The Feudal System Essay

Over time, merchants and craftsman settled in these towns, and some grew to be cities of several thousand people. Trade stimulated many new jobs in towns and cities, so peasants went to work there. They no longer worked on manors, so manors were not needed. The peasants got paid at their jobs in these towns and cities. The peasants slowly shifted from being serfs to having jobs in towns and cities. This changed the way people lived in Europe and marked the beginning of the end of feudalism as serfs began to pay their feudal obligations with cash instead of service.

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.

I learnt through a presentation performed by 2 people on Medieval day about the social structure of Medieval European society.

Rome was very significant because it controlled most of Europe and it also had a lot of european culture. Rome fell after the rulers that came in the next century, didn’t know how to deal with Rome’s growing problems and it’s giant empire, therefore Rome began to fall. There were many contributions to the fall of Rome. For example, trade was disrupted, there was limited space and they began to lack new sources of gold and silver. Some people may argue that the Age Of Faith and The Dark Ages are the best labels to describe the era between 500 and 1500 in Europe. The best label to describe this time period is The Age Of Feudalism because the documents show what it was, how it began and how it helped.

They fought for the large landowners called Daimyo, they worked for the Daimyo’s protection and against other powerful landowners. The Samurai was taught the values and traditions, and had to be educated in literature and writing. Therefor samurai were also trained in meditation and fighting techniques such as archery, swordsmanship, and martial arts. All of this leads to an impact on military, feudalistic society and Japan’s history.

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.

However, this could be better seen in their form of government. Feudalism was a system that had land owners at the top (Kings and lords) and those who worked the land and keep the community safe at the bottom. It was basically impossible to move between social classes, and a desire to keep the rich with the rich meant that one couldn’t marry into money It was a social, economic, political, and legal system that stood in place for hundreds of years. The system, however meant that the government was weak, and it rarely stretched far; the larger the kingdom, the harder it was to keep it working. It also meant there were a lot of poor people living in the fifteen hundreds. In order to work it also required the loyalty of those who worked and a sense of community.

By the end of the fourteenth century, the Black Death killed nearly 60% of Europe’s population. First arriving in Europe through sick merchants on Genoese trading ships that docked in Sicily, the plague caused boils, fever, diarrhea, horrible pain, and shortly, death. No one was sure how the Death spread, and this combined with the fast course the disease took and the primitive medical practices of the time allowed for the disease to spread through the continent in devastating time. It only took about twenty-three days from the point of infection for the plague to be fatal (Benedictow). The Black Death spread extensively through Europe, affecting both nobility and peasants.

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.

In Europe alone, it wiped out at least one third or two third of the population. (Economic) The Black Death finally ended in relatively 1350, and deep economic changes turned up. Worldwide trade dropped, and wars in Europe suspended during. People had abandoned farms and villages during the plague. Serfs were no longer tied to their previous plot of land. Due to a severe labor shortage, serf survivors were able to demand higher wages and better working conditions from their new landlords. This may have contributed to the rise of capitalism. Many serfs moved to cities and contributed to the rise in urbanization and industrialization. (Cultural) Medieval society did not know what caused the plague or how it spread. Most blamed the suffering as

In the Middle Ages, they had a strange way of calling their time period a perfect world. They lived in a time where Christianity was spreading the globe, art and music started to expand and Europe was becoming the strongest nation. Everything seemed to be right except for how people were living life. It was unfair the way everyone was separated into a class and all you did wrong was just be born into the wrong family. In the Middle Ages, there was an indefinite structure in society. You were born into a class of people and generally stayed in that class for your entire life. No matter how hard you worked you would stay in that life forever, they were ranked from, Royalty, hereditary Nobility, Non-Hereditary.

By 1660, it was quite common for farmers to rent the land they lived and worked at. With state-sponsoring of enclosing common lands, more and more farmers were forced to become landless wage-labourers. Enclosure of common lands means that usage of the land is restricted to the owner, and not for common

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

The feudal system was a medieval government system that had Lords, who owned the land, and Serfs, who worked on the land. The position of an individual was assigned by birth, and there was no movement by the individual. This idea can be seen in the quote, “the rise of the industrial capitalist appears as the fruit of a victorious struggle both against feudal power and it’s disgusting prerogatives, and against the guilds, and the fetters by which the exploitation of man by man,” (Marx 1976:875). As capitalistic is created, there are many factors that negatively contribute to society, like the surplus of workers. The major problem is that not everyone is going to work in the workforce and will beg or do other things that are not capitalistic to survive. Marx’s argues that the surplus of people are forced in the form of fear into the workforce. (might