After the fall of Charlemagne's empire Europe developed the political, economic, and social systems known as feudalism and manorialism to govern people's lives. Which people (kings, nobles, knights, peasants, serfs, merchants, etc.), do you believe, benefited the most and lost the most in these types of systems?
Post by Thursday, June 4.
21 comments:
peasents and serfs obviously were hit hardest as they were reduced from independent farmers to basically slaves. feudalism helped the merchants as it allowed regions to settle down and stabilized settled regions. this opened up numerous fertile new markets for them to hawk their crap. kings were hit because feudalism gave alot of power to nobles that weakened their hold. conversly, nobles had their power strengthened. midevil europe is much like what america would be if the conservervative philosophy of small government was implemented. you would have goveners (nobles) josteling for power. the central government wouldnt be able to respond well as the states have disproportionate amounts of power. things would degrade and eventually war would break out.
I believe that the nobles gained the most benefit from this system. I agree with Alex that giving the nobles power over their estate and their serfs drew power away from the king. Serfs had it the worst, working hard, bound to the land, paying rent and pretty much slaves to their land lord. I think some what between the two was the knights. In an exchange for fighting, they were granted land by a lord and support for their families. It was just a matter of putting your life on the line for all of these benefits.
With no guarantee of protection from the government, the agreements made freely between Lords and their vassals, in which land is given in exchange for military service, made the higher class people (nobles, knights, Lords) more powerful and put them in the place of leaders and decision makers. The lords and vassals worked together to create strong forces who were independent and benefited from the relationship. With central type of control decreasing, Kings had lost their wide span of power, transferring it to people leading smaller areas whose own ideas and strength determined their success.
Manorialism gave serfs no freedom and they were forced to work and live under the control of the lord and the needs of his land and estate. These serfs did not benefit from the system because they were not free. The lords were dependent on the peasants to work, so their time could be spent gathering power and protecting their land. The serfs and free peasant class had the worst deal in the system. The people had no say about their future as each land area was ruled by a small few who made decisions to benefit their own interests. Although they were protected under the rule of the landowner, their lifestyle would not have a chance to get better.
With these types of systems I believe that the peoples who benefited the most would be, the nobles. Nobles took control of areas of land. Also, the lords could appoint men to be apart of the military and fight for them. These men in return were provided land for their fighting. In a general sense, these knights and lords made out equally well as did the nobles. Serfs were appointed and were bound to land to provide labor services. Serfs were basically "owned" in a sense by the lords. The serfs made out the worst from these systems.
I believe that feudalism hurt the knights and military leaders of Rome the most because of the constant fighting throughout the states. With the amount of invasion and deal making it caused a lot of violence and bickering. Wars and fights broke out through the lands. The people that benefited the most out of this were the merchants of the city states. A merchant’s business mainly rests on trade and crops. With the land expansion it opened new trade roots and fertile land for growth.
I think definitely the serfs suffered the most because of the horrible conditions they had to suffer. Things like the horrible living conditions and the lack of hygiene were why they suffered so much. i believe that the nobles had got the greatest end of the time on this one. They had it good because they were at the top of the food chain and they were like the really rich people who have it all.
The kings would benefit the most. In present time, this situation would be similiar to that of a landlord of an apartment for example. The landlords make the rules and get paid by the people living in the apartment. The serfs would least benefit because they were the ones doing all the hard work and paying money just so they could make a living. The serfs, in this situation, would be like the people who pay the landlord so they can live in the apartment.
I believe that anybody who had great wealth and power such as the nobles and knights and lords etc. would have the greates benefit from this system. They had all the control of the land. So they used this power to get men to fight for them. If they fought for them they would get a piece of land. In this society though, these people depended on each other so there was never really supreme control because with one without the other, the system would falter.
Knights under feudalism extremely benefited from it. Their skills and loyalty at the time could have been traded in for land by the lord. And of course, there were always wars so warriors would be continuously needed. However, others such as peasents would be unlucky. Under manorialism serfs, mostlu transformed from peasants, recieved benefits such as renting their own property which of course has a price.
