Social Middle Ages

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Middle Ages

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period in history which lasted approximately of 1000 years

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Problems Happening

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Time of unrest, violence and plague

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Royal

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Kings, Queens, fights, wars, castles etc.

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Religious Society (Chruch Hierarchy)

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Top to Bottem - Pope, Archbishops, Bishops, Priests, Parshioners

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Feudalisms

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based on land, loyalty and duty

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Novels and Knights

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wore oaths of loyalty to the king - they promised to fight for him in exchange for the rights to pieces of land called 'Manors' or 'Fifes' (if the king gives them land, then they promise to fight in there army)

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Feudal System

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King, Barons, Nobels/Landlords/Knights, Peasents

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Obligation

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something that must be done because of legal or moral duty

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Nobilty (Rich People) and Clergy (People in the Church)

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held all the land and power, but only made up about 10% of the total population

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Peasents

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most people in the middle ages were peasents
had there own strip of the land on the manor
in return they would turn over a portion of what they made
they were expected to do whatever the royal said (build things, work)

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Freemen

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where peasents, rented land from the Landlord or perhaps were paid for there work.

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Serfs

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where peasents who were not allowed to leave the manor without the lrods permisson
they were not slaves but have very few rights and freedoms

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Towns

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were the center for farming communites
where near a castle
where filthy, smelling and rat infested
people who lived there were generally freeman
many people worked as trade (shoemaker, baker)

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Guilds

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the Guilds controlled the prices and set standards of quality
took care of family if they got sick or you died

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The Black death

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The famine of 1315 - 1317
- By 1300 Europeans were farming almost all the land they could cultivate
- With more people in the cities more garbage, filthy, no running water
- A population crisis developed
- Climate changes in Europe produced three years of crop failures between 1315-1317 because of excessive rain
- As many as 15% of the peasants in some English villages died
- One consequence of starvation and poverty was to get dieses faster
- 1 out of every 4 people died
More Notes
- The Black Death or Bubonic Plague reached Europe from Asia in 1346.
- Approximately 25 million people died as a result.
- Watch the black death video on the “I” drive.
- Due to the labour shortages that resulted, many manors went bankrupt due to lack of workers.
- Freemen and even Serfs were able to buy or rent land (at fairly cheap prices) because the nobles couldn’t afford to keep up such large areas.
- The bonds that held feudal society together were slowly coming undone as serfs and peasants in general

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Peasants revolts

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• In 1337, war broke out between England and France - “The Hundred Years War”
• This devastated the countryside.
• To pay for the armies, very high taxes were charged to the peasants – often they could not afford to pay the taxes.
• The peasants revolted in both countries.
• Many nobles were killed and their manors burnt down.
• The revolts were brutally put down by the authorities, but the causes of the unrest were not resolved.

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Wealth in Society

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• Many people began to leave the manors now that their obligations were released, and they moved to the towns in search of work.
• Peasants who were skilled in a trade or who could learn a trade quickly were able to experience success and were able to acquire wealth of their own.
• When people acquired enough wealth, they essentially were able to move from a lower social level to a higher one – they could afford better clothes and more expensive food. This formed a “Middle Class” of people.
• The merchant class also emerged – people who bought and sold goods.
• The Middle Class and Merchant Class were based on wealth (money) rather than ownership of land.
• This shifted the power and social positions of people – the feudal system was not set up for this – it began to fall apart.

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Black death (side info)

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Plague is an infectious disease. The black plague or the bubonic plauge was from rats, the black rat. The black rat had the disease and then the fleas bite them. The fleas would then bite the humans, and they would have the plague. This plague killed one in every four people, killing almost one third of Europe's population. This affected many families because lots of people died. They had to start their lives over. This also affected many lords. Lots of there serfs and peasants would have died and they would not have had anyone to work there farm or to help work it. They would have to do lots more work by themselves and then they would not have gotten as much done or be as efficient. The bubonic plauge was a very serious problem.