The Artios Home Companion Series Unit 8: The Feudal System
Teacher Overview
Leading Ideas
An individual’s character will be reflected in his leadership. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he There is power in the spoken word to do evil or to do good. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh The rise and fall of nations and leaders is determined by God. God’s word is the supreme source of God’s revelation to man. II Timothy 3:16-17 Roland pledging his fealty to Charlemagne Vocabulary After the Fall of Rome and the conquests and raids of the Lesson One: Northmen, the people of homage vassal fealty Europe needed protection and fief chaos security. It was out of this need that the Feudal system Reading and Assignments arose. Lesser lords and knights would pay tribute to Based on your student’s age and ability, the reading in more powerful nobles in this unit may be read aloud to the student and exchange for their protection. journaling and notebook pages may be completed While this sounds good in orally. Likewise, other assignments can be done with an theory, the resulting system appropriate combination of independent and guided had its disadvantages, such as study. abuse of the poor. In this unit we will study the effects of In this unit, students will: Feudalism. Complete one lesson in which they will learn about The Feudal System. Key People Define vocabulary words. Read selected chapters from Stories of Beowulf: William the Conqueror Told to Children. Vassal Learn about Direct Quotations and complete Chaos corresponding grammar exercises. Fealty . Vassal
Middle Ages: Elementary Unit 8: The Feudal System - Page 1 Literature, Composition, and Grammar
Stories of Beowulf: Told to Children Literature for Units 7-10 by Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall from The Medieval Literary Period
“Peacefully they slept with arms and armour thrown aside, having no fear of any foe.” – From Chapter 1
Unit 8 Assignments Literature and Composition Read chapters 4-6 in Stories of Beowulf. Continue the outline you began last week, and outline chapters 4-6.
Grammar Read the notes on Direct Quotations beginning on page 3. Complete the corresponding exercises on the Artios Home Companion website. Continue adding buzzwords to your grammar rule cheat sheet.
Context Resources There have been many adaptations of Beowulf over the years, and many students find his adventures to be fascinating. You will find a collection of websites with extra activities, as well as links to other versions of this story, within the resources section of the Artios Home Companion website.
Middle Ages: Elementary Unit 8: The Feudal System - Page 2 Grammar Notes for Unit 8 Used by permission: www.analyticalgrammar.com
Direct Quotations
Buzzword: Direct Quote When you’re reading something, how do you know who is saying what? “Bill, I want to go home,” said John.
In the sentence above, who is speaking? John! Right! In English we use punctuation called quotation marks to show when words are being spoken by someone in particular.
What about in this sentence? “John, I was hoping to stay a little longer,” I said.
Assuming these two sentences form a little story, who is speaking now? That’s right ... Bill!
Buzzword: Quotation Marks These, “ ” are QUOTATION MARKS. You always put them around the words people speak. Whatever is inside the quotation marks (words and punctuation) is called DIALOGUE. The rest of the sentence (said John or I said) is called the NARRATIVE. The narrative tells us who is speaking and sometimes gives us more information about what is happening.
EXAMPLE: As I walked in the room, I yelled, “Is anyone here?”
There are a few specific things to know when using quotation marks. Pay attention to these examples and look back at them during your exercises if you need help.
A. Always begin your dialogue with a capital letter if the quote is a sentence.
EXAMPLE: James said, “Tell me more about your trip.”
B. The BROKEN QUOTE: When a quoted sentence of dialogue is divided into two parts with narrative in between, the second part of the dialogue begins with a lower case letter.
EXAMPLE: “I really was hoping,” said Pam, “that you would come.”
C. Sometimes the speaker has more than one sentence to say.
EXAMPLE: “The state fair is great!” cried Janie. “Don’t you want to go? I do!” Each time you write dialogue, you must enclose the entire speech in quotation marks, even if the dialogue consists of fourteen sentences! Please also note that when you have a complete sentence in front of the narrative, you must have a period after the narrative. So this is different from the broken quote we described in part B of these notes.
D. Suppose you are writing a sentence which begins with dialogue and ends with narrative. And then suppose that your dialogue is a statement, which would ordinarily end with a period. Here’s how you might think it should be done:
Middle Ages: Elementary Unit 8: The Feudal System - Page 3 EXAMPLE: “I wish I could go to the state fair.” said Bob. Now, I think that sentence looks confusing. We know that a period is a signal to the reader to come to a full stop, right? So, if the reader comes to a full stop after fair, then is he supposed to come to another full stop after Bob? Here’s how we solve this problem: we change the period after fair to a comma, so it looks like this:
EXAMPLE: “I wish I could go to the state fair,” said Bob.
Now it’s not confusing at all! We only do this if the punctuation would have been a period. If it is an exclamation mark or question mark, you leave it there.
Buzzword: Change Gear Comma E. When you go from dialogue to narrative or narrative to dialogue - unless there is other punctuation present - you need a comma to “change gears” from one to the other.
