Question

aristocracy and peasants

Answer 1

Peasants and Aristocrats

 

I. Feudal Society takes shape (10th century)
           

                A. In the rubble of old empire, many lords establish themselves
                       

                               1. knights forge personal alliances with lords
                             

                                               a. expert horseback warriors
                             

                                               b. new potential of the stirrup
                       

                               2. rewarded with fief (feodum)--a title to land
                       

                               3. lords and vassals (knights) bound by oaths of loyalty and codes of honor

                                               a. difficulties of multiple loyalties

 

     
            B. If anything, the church is even more important after 10th century
                       

                               1. the power to help govern and to give legitimacy to new rulers
                             

                                               a. lords are eager benefactors of the church
                       

                               2. church holds power of relics, prayer, literacy and learning
                       

                               3. church offers order and regularity in disordered time  

II. Economic Expansion (10th through 12thcenturies)

                A. Agricultural Improvements

                           1. Heavy plow/Draft Horse team

                           2. Three Crop Rotation

              B. Higher yields--more surplus wealth
                               1. Return of cash economy

                           2. Lords increasingly ask for rents rather than service

                                        a. payments of rents creates new incentives

                                        b. rents generate cash and greater potential for wealth

 

                C. Change in labor
                           1. Rise of free peasantry (under contract) and decline of slavery and serfdom


III. Significance of economic expansion
              A. Population Growth
   
              B. Powerful aristocracy
                             1. Patronage of the church

                               2. Inheritance of feudal rights
                                            a. limits of war-making

                                               b. how can aristocrats further extend their wealth and power?


              C. Expansion of Trade and Growth of Cities

                               1. a growing class: the bourgeoisie
                             2. some cities are independence, others have self-government under charters
                             3. govern own affairs through councils and guilds
                               4. Cities, like aristocrats, become patrons of the church and the arts