Public Powerand Private Relationships

Public Powerand Private Relationships

2/12/07 12:56 PM

Fedualism starts to develop which describes a system of relationships in the world of the dark age that is defined •loyalty is gained through personal relationships •Fideles a relationship of faithfulness, the most wealthy or powerful person will obtain more power through other people lower than him (vassals and lords which promise aide to the king) oeither through fighting or kidnapping or capture during war your vassals are responsible for raising your ransom owhat you fgot from your lord was land or Fief, technically your lord still owns it, he is just loaning it out oyour lord will represent you in legal preceedings othe fief is designed to give enough enough wealth not to have to work obut the vassal wants to provide for his children owhat happens usually is when one member of the original relationship dies then a surviving member would become the vassal •one of the thing about this set of relationships is that its never satisfying and fundamentally flawed •gradually what we see is that the land is th property of the vassal and transfers just like regular property •there are people who are vassals to one person and lords to another opeople chose to be vassals to more than one lord in order o get more land, this is obviously flawed because of conflicts of interest oLiege lords diminish the system •AS more order is imposed this becomes less and less satisfying •kings do not necessarily benefit from this system of lords and vassals, it is just necessary Three orders (estates) you are born into the characteristics that make you a certain class (except the clergy) its not strictly measured by wealth. It is what you do for society •clergy responsible for praying for society, they rely upon god daily for some sense of stability. In midevial Europe means that failure to abide to the one way of Christianity means disaster for the entirety of society they are absolutely essential the clergy do not pay taxes •Aristocracy.Nobility- to fight for society and keep them safe. They also do not pay taxes •Peasantry-responsible for feeding society Alll of these orders are bound by this mutual dependency. It is closed. And they do not value equality. Everyone has something to contribute

most of the peasants at this time are free (at the end of the Carolingian empire) •over time they are goig to become increasingly dependant and become bound to the land (serfdom) •serfs are not owned to their person, they are tied to the land •the landlord has thre right to make the law under his land •over time the serfs would owe more and more to their landlord. •you'd have t use your landlord's utilities if you lived in a village or city, the church was the literal and figurative center of life •frequently the priest was the only educated person in the village •the church is a landowner ad a taxing authority tithing by the church •10% of earnings req’d by the church •in some places the church owns as much as a 1/3 to half the land which makes them more money as landlords •the conditions of serfdom are not less severe if the church owns the land A lot of this organization is designed to give people soldiers when they are going into battle and its defined by chaos and violence they turn to two things •the peace of god ono man in the counties or bishop should seize anything oif you were exommmunicated there was a path in order to regain favor ith the church othe peace of god limits the violenc but it is not a fully satisfying solution oand the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truce_of_God owarriors are prohibited from fighting on all holy days oalso you were prohibited on Thursday Friday Saturday and Sunday •because they dont want the batteling to destroy their land Regional Kings English: Alfred of Wessex (871-899) •wants to protect his people from the Danes, he levies a tax and uses the money gained to build a navy and is able to protect the people from the dansh invasions •alfred and other people are going to use this against him •peole who come after alfred kick the danes outbecause they finally have the authority •by this time we have a somewhat clear monarachy •subdivisions in the country fo administrative purposes

•powerful people in england swore fealty to the king French: Hugh Capet (987-996) •The people elect him and he prevents civil war •he is annointed with holy oil because he is divinely chosen •represents the unity under charlemagne •he also is going to make sure that people in northern france will swear fealty to him •he will gain a lot of authority

2/12/07 12:56 PM

2/12/07 12:56 PM