1. Standard and E.Q.:
SSWH7 The student will analyze European medieval society with regard to culture, politics, society, and economics.
a. Explain the manorial system and feudalism; include the status of peasants and feudal monarchies and the importance of Charlemagne.
EQ: How was Feudal Society structured? What was the role of knights and women during Feudal times?

2. Structure of Feudalism in Europe

3. Monarchs or Kings Became weaker after Charlemagne
Remained highest authority
Controlled land

4. Lords and Nobles Lived on Manors in Castles Included power clergy
Hunted, defended manor, oversaw serfs, and settled legal disputes

5. Knights
Trained warriors who studied warfare from age seven
Followed code of Chivalry
Exchanged military service for fief

6. Peasants
Serfs worked land for the lord. They could not leave the land.
Freemen paid lord for use of land and could move around

7. Serf – a peasant legally bound to live on a lord’s estate.
Vassal – a person who received a grant of land from a lord in exchange for a pledge of loyalty and services

8. King Grants Lands to Nobles Grants Lands to Knights Grants Lands to
Provide money and knights
Grants Lands to
Nobles
Provide protection and military service
Grants Lands to
Knights
Provide food & services when demanded
Grants Lands to
Peasants or Serfs

9. Provide
Grants
Provide
Grants
Provide
Grants

10. The Code of Chivalry
Knights were expected to display courage in battle and loyalty to their lord.
By the 1100’s a code of chivalry was developed to describe these expectations.
Primary focus: the knight must fight bravely in the defense of 3 masters: his feudal lord, his heavenly Lord, and his chosen lady.

11. Training By the age of 7 a boy would be sent off to the
castle of another lord as
a page.
As a page, he waited on
his hosts and began to
practice fighting skills.
Around age 14 he attained the rank of squire. A squire acted as a servant to a knight.
Around age 21 a squire became a full-fledged knight.

12. After being dubbed a knight, the new knight would travel for a year or two.
The gained experience fighting in local wars.
They may have taken part in mock battles called tournaments.
Actual warfare was EXTREMELY gory.

13. Women’s role in Feudal Society
Nobel women
Could inherit an estate from her husband
With the lord’s approval she could also send knights to war
When the lord was absent, she was military commander of the castle (she might even fight)

14. Most of the time noble women were limited to activities in the home or in the convent.
Nobel women held little property because lords passed their fiefs to sons, not daughters.

15. Peasant Women
Performed endless labor around their homes and in the fields
She bore children and took care of them