Lesson 3: Life in the Middle Ages

P400-403

MEDIEVAL EUROPE

THE CHURCH

• Most Europeans were Christians

• Many showed their devotion to God

by going on pilgrimages

• Christian pilgrims went to Rome

• Vatican –home of the Pope

CATHEDRALS

• Building Cathedrals showed a communities devotion to God

• It could take decades or even a hundred years to build a Cathedral

• Chartres cathedral in France

• Began 1145 – finished 1260

• Half way through a fire destroyed most of it

RELIGIOUS LIFE

• The medieval world revolved around the church

• Religious communities were centers of religion and education

• Monks – monasteries - monks

• Nuns – convents – nuns

• Missionaries - people who teach a religion to people with different beliefs

• d

FEUDALISM

• A political, social and

economic system

• Began in 800’s

• 4 tiered system

• Monarch

• Lords

• Knights

• Serfs

Monarch

Lords

Knights

Serfs

MONARCH & LORDS

• Monarch .

• King or queen who is supreme ruler

• Lords

• Pledge loyalty & military support to monarch in return for an estate - land & wealth

• Lord owned the land and everything tied to it

• Received large percentage of crops & all income from land

• Collected taxes, maintained order, enforced laws, protected serfs

KNIGHTS

• Knights highest order of warriors

• Pledges oath to lords

• Code of chivalry

• Deep faith, die for for Church

• Gave generously to all

• Used his strength to fight injustice

• Often given land by lord for loyalty

SERFS

• People who lived on & farmed the land

• Tied to the land

• Were not slaves but could be transferred through sale of the land they lived on

• Could not leave land without Lord’s permission

FEUDALISM DECLINES BY 1400

• Serfs were majority of society

• Over time Lords became more powerful

• More knights meant more military power

• Lords broke free of Monarchs

• Lords became independent

Manor house& village

farmland

meadowlandwasteland

MANOR SYSTEM 700-1200’S

A way of organizing AGRICULTURAL LABOR

Manor HouseLarge house or Castle

Orchards, farm buildings

Mill for grinding flour

A church

Village

Serfs houses clustered together

Serf’s lives revolved around work & church

Serf’s Houses were single rooms made of mud, brick, straw walls

Dirt floors

Straw thatched roofs

Farm animals lived in houses with serfs

AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION

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GUILDS