Chapter 6 Three Orders Notesfinal
Chapter 6 Three Orders Notesfinal
Chapter 6 Three Orders Notesfinal
HSSTHistory,GVHSSKayyoor,Kasargod
The three orders of the European society between the ninth and and sixteenth centuries were:Christian priests,land
owning nobles and peasants. The changing relationships between these three groups was an important factor in
shaping European history for several centuries.
Sources to understand Medieval European society
1.There is a lot of material in the form of documents,details of landownership,prices and legal cases. Churches had kept
records of births ,marriages and deaths .The inscriptions in churches give information about traders' associations,and
songs and stories give a sense of festivals and community activities. All these can be used to understand economic and
social life.
2.Marc Bloch and his ideas about European feudalism
Marc Bloch(1886-1944) was one of the earliest scholars of France who worked on the concept of feudalism. He argued
that history is not all about political history but also includes international relations and lives of great people. He
stressed on the importance of geography in determining human history and the requirement to realise the collective
activities or approaches of groups of people.
His book Feudal Society talks about the European society between 900 and 1300 A.D especially of France. It had
significant detailed social relations and hierarchies and land related affairs and cultural achievements of that period.
Condition of Europe on the eve of rising feudalism
There were some socio-political changes that occurred in Europe between the ninth and and sixteenth centuries.
After the decline of the Roman Empire, several Germanic groups of people of eastern and central Europe captured
areas of Italy,Spain and France. Due to the absence of a single political power, there were regular military clashes in
order to gather resources to continue hold on own land. Social institution was therefore revolved around the control of
land. Christianity was the religion of land as it was spread in almost whole Europe. The church was not only a religious
institution but also a political power. The church was a major land holder in Europe.
Meaning of Feudalism
The term 'feudalism' is derived from a German word 'feud' which means 'a
piece of land'.It refers to the kind of society that developed in Medieval France
and later in England and Italy. Feudalism was a system that centred around the
principles of land related matters. Historians used the term feudalism to describe
the economic,legal,political and social relationships that existed in Europe in the
medieval era.
Features of feudalism in Europe
The roots of feudalism can be traced back to the practices that existed in the Roman Empire. Feudalism became an
established way of life during the era of French king Charlemagne. It was said to be emerged later and spread in whole
Europe later.
Feudalism refers to a kind of an agricultural production which was based on the relationship between the lords and
peasants. The peasants cultivated their own land and worked on the lands of the lords also. In lieu of labour
service ,peasants received military protection from the lord. The lords also decided the judicial matters of the peasants.
Therefore ,that lord was all in all proprietors of lands and peasant's fortunes. Thus ,besides economic
aspects,feudalism also began to cover the political and social aspects of life.
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Sujith.K.HSSTHistory,GVHSSKayyoor,Kasargod
king had to give a mutual assurance that he would protect the vassals. Under that link both seigneur and the noble had
to make vows with the Bible in the church. The vassal received a written charter or a staff or even a clod of earth as
symbol of land granted by his lord. The nobles enjoyed several privileges. They had judicial powers and even right to
issue coins. They also had power to raise their army known as feudal levies. A noble was lord of each and every person
settled on his land. He possessed huge tracts of land which included his residences ,his personal fields,pastures and
the fields of peasant-tenants. The house of noble was known as manor. The peasants cultivated their fields also,worked
as cultivators on his fields and as the foot soldiers in time of military need.
The Manorial Estate
A lord house was known as manor-house in feudal society. He would control peasant's villages in the manorial estates
either in small number containing few dozen of houses or in large number consisting of around fifty to sixty houses of
peasants. The manorial estates were self sufficient economic centres,where each and every requirement of daily life
was fulfilled in the estate. The grains were grown in the fields,blacksmiths and carpenters maintained the lords
equipments and refurnished the ornaments,whereas stone masons managed their building. The women prepared fabrics
and children worked in lord's wine-presses. The estates consisted of woodlands and forests where the lord did hunting.
The estates also contained pastures. The church was part of estate and the castle was there for defence,where knights
lived. In England ,the castles were developed as centres of administration and military strength under the feudal
system.
Knights: A Distinctive Group
There were regular localised wars in Europe. The insufficient amateur peasant soldiers and lack of good cavalry
had created problems. This led to the evolution of new section of people in society known as Knight. They were under
the lord,who were subordinates of the king. The knights paid his lord customary fees and pledged to fight for him in
war. The lords granted a piece of land called fief,for knights in lieu of their services as their protectorate. The fief of
knight could be hereditary and was of any size from 1000 to 2000 acres or more. A knight's fief consisted of a house for
him and his family,church settlements of dependent together with water mill and wine press. The peasants cultivated
the land of the fief. In exchange ,the knight paid his lord a regular fee and promised to fight for him in war. A knight
could serve more than one lord but remained loyal to his own lord.
