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C h a p te r s ( h tt p s : //co l o r s t a te .g r l co n te n t .co m /we s te r n c i v p re m o d e r n /pa g e /c h a p te r s ) C h a p te r 9 : I s l a m a n d t h e L a t i n We s t I I ( h tt p s : //co l o r s t a te .g r l co n te n t .co m /we s te r n c i v p re m o d e r n /pa g e /c h9 ) C h a p te r 9 : A g r i c u l t u re a n d S o c i a l O rd e r ( h tt p s : //co l o r s t a te .g r l co n te n t .co m /we s te r n c i v p re m o d e r n /pa g e /c h9 p g 1 )

Flying Through Cornwall’s Past: Aerial views of landscapes and sites of medieval villages and farms. (http: //www.historic- cornwall.org.uk/flyingpast/medieval.html)

Metal a gricul tural tools, 12th – 13th centuries.

Agriculture and Social Order

In the aftermath of the Vikings’ and Magyars’ invasions, much of the political and social

order in the changed. Most

people lived and worked in the countryside, and they looked to local warlords for

governance and protection for their families, homes, and crops. The warlords often

claimed ownership of the land but did not farm it themselves. Instead, they depended

upon agricultural laborers, shepherds, craftsmen, and their families to do the work that

made the land productive. This situation helped to shape the emergence of the

medieval peasantry, the largest social group in the Latin West. Between the tenth and

the twelfth centuries, many small farmers formed communities or joined existing

villages. This enabled them to pool resources for food production; in some areas,

villages would negotiate collectively with local authorities to determine taxation and

protection in times of war.

Other individuals, often known as serfs, put themselves and their families directly

under the authority of a landowner. Serfs agreed to work in lands apportioned to them

in return for the landowner’s protection; in many cases, serfs remained tied to the land

(e.g., they could not leave unless their lord freed them). In addition, serfs usually owed their lord a portion of their harvest, several weeks’ worth

of labor on the lord’s own estate, and taxes or gifts for special occasions, such as the marriage of the lord’s daughter. Serfs were also required to

use their lord’s mill and ovens for their bread, and to accept their lord’s jurisdiction in case of legal disputes or crimes. Although serfdom was

especially widespread in northwestern Europe, peasants throughout the Latin West were generally subject to some or all of the duties and

demands described above.

Changes in agricultural technology also affected the lives of serfs, peasants, and landowners throughout western Europe. During the period

between the tenth and the twelfth centuries, heavy plows replaced the lighter plows, hoes, and shovels used in previous centuries. Pulled by

oxen or sometimes horses, heavy plows included a metal coulter which cut vertically into the ground, while the plow’s share turned the soil

horizontally; this furrowed the soil more effectively and helped to increase crop yields.

L a t i n We s t ( / w e s t e r n c i v p r e m o d e r n /p a g e /c h 8 )

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Medieval ridge an d furrow patterns, Gloucestershire, Great Britain. Photo taken by

Philip Halling.

Medieval Manor, Showing the Three - Field System (https: // images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search; _ yl t=A0LEV 7rOF8JXUSIA2rgnnIlQ; _ ylu=X3oDMTByMjB0aG5zBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw- -? p=Medieval+Europe +Agricul ture&f r=yhs- mozilla- 002&hspar t=mozilla&hsimp=yhs- 002#id=123&iurl=http% 3A% 2F% 2Fwww.quia.com% 2Ffiles% 2Fquia% 2Fusers% 2Fjeff reyheady% 2FPictures% 2FThree - field- system& action=click)

Plowin g with Oxen, f rom a 14th- centur y Manuscript . Photo taken by Philip Van Ness Myers.

Similarly, farmers adopted the three-field system for planting and harvesting crops. In this system, farmers would divide their landholdings into

thirds: one-third would be planted with autumn crops, such as rye or wheat, while another third would be planted with barley, beans, or legumes

for spring. The last third would be left fallow so that the soil would recover its nutrients. Farmers would rotate the planting of their crops

annually so that each year a different third of the land would lie fallow. Over time, this practice helped to reduce soil exhaustion and increase

the land’s productivity.

Finally, peasants and landowners drained marshes and cut down forests, which gradually increased the amount of land

suitable for farming. These changes helped to support a growing population, but they did not eliminate the risk of famine and

starvation, and the peasantry’s diet remained based on beans, cabbage, cheese, coarse bread, and beer.

For the lords who owned the land, managing its productivity and defending it from attack were important responsibilities.

