheritance (big deal if you were a landowner or had property)
 Pre-marital relations common
As soon as betrothal was confirmed, relations were permitted
Seen as a contract after all
 Divorce wasn’t hard to obtain in the church either, if you could pay the extensive legal
fees
Huge traffic in divorce through annulment (even if there were children); church
declared the marriage was not valid (like it never took place)
The Manor
What was it?
 Consisted of:
the lord’s castle or manor house
fields for crops
grazing pastures
a barn and stable
cottages for peasants and other commoners
a church, a mill, a blacksmith’s shop (village)
 Was roughly 400 hectares in size, some were less than 100, some were thousands of
hectares.
 Manors held by the church tended to be larger than those held by secular individuals
Over 25% of manors belonged to the church
24
25
What was it? Cont.
 Large fiefs contained many manors
 Hunting was right reserved for the lord of the manor
Severe punishments if caught poaching wild game
 Village had to be almost entirely self-sufficient.
peasants had to grow enough food to feed inhabitants
village also had to produce all the goods used by the village (cloth, tools, etc).
26
27
4
07/09/2015
village also had to produce all the goods used by the village (cloth, tools, etc).
26
27

Three Field System
The system
 Ensured the soil would not become exhausted
 rotation system allowed village to produce crops all year round
 Heavy iron-coulter plow (coulter was knife shaped attachment in front of plow which
made furrow in the earth before plough undercut the soil) came into greater use
Better able to turn heavier northern soils
Horses also used more often to pull plows (more efficient than oxen)
 Resulted in higher production, which increased standard of living
 Didn’t prevent the disasters of bad weather (drought, rain, hail, frost), or pests
(locust).
28
29
30
Land Division
 Fields divided into narrow strips
 One third of all the land belonged to the lord – called demesne (di-MAYNE) land
was best land on manor
 Rest of land rented out to peasants
 On common land/pasture peasants had right to:
Graze their animals (horses, cattle, sheep) during times of year when area was
open to grazing
Number of animals allowed on the commons (per landowner) limited to avoid
overgrazing
cut a limited amount of hay from meadow
 The “Waste” (forest, marsh, or non-arable land on edge of village)
Hugely important; provided raw materials (stone and timber for building, reeds for
roofing, peat for fires, etc.)
farm animals including cattle, geese and pigs allowed to graze
Peasants had privilege of taking certain amount of wood from forest for fuel and
building purposes.
 Parish church also got portion of the land to use
31
32
Food and Drink
 In Italy, Mediterranean diet was predominant (rice or various grains accompanied by
fish or fowl)
Marco Polo introduced noodles after his return from China (late 13th c.)
Jewish refugees from Spain brought a dish we would call pizza
 In Northern Europe, huge amount of wild game meant that all classes ate meat
Nobles ate things like venison while peasants had pig or rabbit
 Forests shrank in late middle ages and game became more scarce
Restrictions were placed on forest hunting for peasant (forest hunting set aside for
upper classes)
 Everyone drank beer (alcohol content 3-4 times higher than now)
Mead (made of honey, water, malt and yeast; also often had spices added) was
popular in northern Europe
 Wine was favoured by the nobility
 Only hard liquor available at time was brandy (invented by monks), produced mostly
5
07/09/2015
 Only hard liquor available at time was brandy (invented by monks), produced mostly
in France
6