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1. THE FEUDAL SYSTEM
From the 9th and 10th centuries, a political, social and economic system
called feudalism developed in western Europe. This system survived until the Early
Modern Period.
1.1. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FEUDAL SYSTEM
The kings lost power and shared it with the clergy and nobility. Therefore, the king lost
authority to the nobles, who also had castles and knights under their command.
The society was divided into closed groups. It included a minority formed of nobles
and clergymen, who enjoyed privileges such as not paying taxes.
The economic system was based on peasants working on the land. Meanwhile, the
king and the privileged groups appropriated part of the peasants’ production.
1.2. THE FIEF
The fief, this means the LAND of the lord or manor´s land was divided into two parts.
The demesne and the tenements or holdings
• DEMESNE. Land that was exploited directly by the lord. It consisted of
farmland, pastures and wood. It was farmed by serfs. The lord was also the
owner of the mill, the press and the oven. All the peasants had to use and pay
for the services if they needed to obtain products.
• TENEMENTS OR HOLDINGS. Plots of land the lord gave to free peasants in
exchange for rent or part of the harvest, and for carrying out different services
for the lord on his land
2. HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURE
The king’s vassals could also establish pacts with other nobles and knights, converting
them into lords of new vassals. Power relationships were therefore fragmented and
privatised, as they depended on personal relationships between lords, vassals and
serfs who were organised into a hierarchical structure.
2.1. THE KING
The king was at the top of the hierarchy of personal relationships. He granted fiefs to
the nobles, also known as manors, in exchange for their loyalty.
He was considered as a first amongst equals; in other words, the king was the highest
noble in the kingdom. Therefore, his power was limited to his own fiefs, known as the
royal domain or lands of the crown. He could only administer justice and collect taxes
on this land.
2.2. VASSALS
Through the feudal pact, nobles received fiefs (manors). The vassal therefore became
lord of the lands in the fief and of the serfs who worked them. Clergymen, such as
bishops, could also receive feuds and act like feudal lords. Therefore, members of
the nobility became direct vassals of the king. They obeyed him and helped him with
his armies when the king demanded it (auxilium).
In addition, senior nobles and clergymen met with the king in the royal curia or court.
In it, they functioned as vassals, giving the king advice (consilium).
2.3. MINOR NOBILITY
Nobles with the highest lineage reproduced feudal pacts with their immediate
inferiors. They were similar to those they had established with the king. As a
result, nobles with lower lineage in turn became vassals of the great nobles, from
whom they had received less important fiefs.
The lesser nobility and knights obeyed their immediate lord and went to war when
he summoned them.
2.4. SERFS
Peasants who worked in the fiefs were at the bottom of the hierarchy. They were the
serfs of a lord, who could be the king in the lands of the crown, a noble in feudal
manors or a clergyman in ecclesiastical manors.
The status of serfdom regulated the relationship between the serf, who was forced to
work on the lands of the fief and to pay different kinds of taxes, and the feudal lord,
who offered protection to peasants in his fief.
The inhabitants of the fief, called serfs, were under the authority of the lord, as they
lived on his land and were subject to his privileges. The model of the relationship
between serfs and lords is known as serfdom.
Under this model, the serfs obtained certain benefits from their lord:
• The right to protection by the lord’s army against attacks from the
outside;
• The right to live on the lands of the fief and to work on them.
• In return, the serfs who lived and worked in the fief had to accept the
manorial and jurisdictional privileges, as well as meeting
other obligations.
2.4.1. OBLIGATIONS OF SERFS
SERFDOM: People became serfs by birth and were not free to leave the fief in which
they were born. They were therefore forced to accept the privileges of the feudal lord.
LEGAL REGIME: The manorial jurisdiction was very hard on serfs. The lords could even
carry out abusive practices, known as feudal abuses, such as mistreating their serfs.
LABOUR SERVICE: People were obliged to do certain tasks for the lord. These labour
services, known as corvées, included vigilance and repairing the walls of the feudal
castle.
3. FEUDAL LORDS
In the manors, the authority of the king
was superseded by the feudal
lords. This led to the
fragmentation of royal power.
This fragmentation of power
was followed by the
fragmentation of the law, as
not all social groups were
equal before the law.