The serfs were definately the ones affected the worst by this. They were legally bound to the lors land. They needed permission when it came to who they wanted. These conditions made it hard for them. Clearly the ones who gained the most from this would have to be the nobles. They took control of the larger areas of land, which gave them power, therefore giving them to feeling of supierority.
The Serfs suffered the most considering that they are now basically slaves because they were bound to the land and still had to work on it, pay rents and subject to the lord’s jurisdiction. As for the people who benefited the most, I would have to agree with most of my classmates and say that the nobles and vassals benefited from the situation. The Nobles gained a lot of power and took control of large areas of land and was in control of most of the military. The Vassals benefited because they were given land to fight in the war, so they didn't have to worry about losing their land while fighting. It's a win, win situation for the vassals and the nobles.
I believe that the nobles and the knights benefited the most out of these systems. The king gives the nobles or knights land in return for their fighting capabilities and presumely they are able to give that piece of land they got to others for profit or more soldiers. The serfs and peasants are obviously the ones at lost in anything because they are really getting nothing and have no freedom. They are bound to the land and to the people that own them which basically just sucks. (emphasis on the sucking)
Edward Cummins
The nobles and the kings benifited the most of all of the economic and social systems. They lived in very efficient, healthy, clean life-styles. But the kings were hit as feudalism came with the decrease of power to the kings and more to the nobles. Peasants and serfs were hit hard as they suffered cruel environments and were very unkempt and dirty. They recieved the less amount of superiorty and were treated as slaves.
As many others have said, the serfs were affected the most. This is because they were downcast to lower level of life, slaves. Plus they still had to pay, work and answer to their lords. The Nobles and knights definately got the best of the Feudalism because they recieved more power which was taken away from the king. Also, they were given land for all the duties they performed which really helped them in their standards of life.
Well...it's complicated. When the peasents were free and were knights, I think that they had the better deal, for they only had to fight 40 days for their lord, and then would be protected and have their own land. However, when the peasents became unfree and were surfs, then I think they sufferered the most, because unlike the knights, they didn't have the legal right to leave and were forced to oblige to the lord's demands. With the surfs, not having alot of rights and freedom, I think that the lords benfited extremely from this, just like the slave owners did back in the 1800s.
the two groups that benefited most from the feudal system were the nobles and the knights. the contract between the lord and subordinate is called a vassal. those that suffered were the kings and the surfs. the surfs were forced to endure harsh awful living conditions. the kings didn't benefit from the feudal system because they lost extreme amount of power until they lost it all. the lords gained a lot of power and protection from their knights.
I agree with MCloven (Alex) the nobles gained the most power as there were more of them than there was kings. So the king’s power was squandered. The peasants and the serfs were the least successful as they worked independently to keep themselves from starvation.
Obviously the rich benefited and the poor suffered, as that seems to be the norm in human society. The peasantry was nothing more than a ramshackle slaves and worthless sacks of human filth to the nobles, and the nobles controlled everything. Interestingly enough, depending on where you were "earl" or "duke" or "lord", determined your wealth.Take England for example. Being the Earl of Surrey, say, with its rich agriculture, would be more prosperous than being the Earl of Shropshire, as it would constantly getting hit by the welsh. This location factor largely determined your influence in life, so it was more focused on where you were, not how big your area was, or the size of your military.
Megatron
Those of noble status benefitted the most from this system. This drew power away from the king and gave it to the nobles. Knights did just as well. this time conservative ideas were pertinent. The serfs were harmed by this.
The people that got the most out of the fall were noble dudes. They were on top and controlled most of the systems made for this time. They could not control anything they did and they were bound to the land. All the servents of the wealthy men in the palaces and big kingdoms had to talk to their owner and they would decide whom they would marry. This high authority benefitted most and the ones who had little to no authority lost most.
the lords of each manor benifitted greatly due to the fact that they recieved greater freedom and independence from their greater monarch. the nobles gained independence and power over their own lands which added to their power. merchants were essential to keeping communications open but the fact that the lands were self sufficient meant that there was less to trade. the peasants gained protection but lost rights and the serfs remained to their lands which became increasingly divided among nobles.
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