The Third Order:Peasants,Free and Unfree
The third order consisted of vast majority of people which were mainly cultivators. The cultivators had two
categories:free peasants and serfs. The free peasants were those who had own lands but worked as tenants of the land.
They had to give military service for least forty days in a year. They had to work on lord's fields for three days
generally in a week in the form of labour-rent. Together with this they had to provide unpaid services for works like
digging ditches,gathering firewood,building fence and maintaining roads and buildings. Women and children had to do
several tasks together with work on fields like spinning thread,weaving cloth,making candles and preparing wine from
grapes. The free peasants had to pay a tax 'taille' to king from which clergy and nobles were exempted. The serfs tilled
the land of lord. Most part of the produce was submitted to the lord. They had to work on the lands of lord without
wages. They were not allowed to leave the estate without prior permission from the lord. The lord claimed several
monopolies at the cost of his serfs .Serfs could use only lord's flour mill,his oven to bake their bread and his
wine-presses to distil wine and beer. The lord decide whom a serf should marry or might give the blessing to the serf's
choice but on a payment of a free.
England the land 'Angles'
The Angles and Saxons came from central Europe and got settled in England during sixth
century. The name of the country England is a modification of 'Angle-land' as England was
inhabited by Angles.
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The heavy iron-tipped ploughs and mould-boards replaced old wooden equipments. These ploughs dug much
deeper and mould -boards turned soil suitable which resulted in better use of nutrients from the soil.
The shoulder-harness replaced neck-harness of animals that allowed animals to wield great power. Use of iron
horseshoes prevented foot decay of horses.
There was increased use of wind and water energy for agriculture. All over Europe wind and water powered
mills were established for the purpose of grinding corn and pressing grapes .
There was introduction of three field system for land use in place of older two field system. In that,a peasant
could use two out of three fields by sowing one crop in autumn and another crop in spring a year and half late.
They could grow wheat or rye in autumn in one field then in second field they could grow peas,beans and lentils
during spring and could grow oats and barley for horses also. The third field was left fallow and by that they
could rotate the use of all three fields every year.
With the improvement in agricultural technology there was instant enhancement in food produced from every
unit of land. The greater use of plants like peas and beans meant increase in protein diet of Europeans and
better source of fodder for animals. Now cultivator could produce more food from small land. The average
holding of peasant's farm shrank from 100 acres to 20 or 30 acres. Now small holdings reduced the
requirement of labour and could be efficiently cultivated which gave time to peasants for other creative
activities.
During the eleventh century the personal bonds base of feudalism weakened. The lords asked for rents in cash
instead of kind,also peasants found it easy to sell their crops to traders. The increased use of money began to
influence prices,which became higher in times of poor harvest.
The advent of new agricultural technology resulted in growth of agriculture which was accompanied by
progress in three related areas:population,trade and towns.
The population of Europe rose from 42 million in 1000 to 62 million around 1200 and 73 million in 1300.Due to
better food the lifespan increased. An average European could expect to live 10 years longer in the 13
th
th
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The growth of population resulted into development of towns in the Roman Empire. Peasant needed a place to
sell their surplus produce and buy tools and cloth. This led to the increase in holding regular fairs and small
townships. These townships gradually developed into town with features like town square,a church,streets
where merchants built shops and homes,an office where administrators of city could meet. The towns
developed along large castles,bishops' estates or large churches.
Instead of services,people paid taxes to lords who were the owner of the land on which the town stood. Towns
offered the prospect of paid work and freedom for young people of peasantry.
'Town air makes free' was a saying popular in medieval Europe. Many serfs escaped from their masters and
hid themselves in towns. If they successfully completed one year and a day without being discovered by their
masters ,they could become freemen.
There was a large number of shopkeepers and merchants,later there was a need of skilled individuals like
lawyers and bankers. The bigger towns had population of around 30,000 which might form the fourth order.
Guilds were the basis of economic organisation in the medieval Europe . Crafter industry was
organised into guild. These guilds controlled the quality,price and the sale of the goods. The guild- hall was
part of every town where heads of all guilds met. Due to the expansion of trade and commerce also the town
merchants became wealthy and powerful and completed with power of the nobility.
