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Red Section 1: SS 8-T300-16-17-BEIDELMAN
Red Section 1: SS 8-T300-16-17-BEIDELMAN
Red -Section 1 Reading and AudioRead each section below. Read the questions before each section before you
start to read the section. While you are reading keep these question in mind to help you focus your reading. Click
on Audio to listen to this readingSection 1A - Feudalism Establishes Order Questions
1. What does fealty mean?
2. What is the difference between a peasant and a serf?
3. Where do lords and knights live?
4. If I were to say that manors were self contained, what do you think I mean?
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___________By the High Middle Ages (about 1000 C.E.), Europeans had developed feudalism. Feudalism
provided people with protection and safety by establishing a social order.
Under feudalism, people were bound to one another by promises of fealty. Fealty is another word for loyalty. In
theory, all the land in the kingdom belonged to the monarch (usually a king, but sometimes a queen). A great deal
of land was also owned by the Catholic Church. The king kept some land for himself and granted fiefs (FEEFS), or
land, to his most important lords. Those lords became his vassals. In return, each lord promised to supply the king
with knights in times of war. A lord then enlisted lesser lords and knights as his vassals. Often, these
arrangements were written down and can be found in museums.
At the bottom of the social pyramid were peasants. Lords rented some of their land to the peasants who worked
for them. Some peasants, called serfs, were “tied” to the land they worked. They could not leave the lord’s land
without permission, and they had to farm his fields in exchange for a small plot of their own. Serfs who left without
permission were severely punished. When an escaped serf was caught sometimes they would nail his earlobe to a
tree and give him a knife. He had to cut off his own ear. The missing ear lobe showed he was at risk of running
away. The pain of cutting his own ear off was his punishment. Most lords and wealthier knights lived on manors,
or large estates. A manor included a castle or manor house, one
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or more villages, and the surrounding farmland. Manors were in the country, far from towns. That meant the
peasants had to produce everything the people on the manor needed. Only a few goods came from outside the
manor, such as salt for preserving meat and iron for making tools. During the Middle Ages, people were born into a
social class for life. They had the same social position, and often the same job, as their parents.
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Section 1B - Feudal KingsQuestions
1. What does Divine Right mean?
2. Most kings relied on who to provide enough knights and soldiers?
3. Where did the Saxons come from?
4. Where did the Normans come from?
5. Where did William come from?
6. Who did the English people crown instead of William?
7. How did William become King of England?
8. What did William bring with him from France?
9. What does the Bayeux Tapestry tell us?10. What is the difference between a tapestry and embroidery?
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___________ At the very top of the feudal pyramid were the kings and queens and church officials. Remember,
medieval kings/queens were also feudal lords to the Pope in Rome. They were expected to keep order and to
provide protection for their vassals.
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Most medieval kings believed in the divine right of kings. This is the idea that God had given them the right to
rule. In reality, the power of kings varied from king to king. Some had to work hard to maintain control of their
kingdoms. Only a few had enough wealth to keep their own armies. Most had to rely on their vassals, especially
nobles, to provide enough knights and soldiers. In some places, especially during the Early Middle Ages, great
lords grew very powerful and governed their fiefs like independent countries. In these cases, the king was little
more than a figurehead, a symbolic ruler who had little real power.
In England, kings became more powerful during the Middle Ages. After the Romans, a number of groups from
Europe, including Vikings, had attacked and settled in England. By the mid 1050's England was ruled by a
Germanic tribe called the Saxons. The king at that time was related to both the German Saxons and the French
Normans. When he died without an heir, there was uncertainty over who should become king.
William, the powerful French Duke of Normandy, believed he was the heir to the English throne. However, the
people of England crowned his cousin, Harold. In 1066 C.E., William and his army invaded England. William
defeated cousin Harold at the Battle of Hastings and established a tradition of Norman kings in England. His
triumph earned him the nickname “William the Conqueror.” When William of Normandy conquered England, he
brought feudalism with him. Using feudalism, Norman kings brought order to England. In fact, by the start of the
High Middle Ages, around 1000 C.E., the feudal system had brought stability to much of Europe.
The Bayeux Tapestry
The Bayeux Tapestry is a hand made "tapestry"that shows the events leading up to and the Battle of Hastings. It
tells the story of William conquering England through pictures. It is currently preserved and displayed in Bayeux, in
Normandy, France. The origin of the tapestry is not completely known. The first written record of the Bayeux
Tapestry is in 1476, but this is not the year it was made. In 1476 when anyone donated anything to the church it
was recorded in the official church record. The Tapestry was recorded into the cathedral treasury at Bayeux as "a
very long and narrow hanging on which are embroidered figures and inscriptions comprising a
representation of the conquest of England". https://kutztown.instructure.com/courses/948/pages/red-section-1
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The Bayeux Tapestry was probably commissioned in the 1070s by Bishop Odo of Bayeux. Bishop Odo was the
half-brother of William the Conqueror. The Tapestry is over 70 meters long. Although it is called a tapestry it really
isn't. A tapestry is woven on a loom. The Bayeux Tapestry is embroidered, or stitched with wool yarn onto linen. Citation
"The History of Britain's Bayeux Tapestry." The History of Britain's Bayeux Tapestry. Web. 18 Oct. 2016. https://kutztown.instructure.com/courses/948/pages/red-section-1
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