English IV
29 March 2017
The Effects of Feudalism on British People
The Medieval period was driven by the wealth and status of the people. If you were wealthy you had power, production, and peasants. Britain was experiencing many changes, and it began to shift from an empirical government to a feudalistic form of government. These drastic changes began to have an impact on the British people. According to Green, “Power tends to flow into hands of local lords who can protect the peasants better than the state can” (Green). The Medieval period began after the fall of the Roman Empire and before the rise of the Renaissance, the Medieval Period was run on a feudalistic government, which is a social class system that determined the lives of the British people and gave them no social mobility.
The new era began with a fall of an empire that was invaded by Germanic tribes that were best known as the Anglo-Saxons. The decline of Rome happened because of lack of leadership, weak military, and poor villagers. The Anglo-Saxons split up the land and brought about their own morals and cultures to form this changing country. A new religion, Christianity, began to spread throughout the country. A Christian church survived the fall of the empire, however, the church split its organization into two. Corrick stated, “One difference between the two sections of the church was that, in the west, the head was the pope, and in the east, it was the Byzantine emperor” (Corrick 28). The church began to be seen as a form of local government for the people. This altered the forms of government seen in early medieval period form an empirical government to a local government.
This local government eventually formed into a dominant social system in medieval Europe called Feudalism. Feudalism was a social, political, and economical system that ranked the people of Europe from the filthy rich to the dirt poor. The system was created so that the wealthy could protect the poor, and in return the poor would give the wealthy their loyalty. Gunnell once said, “Feudalism came from the Latin word for estate or land, fief, and is sometimes called system of fiefdoms” (“Effects of Feudalism in the Middle Ages”). The fief was given to vassals and could be used as long as they were loyal to their lord. The system ranked the people of Europe by wealth and status. Wealth and the occupation someone had, had a big determination on where they stand in the social class system. The lords and nobles were towering at the top, while the poor worked hard at the bottom. The peasants worked the fields and made a living by farming. In return for a piece of land, farmers gave a certain amount of their harvest to their lords as rent or payment for protection. Despite all their efforts to work harder to better their lifestyle, the poor had no choice of social mobility. The class you were born in is the class you stay in for the rest of your life. No one had a choice to move up or down in rank. The working class grew vegetables near their homes and bought farming tools from the blacksmiths. Their homes were small with a dirt floor and a straw roof. Their kitchen was an open fire in the middle of their floor. The Kings lived privileged in their castles, or for the lords, in their manor houses. The houses were built for defense and not for comfort. It was made of stone and the lords also owned a piece of land where the church village stood. The wealthy centered their lives at home or on the battlefield. The Crusades or the 100 years war had knights and vassals fighting for their lords to show their loyalty. The system was set up so that the lower class would provide military service or daily life service like farming and being servants. In return, the wealthy gives land and protection. Corrick said, “The feudal system was not planned but, rather, grew and developed in response to the social chaos that followed the fall of the Western Roman Empire” (Corrick 58). The system was created to decrease chaos in Europe, however, it only seemed to rank and put a gap between the rich and the poor.
Protection, loyalty, and health of the people were on the line in Europe. The Peasants worked the land and helped through out the home in return for protection, and the knights and vassals fought in war to show loyalty to their lords. Gunnell said, “Under feudalism, the lord would grant his subjects, or vassals, land in return for various services” (“Effects of Feudalism in the Middle Ages”). Loyalty and protection went hand in hand, and it was the way of life back in the middle ages. The wealthy shielded the poor, but to a certain extent. When the monstrous bubonic plague spread through the streets of Europe, everyone fended for their own in high hopes for the disease to end. The aftermath of the vicious disease resulted in death of about 60% of the European population. The lack of sanitation was the main cause of the spread, and Europe has made many changes to prevent the deadly disease of happening again.
The number of people decreased, therefore, labor decreased. Feudalism began to slowly decline due to a number of events. Land began to be taken and King John, at the time, taxed heavily. Many peasants and middle classed people were unhappy with the taxes and demanded changes. After continuous revolts, a famous charter was created to please the wishes of the middle and lower class people. The Magna Carta was written to reduce the power of the king. This movement changed the power of monarchy, the rights of the people, and influenced parliament. Gunnel stated, “Many of the principles of the Magna Carta can be found in our own constitution, such as that by jury, no taxation without representation, and the protection of property” (“Effects of Feudalism in the Middle Ages”). The power of the Kings were changing, however, King Henry VII entered and took advantage of his power and ended the power of the Pope in order to satisfy his own wishes to not be married. This act leads to the creation of the Church of England and the end to many monasteries. Another outcome of feudalism was that the crusades and travel opened up new routes for Europe. New towns and cities were built and peasants moved into those towns and cities. The peasants found more manufacturing jobs in the cities and became free from their lords. A new era was insight and more change was coming. The renaissance was the rebirthed or renewed era leaving past the dark ages and the destruction of a social class system.
Feudalism brought a new social, political, and economical system that separated the rich and the poor because of their wealth and job occupation. The system put a gap between the society because of wealth and health issues. Europe has continued to make changes to better their country since the Middle Ages where there were superstitions, religious debates, war, and disease. Feudalism impacted the lives of the people in Europe and gave the people no social mobility. However, even though the era began with a fall, it rose from the dark times into a new era of cultural change. Change in art, literature, science, and many more.