Cathedral -towns
The large churches were called cathedrals. By 12
th
cathedrals belonged to monasteries. Different people contributed to their construction with their own labour,material
or money. A cathedral was made of stone and took several years to complete. The area around the cathedrals became
more populated and they became centres of pilgrimage. Small towns developed around them. Cathedrals were designed
in a way that voice of the priest could reach all people assembled in the hall. Singing sound of monks and the chiming
bells reached greater distance as a call for prayer. Stained glass was used for windows of the cathedrals. These glasses,
during day time ,made the cathedrals radiant for the people who were inside and during the nights ,the light of the
candles made them visible for the people outside. The stained glass narrated the stories in the Bible through pictures.
So that illiterates could understand those stories.
The Crisis of the Fourteenth Century
In 13 century the warm summers of the previous years had given way to bitterly cold summers.
Storms and oceanic flooding destroyed many farmlands that reduced the income in taxes for govts.
Population growth caused shortage of resources and the immediate result was famine.
Trade was hit by a severe shortage of metal money because of the short fall in the output of silver mines in
th
The ships came with rats carrying the deadly bubonic plague infection(Black death).
This catastrophe ,combined with the economic crisis, caused immense social disorder.
Social Unrest
The income of lords was declining rapidly because of fall prices of agriculture products and rise in wages of
labourers. In desperation,they tried to give up the money-contracts and revive labour-services. This was fiercely
opposed by all peasants including better-educated and more prosperous one. The peasants revolted in Flanders in
1323,in France in 1358 and in England in 1381.Although the revolts were ruthlessly crushed but one significant thing
was that they occurred with more brutal intensity in the areas which experience economic growth. It was a sign of
peasant's attempt for securing their gains which they had made in previous centuries. The aggression of peasants made
it certain that old feudal order would not be reinstalled. Thus the lords were able to crush the rebellions but were not
6
able to reinstitute old feudal privileges
Political Changes between 15
th
and 16
th
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century
Development in the political sphere was parallel to the social processes. In the 15
triumphant rulers in Europe was stimulated by the social changes of 13
th
and 14
th
th
th
and 16 centuries,emergence of
centuries as the feudal system
weakened. Both the powerful new states and the economic changes that were occurring were significant for Europe.
The historians called these kings' the new monarchs'.The kings like Louis XI in France,Maximilian in
Austria,Henry-VII in England and Isabelle and Ferdinand in Spain were absolute monarchs. They started
the process of organizing standing armies,a permanent bureaucracy and national taxation and,in Spain and France
began to play a role in European expansion overseas.
The monarchs dispensed with the system of feudal levies for their armies and initiated professionally trained
infantry equipped with gun and siege artillery directly under their control. The resistance of the nobility collapsed in
the face of the military efficiency of the kings.
The centralized power did not establish easily confrontation of aristocracies. The nobility managed a tactical transfer
from being opponents to the new regime into loyalists. The king was at the centre of an elaborate courtier society and a
network of patron-client relationships. All rulers powerful or weak required the assistance of those who could control
power which could be arranged or acquired by way of money. The merchants and bankers acquired an important role
because they could solve problem of money for the kings by lending it to them. Therefore,they got easy access to royal
court. Kings, thus made way for non-feudal constituents in the state scheme. The later history of France and England
was to be shaped by these changes in the power structure.
Key words
Medieval Era:The term' medieval era' refers to the period in European history between the fifth and the fifteenth centuries.
Abbey
: Abbey is derived from the Syriac abba,meaning father. An abbey was governed by an abbot or an abbess.
Monastery :The word 'monastery' is derived from the Greek word 'monos',meaning someone who lives alone.
Doon de mayence:A thirteenth century French poem to be sung recounting adventures of Knights.
The Canterbury Tales:A poem written by Geoffrey Chaucer
Piers Plowman:A poem written by Langland
The Black death:Black death or bubonic plague caused the large scale deaths in Europe. It was brought by the rats that
come to Europe ,along with the trading ships.
Fourth Order :The bigger towns had population of around 30,000 .They could be said to have formed a fourth order.
Passage Based Reference
Rules followed by Monks
The monks had to follow many rules .A manuscript with 73 chapters have been found in the Benedictine monasteries. Some
of the important rules were:
Chapter 6 said
Chapter 7 said
Chapter 33 said
Chapter 47 said
Idleness is the enemy of the soul,so friars and sisters should be occupied at certain times in manual
labour and at fixed hours in readings.
Chapter 48 said
The monasteries should be settled out in the way that all necessities (water,mill,garden,workshops
etc.) are found within its premises.
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