The Emerging World of Lords and Vassals

Trade during Early Middle Ages

1. Coins and jewelry often hoarded and consequently goods were often bartered 2. Massive decline but trade never truly disappeared 3. Surplus goods exchanged in local markets 4. Aristocrats/clerics desired luxury goods that had to be imported from the Byzantine Empire and Islamic caliphs of Baghdad 5. Traded iron, timber, furs, slaves for spices, silk, wine, gold & silver 6. Traders carried goods with boats or caravans and were often Jewish 7. By 900 Venetians became heavily involved in trade

Vassalage

1. Derived from Germanic society - oath of loyalty to leader by warriors: fought for chief who took care of their needs 2. Individual who served a lord in a military capacity was known as a vassal 3. Breakdown of government and change in fighting techniques contributed to vassalage 4. Horses, armor, and weapons were expensive and training was necessarily extensive - lords had to provide vassals with land in exchange for fighting skills 5. Mutually beneficial/dependent relationship 6. Land became the greatest gift a lord could give due to little trade/wealth 7. Public ceremony in which a man performed an act of homage to his lord 8. Loyalty to one's lord was the ultimate virtue in Germanic society 9. As a result of this practice, the great kings often held little more power than the lords

The Eastern Franks

1. Last Carolingian king died in 911 2. Dukes elected Conrad of Franconia to serve as king of Germany 3. Dukes elected Henry the Fowler (Duke of Saxony) following Conrad's death 4. Otto I

Legal rights of lords over serfs

1. Serfs cannot leave lord's land without permission 2. Cannot marry outside manor without approval 3. Lord can try serfs in his own court for lesser crimes - provided only law that serfs knew 4. Could establish monopolies on certain services These rights gave the lord virtual control over the lives and property of his serfs.

Administration of Manors

1. Simple knights resided on their manors and directly supervised them, whereas great lords relied on stewards/bailiffs for administration 2. Monasteries and cathedral churches sometimes controlled manners: were generally more conscientious about keeping accurate records

Manor

Agricultural estate operated by a lord and worked by peasants

Western Franks

Carolingian kings had little success in controlling great lords in 800s and 900s - the counts (chief administrative officials) often did not listen to the kings. 1. In 987 when the Carolingian king died the nobles and chief prelates of church chose Hugh Capet (Count of Orleans and Paris) 2. The nobles that elected Hugh Capet did not intend to create a dynasty but he did succeed in making his position hereditary by asking the nobles to appoint his son Robert as his successor in the event of his death. The Capetian dynasty ended up ruling the W Frankish kingdom for centuries. 3. Capetian kings controlled a small area of land that was in fact less extensive than some of the lords' 4. Around 1000, France was more of a loose alliance of powerful lords that treated the king as an equal than a unified kingdom

Anglo-Saxon England

England's development took a different course than that of the Frankish kingdoms. Long struggle against Viking invasions produced a unified kingdom. 1. Alfred the Great 2. By time of King Edgar, England had a well-developed and strong monarchical government 3. Kingship was elective but only Alfred's descendants were chosen 4. Divided into counties/shires - king assisted by shire-reeve (sheriff), an appointed official. Chancery/writing office responsible for issuing writs conveying king's orders

Fief-holding

Fief: Land/income given to vassal in exchange for military service. Vassals came to exercise rights of jurisdiction/political/legal authority in their fiefs. As the central government disintegrated, the number of people responsible for keeping order as powerful lords rose. Became increasingly complicated as subinfeudation developed. Gradually became characterized by a set of practices in the 900s that included set of mutual obligations of lord and vassal.

Henry the Fowler

First of the Saxon dynasty of German kings. Lacked the resources to impose effective rule over a large area and therefore had limited success in establishing a unified eastern Frankish kingdom.

Serfs

Gave up their freedom to work on a lord's lands for protection. Could not be bought nor sold but were subservient to their lords - required to provide labor services, pay rents, and follow the lord's jurisdiction. By 800 ~60% of population of W Europe was composed of serfs. Labor services consisted of working the lord's demesne (land retained by lord that was cultivated), building barns, digging ditches. They were generally obligated to 3 days work/week. Paid rent to lord by giving a share of the harvest and paid for use of common pasturelands, streams, ponds, woodlands. Obliged to pay a tithe (10% of their produce) to the local church.

Otto I

Henry's son and the best known of the Saxon kings. Defeated the Magyars at the Battle of Lechfield in 955 and encouraged the Christianization of the Slavic and Scandinavian peoples. Relied on bishops and abbots in governing his kingdom - response to habit of lay lords to build up their power at the expense of the king. Clergy were celibate and therefore their offices were not hereditary, making them theoretically loyal to the king. Intervened in Italian politics and was crowned emperor of the Romans by the pope in 962 - revived title after Charlemagne and Carolingians were long gone. His creation of a new "Roman Empire" added a tremendous burden to the kingship - difficult task of governing both Germany and Italy: impossible task.

Alfred the Great

King of Wessex (ruler of England in late 9th century) 1. Played crucial role in development of unified English kingdom 2. Defeated Danish army in 879 and made peace with the Danes in 886 after strengthening the army and navy 3. Believed in the power of education - invited scholars to his courts and encouraged the translation of church fathers' works into Old English 4. His successors reconquered Danish lands and established a unified Anglo-Saxon monarchy

Manorial System

Landed estates of military elite (nobles and knights) worked by peasants provided sustenance. 1. Lords provided protection to peasants, who gave up their freedom and became tied to the land in order to provide labor services 2. Grew out of unsettling circumstances of Early Middle Ages - farmers needed protection 3. A large class of free peasants still existed, but the number of serfs increasingly became bound to the land 4. In Early Middle Ages, ~90% of people worked the land as serfs or free peasants

Results of subinfeudation

Lord-vassal relationship constituted an honorable relationship and did not by any means constitute servitude. Consequently, as kings could not protect their subjects subinfeudation became widespread. This gave lords virtual possession of the rights of government. Generally a product of Carolingian Empire but did spread to England, Germany, Central Europe, Italy.

Castellans

Lords that constructed castles and asserted their authority to collect taxes/dispense justice. Promoted by lack of effective central government.

New Fighting Techniques

Original: 1. Frankish army of foot soldiers dressed in mail and armed with swords 2. Cavalry are spear-throwers Introduction of larger horses and stirrup in 700s allowed for cavalry to wear mail and wield long lances. These knights dominated warfare for 500 years.

Causes

Renewed invasions and disintegration of Carolingian Empire - emergence of a new type of relationship between free individuals. Governments couldn't protect their subjects, so they turned to powerful lords that offered protection for service.

Subinfeudation

The vassals of a great king were great lords. They have their own vassals who might also have vassals that are simple knights. Therefore, the lord-vassal relationship had multiple levels with greater/lesser landowners.

Mutual Obligations within Vassalage

Vassal to Lord: 1. Major obligation was to provide military service 2. Great lords responsible for providing group of knights for king's army 3. Obliged to appear at lord's court when summoned 4. Sometimes had to pass judgement on their fellow vassals 5. Provide hospitality to lord when he stayed at their castles 6. Financial payments to lord in certain cases Lord to Vassal 1. Protect his vassal militarily or legally 2. Maintenance of vassal - granting him a fief Common Practices: 1. Bond dissolved if lord acted inappropriately towards vassal 2. Vassal forfeits fief if he betrays the loyalty to his lord 3. In theory, the fief returned to the lord after the vassal's death, but in practice 10th century fiefs tended to be hereditary according to the principle of primogeniture; the fief was only reclaimed by the lord if the vassal had no heirs