Amid the upheavals of the ninth and tenth centuries, lords often made promises, alliances, and contracts with each other in

order to defend their lands and maintain their power more effectively. Feudalism is the name often given to such

relationships, though it has to be used with care. Feudalism was not a neatly organized system of political offices or social

relations, nor was it imposed by some central authority or followed universally throughout western Europe. However,

feudalism can be used to describe three important features that we find among the multiple, various relationships formed

among lords at this time. First, feudalism was based on mutual promises of loyalty, service, and protection exchanged between

lords and lesser soldiers who became the lords’ vassals. A vassal would swear fealty—loyalty and faithfulness—to a lord, in

return for the lord’s promise of protection and loyalty in return. In particular, vassals swore to fight on their lord’s side in any

armed conflict or dispute, just as lords promised to aid and defend their vassals. Here is one example of such a promise:

. . . [Count William] asked if he [the other knight] was willing to become completely his man, and the

other replied, "I am willing" ; and with clasped hands, surrounded by the hands of the count, they were

bound together by a kiss. Secondly, he who had done homage gave his fealty to the representative of the

count in these words, "I promise on my faith that I will in future be faithful to Count William, and will

observe my homage to him completely against all persons in good faith and without deceit."

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Galbert of Bruges, Chronicle of the Death of Charles the Good (https: //sourcebooks.fordham.edu/Halsa ll/source/feud-fief 1.asp)

Detail f rom th e Bayeux Tapestr y ( 11th centur y), sh owin g a cerem ony of h oma ge.

“Charter of Homage and Fealty, 1110” f rom the Viscount of Carcassonne (https: //sourcebooks.fordham.edu/Halsa ll/source/atton1.asp)

Th e For tress of Carcassonn e, Fran ce. Image © Shutterstock, Inc.

This description highlights a second feature of feudalism: it involved public rituals of

homage. In rituals of homage like the one described above, vassals and lords exchanged

their oaths of fealty before witnesses so that the tie between them was proclaimed publicly.

The use of religious relics also added to the solemnity of the oath and the importance of

both parties keeping their promises.

The third feature of feudalism is that lords typically gave their vassals a fief to cement their

relationship and to reward faithful service. Fiefs were usually lands or property, ranging in

size from a few farms to whole duchies or provinces. However, fiefs could also be

administrative offices or economic privileges, such as the ability to collect a certain tax (or

to be exempt from paying a certain tax!).

Taken as a whole, the three main

features of feudalism—mutual

promises of fealty, public rituals of

homage, and the granting of fiefs—

influenced politics and governance in

much of western Europe by putting

public power in private hands. In the

absence of mighty emperors or

centralized states with bureaucracies,

feudal lords and their vassals were

responsible for organizing military

defense, administering justice,

collecting and disbursing revenues, and

generally maintaining order at the local

or regional level. The challenges involved in meeting these responsibilities can be glimpsed in the Peace of God and Truce of God movements

which began in France during the tenth century. Bishops and other leaders in the Western Christian Church demanded that lords and knights

uphold the Peace of God, which meant using their skills as warriors to protect peasants, merchants, women, monks, and priests from attack.

Decrees about the Truce of God were intended to prohibit warfare during certain days of the week, due to their religious significance. Lords,

knights, and other secular authorities were expected to obey and uphold these decrees, while offenders were threatened with

excommunication and bodily penalties, such as losing a hand. Although efforts to implement the Peace and Truce of God were not always

successful, they demonstrate the endemic violence of this period.

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Left: Fight of th e Vices Against th e Vir tues, Church of Notre Dam e du Por t , Clerm ont Ferran d, Fran ce ( 12th centur y). Right: Ima ge of a Marria ge, 13th- centur y Fran ce. Images © Bridgeman Image.

Over time, feudal relationships also fostered the development of a warrior aristocracy throughout northwestern Europe and influenced gender

roles in medieval European society. Warfare remained at the core of feudal relationships between lords and vassals: young men were trained to

fight on horseback with swords, axes, and other weapons so that they could provide military service to their lords, fellow knights, and families.

Indeed, men who were vassals of one lord might also command vassals of their own so that men who were skillful fighters and war leaders could

gain territory, political power, and social prestige. By the eleventh century, many warrior aristocrats sought to consolidate their lands and

power through strategies that emphasized having only male heirs inherit the family’s property. In some regions, such inheritance was limited to

the oldest son, a practice known as primogeniture. Younger sons often had to seek their fortunes in service to other lords or by joining the

clergy, while daughters were married with an eye to creating or strengthening alliances between aristocratic families. Although women were

frequently celebrated and admired in medieval literature, they were often excluded from activities related to public life [C h a p t e r 1 0

( / w e s t e r n c i v p r e m o d e r n /p a g e /c h 1 0 ) ]. A wife might manage a landed estate in her husband’s absence or on behalf of her underage son, but

few women were able to control their economic or legal affairs independently of a male relative.

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