Social System In The Middle Ages

The class system that defined Europe during the Middle ages was very similar to the caste system implemented in India. These systems both had a single leader atop the order followed by wealthy landowners and intellectuals. In the Middle ages like India the lowest level of society was subjected to manual labor and harsh living conditions. Also, in both of these systems the gap between wealthy and peasant was extremely large. The people that gained from these conditions were the upper classes because they were able to make a lot of money off the back of these lower-class individuals. These divisions were in place to keep the wealthy at the top of the social order and dominant over society. I believe that these systems were created by people

The system of feudalism weakened the Zhou Dynasty (1123?-256 BCE) and lead to the Warring States period because the system gave too much power to the nobles, causing them to become more powerful than the king and eventually have the potential to take over ruling. Feudalism is defined as a political system in which nobles are granted the use of land that legally belong to their king, in exchange for their loyalty, military service, and protection for the people who live on the land. According to the Zhou King Chao advisor Ying-hou in the 2nd century BCE, “A hundred men scrambling to fetch a gourd by cart will accomplish less than one man holding it in his hand and walking purposefully.” This relates to the negative impact feudalism had because

In the Middle Ages, which started at A.D 476 and ended in 1500, a lot of serfs and peasants faced adversities. Serfs were slaves who worked for the lords and ladies in the Middle Ages. On the other hand, peasants are lower class people who works in farmlands. Serfs and peasants were in the lowest class, so they had a life that was harsher than than the lords and ladies.

Medieval Europe and Tokugawa Japan lived in seclusion to each other, and yet there were many uncanny similarities between Tokugawa Japan and Medieval Europe.

The Medieval European feudal system that was used to classify every human in a social class that was used over a period of a 100 years. The amount of goods you provided and how loyal you were to someone of a higher rank allowed you to gain protection and more. What you were decided what class you were considered to fit.

Feudalism is a system of governing and landholding. Nobles were able to use land that belonged to the king and in return, the nobles pledged their loyalty and military services to them ( doc 1 ). The feudal system was based on rights and obligations. The manor was the economic side of the feudal system. The manor was a system where the lord’s lands was taken care of by his serfs ( doc 2 ). The manor system was based on rights and obligations between a lord and his serfs. When the killing spree in London, Quentavic and Rochester happened the feudal system helped put everything back into order ( doc 8 ). This helped govern areas and it gave control over different regions. In exchange for military protection and other services, a lord granted land to a vassal. Then the vassal was to protect the lord from invasions and other attacks. The barbarians attacked Europe and took over & destroyed everything ( doc 7 ). With the feudal system lords were able to receive protection just from giving them

The societies of Tokugawa Japan (c.1603-1867C.E.) and medieval Europe (c.1000-1500C.E.) had two things in common; a feudal system. A feudal system is something that features hierarchies or social structures. The feudal system normally starts with a religion, which is at the very top of the social pyramid, then it’s the King or monarch for Europe and the shogun for Japan, then there are the nobles for Europe and the daimyos for Japan. As we go down the pyramid there are the warriors, like the knight in Europe and the samurai in Japan, then there are the peasants. The peasants were included in both eras and are at the lowest part of the pyramid.

For them, hell and the devil were very real realities. It did not help that Gd was quick to punish his creations, regardless of whether they were dead or alive. Religion had three crucial tasks that shaped the lives of the people: providence , salvation and community. Providence was God’s will on Earth; to the people living in this time period, everything was God’s will. In a society where death was common, but the causes not, God was the one who caused it. Whether an event was good or bad, it was God’s will and the person deserved it. God’s will came also from Mary and other saints, churches held holy objects and were wanted by the people due to their providential power. Church and religious rituals were also important to the people because they offered Salvation. Going to Mass and praying were a big part of life, it was necessary lest they wanted eternal damnation. People prayed not only for themselves, but their family, for their loved ones so they could go to heaven. The Church also held a lot of power, due to the land it owned--be it monasteries, schools, or something else--it also held the power as it controlled time and ethics. The Church made the week, created the calendar and the days it held holy days, it could even ring bells to signal the hour. The Church was one of the governing forces in medieval times. The moral code was set up by the Church and people obeyed it; the Church

Social hierarchy classes consisted of a monarch, nobility, gentry, merchants, yeomanry, and laborer. The monarch was the highest and most superior class ranking, it was based off of bloodline only and the oldest monarch would take the throne and become the most powerful(“Elizabethan Era.”). Nobility was considered to be in the class by being born into the hierarchy or becoming

The middle class was arising and was becoming larger. Which meant they were able to challenge the authority of the church due to them being the majority. Even though the middle classes were big in size, the higher classes included the nobles, commoners and the clergy (popes, monks, bishops and priests). Since most of the classes were getting more attention and more benefits, the peasants were not quite happy. They were not at all, they became resentful and revolted towards everyone else. The clergy was starting to get more of a chance of education and the peasants were not. The class difference was destroying everyone as a

In the 1500s and the 1600s the feudal system was beginning to fall. Different countries were trying new different types of governments instead of the dysfunctional feudal system. The feudal system consisted of many different nobles ruling over their own land. It was not a uniform system of ruling over the country. There were small city-states run by a singular ruler. Most of the population were poor farmers, that had no idea what was happening within the country. Obviously this system was not the best. Eventually countries found a more efficient way of running their countries. A single ruler began to consolidate the power from the city-states and make a more uniform government for the country. The ways these absolute monarchs consolidated and increased their powers were similar in the 1600s and 1700s, by decreasing the nobles’ powers, increasing military, and increasing bureaucracy.

During the Middle Ages, the prevailing system of government was feudalism. Under feudalism, there was the use of a definite social structure. People were born into a social class and usually stayed in that class for the rest of their life. The three social classes were the nobility, clergy, and peasantry and each of these classes had different roles to perform in the society.

Imagine yourself in a dark building not knowing what’s around each corner. You make your way through this building facing disease, hunger, war, pressure, and being stuck on the bottom floor of the building. This is exactly how the middle ages were. During the middle ages citizens were forced into religion and faced the issues following feudalism, hunger, disease, and war. In summary the middle ages were not a good period rather they were a time of darkness.

The Middle Ages were a time where kings and nobles owned the land and serfs worked with little pay. Serfs were like slaves that worked on a farm (Doc. 1). They got one day to farm for themselves and the other six they were working for their king or noble (OI). Nobles and kings had knights called vassals (OI). Vassals were knights who protected and served kings and nobles in exchange for land (OI). These relationships were called feudalism (Doc. 1). Feudalism and the Church greatly contributed to the social, economic, and political life in Europe in the Middle Ages.

People in our world, whether it’s in the past or present, are constantly influenced by their surroundings. They live their lives based on what’s around them and how they are brought up. The people in the Middle Ages were often exposed to a variety of different things that affected what they did. Their relationships with one another, and the way they were brought up to interact with each other greatly modified each individual’s lives. In addition to that, their daily jobs affected how they lived as well. All of these things were majorly influenced by feudalism, the form of government that the people in the Middle Ages lived by. They were exposed to this government every day, and it was the base of their values and as a whole. There were many