Medieval Times

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Medieval times was a very dangerous time period. The medieval period lasted from about 400AD to about 1500 AD. This time was very different than from the way life is now. Medieval Europe was a very dangerous time period. Government, the public, and the warfare were all different. If someone were to go back to 100 AD in France, they would find themselves in a very difficult situation. The style of life was called feudalism.

In feudalism, no one actually owned land. The king owned the land as a "trust from God," and then gave it away to others. The first people the king would pass land to were the nobles, and from them it was passed to the lower ranks of the people. The people who held these lands had to pay fees or rents, called fiefs. (Barber, 7)

In the feudalist system, vassals were below the lords. When a vassal met a lord, they had to give the lord their sword and then say a prayer to the lord. The lord would then kiss the vassal and return the sword to him. Occasionally, if the lord liked the vassal, he would give him a plot of land, called a seizin. In order to pay for this land, the vassal had to offer military service. He had to appear in the battlefield, fully armed, and have a few men to fight with him. He generally had to serve for 40 days in war, or as a guard in the lords castle. Also, he had to appear in the lord's court, and give advice or act as a juror. The vassal was expected to defend his lord to the death, and even give up his horse if the lord was to lose his. Being a vassal was a very honorable position. (Barber, 7)

Lords often had special benefits. Lords were entitled to aids or money payments on occasions, such as the knighting of his son, or the marriage of his daughter. The lord was obliged to protect and defend his vassals. He could also act as guardian of the heir to the fief if he was old enough. When comparing vassals and lords, duties and rights were thought of as going up the ladder, although there were bad lords who did not treat their vassals right, and vassals who failed their lords.

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This system could get very confusing, because the web of oaths between the lords and the vassals got very developed, so their were rules. A vassal could serve up to four different lords, with all sorts of reservations to the different lords. Even a king could be a vassal to a lord, because kings had often been feudal lords themselves. (Artz, 6)

There were men known as great noblemen in feudal times. This type of man was all powerful in his own lands. He had the right to all justice, high, middle, and low, which meant that he had the power of life and death over everyone in his territory. Not even a king could interfere with these men. He could do such things as lower or raise taxes and tolls, control fairs and markets, coin his own money, and give charters for the founding of new towns. These towns often had to pay their taxes in money, and sometimes even had to pay for the making of soldiers. This way, they would meet the obligations of the feudal world. (Artz, 75)

Below these noblemen were a lower class of noblemen, the knights and squires, and they had much less authority. They only had the right to low justice. Such things included being able to hang a robber caught in the act on his own hands. He could also levy a few taxes from his tenants. There was also a mill and an oven that he owned, which his villagers were bound to use.

Not all land was held in exchange for feudal services. The church often held lands in exchange for money payments or free gifts. Occasionally the king was the overlord, and the money that was paid went to him. The land that people owned could not be dealt with however the holder wanted. They could only use it. If the holder failed in this, the lord could take his land away and give it someone else. (Barber, 5)

At the bottom of the feudal pyramid was the peasant farmer. Some were slaves, bound to land and considered property, like cows or sheep, and some were free, and they held land like everyone else except they paid their service by doing work on the land. They divided this work between their own fields and the lords fields. Peasants in good shape would hire laborers to do the work in the lord's fields. For the fief, the land was inherited by the eldest son. It was held in exchange for money, labor, or farm produce. Sometimes, villagers had to provide armed men, archers, or pikemen to follow their lord to war. (Artz, 78)

The relationship between nobles who owned fiefs was equal, because the nobles themselves were equal. Knights who owned a small manor were generally equal to counts who they dealt with, because they both wore belts, spurs, and a sword, which made them members of the same club. The relationship between a lord and his tenants was like that of a father and a family, so the members looked up to the lord in a way.

War in medieval times was very different from war nowadays. War revolved around castles. Enemy castles were major military and political objectives. Many castles were actually sited specifically to bar invasion routes. Normally, castles stood on high ground commanding a river crossing, a river confluence, a stretch of navigation, a mountain pass, or some other important feature. A castle located inside a city could still defend itself even if the whole city had been taken over. Even a rural castle could not be safely bypassed, because its garrison could cut the invaders supply lines. The mobility of the garrison had many purposes, such as raiding across a border, furnishing a supply base for an army on the offensive, or interrupting road or river traffic at a distance. For these reasons, military science of the middle ages was dedicated to the science of the attack and defense of the castles. (Artz, 8)

A castle's main line of resistance was the curtain wall with its projection towers. It was very difficult to make it past these, since lines of men could be put up there. Defenses on the weaker sides often multiplied. However, no defense fortification was strong against all attack. Even the strongest castles of the 1th and 1th centuries were captured. The castle had very few weak spots, and these spots were bombarded by the enemy. A common weakness of castles was the subsoil. Unless a castle was founded on rock, one could get into the castle by digging underground. The procedure was to drive a tunnel beneath the wall, normally a corner or tower. When a certain point was reached, the timbers were set on fire. If a castle was built on stone and could not be dug under, other devices had to be used for attack. Two such devices were the mobile assault tower and the siege artillery. The mobile assault tower was called a cat, and its components were brought to the war site. Its aim was to provide power with cover and height, while taking away the advantages of the defenders. They also used catapults, which could fire 50 pound rocks over 00 yards. From this the trebuchet was developed, which had better accuracy and more power than anything else. They fired flammables sometimes too because the timbers were wood and would catch on fire. The effectiveness of these machines depended on the thickness of the wall. Eventually, the defenders caught on and started to build thicker walls. Defenders also used artillery to attack the attackers. (Barber, 48)

Medieval times was an interesting period to live in. Its customs, methods, and styles made it one of the most different time periods in history. War, lifestyle, and government were all very different in the middle ages than it is now, and it is because of this that the medieval time period is an astonishing period to study.

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