THE FEUDAL SYSTEM AND THE MANOR

SYSTEM:

BY
TR. ZION

THE REASONS FOR AND

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WHAT ARE THEY?
Feudalism: (
Social System) Manor System:
Feudalism is the The Manor System was
social order that the basic economic
developed in system that grew out
Europe after the of and supported
fall of the Feudalism.
Roman Empire
and existed until
the mid 1400’s.

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 WHY FEUDALISM?
After the Roman Feudalism provided
Empire fell, some structure to
there was no society and offered
strong central protection for the
government. masses.
With no
standing army
or police,
societies were
plunged into
chaos.

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HOW DID IT WORK?
In the 600’s, There was no money
powerful system, so land was
Frankish the most valuable
(French) chiefs thing a chief could
owned large offer.
amounts of The Franks started
land. However, giving land to
they needed an important people in
army to protect exchange for oaths of
it, and loyal loyalty to the chief.
people to put it
to use.

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 HOW DID IT WORK?
Over time, the Feudal system became
more formalized, and grew into a
strict social hierarchy. At the top
were monarchs, and below them
were nobles or lords. Next came the
knights, and then, finally, the serfs or
peasants.

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 THE FEUDAL HIERARCHY

Monarch (King)
Noble or Lord
Knight
Serf (Peasant)
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`

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 MONARCH
Pledge of Loyalty and
A Monarch is service
another word for
‘King’ or ‘Queen’.
Monarchs ‘owned’ In exchange for the land,
the land in their the noble pledged loyalty
territory. To raise to the monarch and
an army, and promised to fight for the
ensure that they lord when called.
could control the
area, the monarch A noble who pledge loyalty
would grant fiefs of became a VASSAL of the
land to nobles. monarch.

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 NOBLE OR LORD
A noble is a person who In exchange, the noble
serves the monarch. promises to send a
They can be called certain number of
Dukes, Barons, Earls,
or whatever. The
armed soldiers or
noble can use the knights when called by
land to establish a the monarch. They also
manor (more on that pay taxes to the
later). monarch.

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10
 KNIGHT
A knight was a highly skilled To supply knights to
warrior. He was trained the monarch, the
from age six in noble would often
horsemanship and divide his fief of
warfare. land among
several men in
Knights could also serve the exchange for their
noble directly, getting pledge of loyalty to
support and the right to the noble. These
live on the noble’s manor men were called
instead of land. knights.

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 SERFS (PEASANTS)
Peasants are commoners and lived on the manors of
monarchs, nobles, or knights. In exchange for
working the noble’s land, they were given small
plots of land, some of the food they produced on
their plots, and shelter. Often, they worked five
days on the nobles land and two on their own.

Serfs were peasants who were ‘tied’ to the land. They

In practice, most peasants lived and died without

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 • Serfs could farm some
• Feudalism grew
land on a manor and
out of the chaos
received the protection of
caused by the fall
the noble in exchange for
of the Roman
their labor.
Empire.
• It was based on
the granting of REVIEW
land in exchange
for loyalty and
military service.
• It provided order
and some security
in the absence of a
stable central
government.

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 WEAKNESSES OF THE
FEUDAL SYSTEM
• Nobles often challenged monarchs or each
other, leading to constant warfare.
• The strength of a monarch was only as secure
as the loyalty of his nobles.
• Over time, fiefs became so small they could
not support a manor in some cases.
• These landless knights and nobles
contributed to ever more warfare.

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 MANOR SYSTEM
Manor: The estate of a knight or noble
on a ‘fief’ of land. Each manor was
designed in the same basic way.

The management of the resources on

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 GOALS OF MANOR
SYSTEM
• Each Manor tried
to be self-
sufficient, or
create all the food
and other
materials it
needed.
• To be secure, a
manor did not
want to rely on
outside sources of
food and other
essential items.

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 WHY SELF-
SUFFICIENT?
• Warfare between knights, nobles, and
monarchs was always a threat. You
needed to create what you needed
to survive. In other words, you could
not rely on your neighbor.
• Commerce and trade were greatly
reduced. Roads were poor or non-
existent. Most manors were far from
cities, where a small amount of trade
still existed.

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 WHY SELF-
SUFFICIENT?
• In short, you could not be sure
when the next shipment of food,
weapons, or other essentials
were coming your way. Thus, you
had to make it yourself, or perish.
• Arming soldiers and knights was
extremely expensive. You
needed to keep your manor as
wealthy as possible. Sending 18
 HOW DID A MANOR
WORK?
• The Manor was
based around a
‘Manor House’ or a
castle. The noble or
knight lived here.
• Fields were divided
into three sections:
One for spring
plantings, one for
fall planting, and
one ‘fallow field’.

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 HOW DID IT WORK?
A ‘fallow’ field was left
unplanted for one or
more seasons to keep
the soil from wearing
out.

Peasants were given small

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 HOW DID IT WORK?
Every manor had a
mill to grind grain.
The noble owned it,
and all peasants
had to use it, for a
fee of course (they
truly hated this
rule).

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 HOW DID IT WORK?
Manors that had a
pond or lake were
lucky. They could
farm fish and eels
to add to their
food supply.

Animals (pigs, cows,

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 HOW DID IT WORK?
Each manor had a
church, paid for by
the noble. A
portion of land was
farmed to pay for
the service of a
priest.

Only nobles could

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 PRIEST
• Each manor church had a priest. He
was required to say Mass, baptize
infants, and perform last rights.
• Attending mass and receiving church
sacraments were seen as essential to
getting into Heaven. Thus, priests
were given a great deal of respect.

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 HOW DID THE MANOR SYSTEM
SUPPORT FEUDALISM?
• It divided a monarch’s • Manors provided the income
land among loyal needed to support the knights
nobles and soldiers demanded by the
• Nobles would defend monarch.
the land, as it was the • A monarch could not oversee
most valuable thing a all the land himself. Granting
person could own at fiefs made sure it was put to
the time. productive use. This would
allow for taxes to be paid, and,
of course, knights armed for
war.

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