62Notespg.

#1 February07,2017

Nobles became the head of towns and cities and gained

power to raise taxes, impose laws and protect peasants.

Feudalism is a system where noble gave people

protection in exchange for fighting in his army and or
farming his land.
Europe was divided into tiny feudal territories where the
center of the kingdom was a noble's castle or fortress.
A vassal was a noble who served a lord of higher rank
in exchange for protection/land.

The lord and vassal would hold a public ceremony in

which the vassal swore an oath of loyalty.
Land was granted to a vassal which was known as a fief.
A vassal who wore armor who fought on horseback is a
knight.
A peasant is anyone not a lord, vassal or knight.
Common
people such as bakers, farmers, artisans and everyone
else.
Peasants were split into two main groups: Freeman a
person who paid fees to the noble to farm the land and
they had rights under the law and could move around.
Serfs a person who could not own land, leave the manor
or marry without the lord's approval. They had no rights
` but could not be bought or sold.
Farming Improvements
Heavy wheeled plow was made with an iron blade and
pulled by a horse. It turned over the dense clay soil.
Horse collars made it possible to use horses to pull the
plow.
Water and windmills were used to mill grain for baking,
pumping water and cutting wood.

Crop rotation on 3 fields instead of 2, produces more food

and helps keep the soil fertile.

Life in Feudal Europe

Nobles lived the by the code of chivalry which had rules
on how they had to conduct themselves.

They typically lived in a castle with many rooms and

servants to run the castle.

Peasant life was hard living. They typically had a one

room house made of wood and clay with a hay roof.

They typically worked the land all year long in order to

grow enough food for themselves and their lord.

They did take religious feast days off and went to church
on Sundays.