Therefore, social groups that
shared power with the
monarch enjoyed
many privileges.
4. THE FEUDAL SOCIETY
Feudal society was organised into three groups or social orders which would later be
known as estates. Each estate had its own obligations and rights. In addition, these
were closed groups, as it was very difficult to change the social order.
Two of these estates, the nobility and clergy, were entitled to privileges. However,
most of the population, which belonged to the third estate, did not have any
privileges. This social structure was based on the activities that each group carried out
in society.
5. THE FEUDAL ECONOMY
Farming and livestock rearing were the basis of the feudal economy. However, these
activities were not very productive. Although the serfs had resources like communal
lands, which were usually used as pastures, they often had to ask the lord for loans,
meaning that their dependence was increased.
In addition, the technical means used to grow crops were very rudimentary and,
therefore, the land had a low yield. Technical improvements which increased
agricultural productivity were only introduced after the 11th century.
The serfs began to implement some innovations in agricultural uses, such as using
manure to fertilize the soil and the moldboard plough, which enabled better soil
rotation.
To increase the productivity of the land, the serfs started using a three-year rotation
system. This consisted of alternating crops of grains and pulses with fallow, when the
land is left uncultivated to help regenerate it.
6. THE ORIGIN OF THE CHRISTIAN KINGDOMS
Muslims who set foot on the Iberian Peninsula in the 8th century only settled in
the richest agricultural regions, such as the valleys of the Guadalquivir, the Ebro and
the east coast.
In poorer areas, like the mountains of the north of the Peninsula, there was much less
pressure from the conquerors and enclaves of Christian resistance were organised.
During the 8th century, Christians fought to secure their enclaves. Later, they began a
phase of expansion, mainly in the west.
7. LIFE IN THE PENINSULAR CHRISTIAN KINGDOMS
The society of Christian territories was organised following the dominant feudal
system in Europe, but with some unusual characteristics.
The nobility was strengthened in the fight against the Muslims. Given the need for
men to go to war, rich peasants who had a horse and weapons were ennobled.
In border areas, there were many free landholding peasants who did not work for a
manor. In the safest areas, like Galicia, there were many serfs.
The first independent Christian settlements emerged in mountainous areas with low
levels of Romanisation, so there were no major cities. Only some cities had significant
administrative and religious functions, like Oviedo, León and Barcelona.
A subsistence economy dominated in these territories. This was based on growing
cereals and raising livestock.
Trade was scarce, and only León and Barcelona had commercial activity beyond that of
local markets.
8. CULTURE AND ART
The activity of Christian settlements was focused in the monasteries, including those
of Ripoll (Cataluña) and Sahagún (Gerona). In the monasteries, books were copied, and
chronicles were written that reflected the main events of each kingdom.
Two styles developed in art: Asturian pre-Romanesque and Mozarabic.
9. URBAN SOCIETY
The feudal structure of society was maintained. The nobility and the clergy continued
to be the privileged classes, but inhabitants of cities enjoyed more freedom than
peasants. There were big differences within the urban population.
The great merchants and bankers were among the richest classes. Their wealth was
based on the possession of goods and money, but not on land ownership. These
classes dominated the municipal government, forming the urban oligarchy.
Below them were small traders and craftsmen. They were joined by professionals
related to the arts and the law. These trades were boosted by the development of
cultural life, due to the foundation of ecclesiastic universities.
The largest social class was formed of workers and peasants who worked the land
surrounding the city.
Finally, the most disadvantaged social class included many beggars with no resources.
The most important urban professions were those of merchants, bankers, craftsmen
and men of law, which did not fit into the three-estate class system. In fact, the
interests of cities often opposed those of the nobility. Kings took advantage of this
situation, supporting the economic development of cities to counter the power of the
nobles. In addition, monarchs also obtained economic benefits in exchange for their
support as they collected various taxes from the cities, and their trade and craft
activities.
10. TRADE
After the fall of the Roman Empire, long-distance trade had almost totally disappeared
in much of western Europe. The insecurity of roads, lack of coins and general poverty
meant that only basic goods were traded for subsistence. However, in the High Middle
Ages, particularly from the 12th century onwards, there was major economic
expansion that favoured the revitalisation of trade, both in local markets and in long-
distance trade. This expansion was due to several reasons