Military Aristocracy's Role In The Feudalism System

The military aristocracy, also more commonly known as the knights in the medieval times were of great importance in the feudalism system as they were the link between the wealthy and the poverty. The military also played one of the main roles in protecting the King and the subjects of the King. The knights were known for their code of honor, chivalry and were loyal to people, even to their enemy knights as they still belonged to the same group of people. Only the son of a noble could become a knight, and sons of nobles were usually forced into becoming knights. Becoming a knight required a long training program and becoming a squire, the assistant of a trained knight. A squire learnt skills from the knight and was trained by the skills the …show more content…
The Knights were only allowed to wear clothes till 4 ½ marks, meaning that they were allowed to use some sophisticated material. Nobles and Kings were allowed to be decked up as much as they wanted as they were rich, wealthy and had great demand in the society due to their wealth. An example of control exerted over the masses by the military aristocracy is Charlemagne’s control over his subjects as well as his prisoners. Charlemagne had forced everyone of his subjects into becoming christian. If a subject or prisoner was caught praying to a different God, they would be executed. Religion was one way of controlling the masses. Another way that masses would be controlled was by limiting the amount of money they got and freezing wages, especially during the Black Death during the 14th Century, when the masses stopped working and the peasantry had demanded higher wages. When freedom was snatched from the poverty in 1380, a poll tax was put on as the king needed money to expand. This tax was more than most could afford, making them dependent on the King. At the end, the control of the military aristocracy over the masses was strong but unethical as people weren’t treated