Feudalism:

When the people of Europe set up a system to protect themselves from the Vikings, they built castles that protected small areas of land. The castles protected them better than the army, but the lords of the castles became envious of other lands. They began to fight and take over other castles. The result was one lord ruling two or three castles. Since each lord could not directly watch every part of the land, he set up lords under him to watch a smaller part of the land. Each of these feudal estates were called fiefs.

The peasants who lived and worked on the land were called serfs. They were bound to the desire of the lord and they were not allowed to leave the soil. They were the lowest class and they did not own anything.

The vassals were under the protection of the lord. They vowed their service to the lord in return for his protection. They owned the land that they worked but most of its profits belonged to the lord. They were a higher class than the serfs but they still had to work for their living.

When a child’s parents died or left him, a lord could take him in as a ward. A ward was under the protection and supervision of his guardian. Usually a ward would be the child of another lord who had died.

The lords had knights who served them and fought to protect the castles. The knights fought from horseback and had squires who carried their shields and armor. The knights taught pages to be chivalrous and the pages grew into knights.

When the castles were not in danger, the knights practiced their fighting skills in tournaments. At the tournaments, the knights fought eachother and tried to win the best prizes. When a castle was threatened, the knights who served the lord of that castle would gather and fought to protect the castle.

back era----next era----home page