Medieval Europe: The Four Social Classes

The nobles job was to provide knights and money for the king, the king traded the nobles land for their help.(Doc.1) After hearing all this, you might think the serfs were the slaves of the Middle Ages, but they weren’t bought or sold.(OI) The final thing, was the political life in the Medieval

Kings at the top, Nobles/Lords came next, then Knights, and lastly Peasants. The king would trade land and in return would receive money and knights from the nobles, protection (military service) from knights, and food/labor from the peasants. This system helped lessen the kings’ responsibility and helped secure Europe. Although the peasants didn’t have much, when the Black Death occurred and killed millions, peasants demanded better

The upper class worried about securing control over their kingdom. The members of nobility were responsible to protect the serfs and the clergy. Barons had power, owned a large portion of the King’s land, and could collect taxes. Serfs and merchants

Even though Sometimes there would be a truce between different Lords. There was a lot of war during the middle ages and they had weapons like catapults and moving walls to protect the archers and Lords would build armies of vassals and archers to fight in their wars. Lords would usually bring their armies of vassals and archers to help them conquer a different castle owned by another lord but would almost never become a vassals to other lords. This was because the men that were lords did not like to be under the rule of anyone else. Also when they did conquer another Lord’s castle they would most likely not give them the chance to surrender and become their vassal.

The Social Status of the Elizabethan Era     The social class of the Elizabethan Era was very different from each other as they were thought to be created by God himself. There were three groups: The upper class, developing middle class, and the lower class. Each class had two parts. The upper class had monarchs and nobles, the middle class had gentry and merchants, and the lower class had yeoman and laborers. These groups were very distinct from each other.

Everything in Medieval times everything was based on the Feudal System or the social class. It determined your rank, power, wealth,

The monarch during the Elizabethan era was Queen Elizabeth the I she had most of the power to control her land similar to our president, though in modern times our president controls most things the House of Congress is similar to the Lord Mayor of London in the way that they can give a majority vote in favor of a certain law. The nobles of the century do not directly correlate to the upper class but there can be similarities found in the amount of power they had due to the amount of money they had. The military is considered to be the knights though they are respected they are not as high up on the totem pole as the knights. The middle class of our modern world is similar to that time period because it is the largest class but different because in the 16th-century middle class got little respect whereas as now middle class is treated the same as any other person. The final class the laborers, does not necessarily relate to our modern society because everyone would be considered a laborer but there are also poor people in our society. The separations in our modern society are heavily influenced by the strict social class of the 15th and 16th

The king held the highest position on the social hierarchy, as well as supplied the land to the vassals. The king gave his land in return for services from the vassals. All of the land was originally acquired by the king, second only to God himself (Norman 103). Himself alone could not maintain the entirety of his land, so as a result, he divided parts of this land and gave portions away to protect it from invaders and harm (Jovinelly 6). The kings and other lords had several responsibilities, including advising when to go to war, supervising the peasant work, punishing minor crimes, settling disputes and collecting taxes (Cels 18). Some other duties of the lord included protecting the vassal in the court of law, even when it came to royal courts (Norman 103). The kings and lords also protected the serfs and peasants from invaders in exchange for their services

Landowners called lords built castles. They gave land to followers called knights. In return, the lords called on their knights to defend them in battle. People called serfs or peasants actually farmed the land. Serfs were not much better off than slaves.

Those who fought were obligated to provide military services to their lord and protect those who worked and lived on the land. Those who fought were the vassals, dukes, the lesser nobility, and knights. They were responsible for handling any threats and fighting that occurred on their lords' lands. In return for their service, these knights, etc. received fiefs. Fiefs are grants of land from a lord. These knights, etc. also became vassals of the lord because when you receive a fief, you swear your allegiance to this lord and become a vassal. Although, there was an error that caused many problems with this system. This error was that knights and vassals could swear their allegiance to many different lords, which made for complicated relationships when it came to fighting. Those who fought were the backbone of medieval

By researching about royal balls, feasts, crimes, and herstory I have learned a lot about the Middle Ages. The Peasants and Nobles never really participated in the same events. The Nobles ate expensive food and wore fancy clothing. The nobles also had everything done for them. The peasants wore cheap clothes and only owned 2 outfits.

The Knights could be defined in a military standpoint because they go to war for their kingdom. Knights are high up in the social chart. The king gave land to the knights for exchange they fight for the king and their land. The land was farmed by peasants.

How do the personal lives/experiences of historians/authors affect their vision of the medieval world? Please remember to use specific examples from our readings.

Monarchs owned the land and he would divide the land that he did not need up between the men who were called lords in return for loyalty to him in times of war. The lords enlisted soldiers who were called knights to be the fighting force in these wars. The lowest people in the feudal system were called peasants; these people farmed the land to provide food and provided other services for the kingdom in exchange for protection.

A lord would grant land to another noble in exchange for protection and military services. This grant was called a fief. Those who received fiefs were called vassals. Within the fief, the vassal was the highest authority. Fiefs could be various seizes. Some were single estates just big enough for a knight and his family. Others were large, as big as an entire country or province.