EXAMPLE: I asked, “Who is your science teacher?” (note the location of the comma after “asked”)
“He is my favorite science teacher!” yelled Roger. (note there is no “change gear” comma because there is an exclamation mark)
More Copy-editing Symbols: Insert quotation marks and capitalize the word “this”:
I said, this is my quote.
The edited sentence would be (edits in yellow):
I said, “This is my quote.”
Middle Ages: Elementary Unit 8: The Feudal System - Page 4 L e s s o n O n e
History Overview and Assignments The Feudal System
Reading and Assignments
Read the article: The Feudal System, pages 6-9. Define each vocabulary word in the context of the reading and put the word and its definition in the vocabulary section of your notebook. After reading the article, summarize the story you read by either: ▪ Retelling it out loud to your teacher or parent. OR ▪ Completing an appropriate notebook page. Either way, be sure to include an overview of key people, dates, and events in your summary. Explore the following websites: http://www.angelfire.com/hi5/interactive_learning/ Ploughing on a French ducal manor in March NormanConquest/the_middle__ages.htm Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, c.1410 http://www.bayeuxtapestry.org.uk/ http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=111779 In this unit we will discuss how the http://www.btinternet.com/~mrfield/Conquest/intro Feudal system was organized and .htm how it worked. The Feudal system In order to understand the sequence of arose out of the common man’s need events, examine the bayeux tapestry for protection, and the Lords and website (in the assignment list for Lesson 1) Kings need for men to work their and examine the tapestry scene by scene. land and serve in their military. Make your own”tapestry” by either drawing While this system of government or painting the events of 1066 scene by may have served a need in its day, it scene. came to the detriment of many. The You can also make a timeline of the events of Common man did not own land in 1066. the Feudal system. It also allowed many conflicts and wars to breakout Vocabulary between different nobles who sought after power. In truth, the Feudal homage fief system arose out of desperation and vassal chaos it lasted for many years. fealty
Middle Ages: Elementary Unit 8: The Feudal System - Page 5 Adapted from the book: The Story of Europe H.E. Marshall The Feudal System
In 911 King Rollo of the Vikings became not give it completely. He let people use his Robert, Duke of Normandy. He did land if they promised to be loyal to him. homage to Charles the Simple. Charles was They promised to help the king in his wars. the king of the Franks. At the homage This promise was made during a special service Rollo would not kiss the king’s feet. ceremony. The person knelt before the He most likely got on his knees in front of king. He put his hands in the king’s hands. the king. He let the king hold his hands. He He vowed to be the king’s man. Then the promised to be the king’s man. The word king kissed the man and raised him to his “homage” comes from the French word for feet. The act of homage was done. The man. The French word for man is person was now the king’s vassal. “homme.” Doing homage meant to be loyal Next, the vassal would put his hand on and belong to someone more powerful. a holy item. He may have put it on a book There is nothing written about Rollo’s of the Gospels. He took an oath of fealty. ceremony. But we know it must have This meant he would always be true to the happened. The feudal system was in use at king. The king then gave his vassal a chunk this time in France. Rollo became the Duke of sod. He also gave him a tree branch. of Normandy. He and his people lived in They showed that the man was now in the area of France called Normandy. This charge of his part of land. land did not belong to him, though. It still Only great vassals or vassals-in-chief belonged to the king. The king gave it to got their land straight from the king. These Rollo as a fief. A fief is a piece of land given men then divided the land. They gave the to someone to use. In return the person land in fiefs to other men. A fief is a section would serve in the king’s military. Rollo of land. These men were called lesser lords. became a vassal of the king. A vassal is a The lesser lords did not do homage to the servant. king. They did homage to the vassal-in- Feudalism is a type of government. chief. These lords divided the land again Feudalism began after the end of the among even lesser lords. This went on over Carolingian Empire. All of the countries in and over again. At the end of the chain was western Europe were in chaos. Feudalism a poor man. This man did homage to a came from both Roman and barbarian lesser lord for a few acres of land. customs. In a feudal system, a person could A vassal had many responsibilities to live on a piece of land if he promised to his lord. He had to provide a certain serve in the military. number of soldiers if there was a war. He All of the land in a country belonged to also had to give aids to his lord. Aids were the king. But even the king could not farm amounts of money. The overlord could ask all the land in the country. He gave it to for aids in four situations. One was when other people to live on and farm. But he did his eldest son was knighted. Another time
Middle Ages: Elementary Unit 8: The Feudal System - Page 6 was when his eldest daughter got married. people the king did not seem as powerful as He could ask for money if he set out on a the overlord. Sometimes the overlord Crusade. Last, the lord asked for aids for would be stronger than the king. At times his own ransom. This was needed if he they rebelled against him. It was hard for became a prisoner during a war. The vassal the king to fight them. also had to give advice to his lord if he was asked. WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR AND The fief was supposed to belong to a THE FEUDAL SYSTEM vassal until he died. But fiefs were often A strong government could not work in passed down from father to son. When a a feudal system. The countries where it was vassal died his eldest son would do homage popular were not strong. They became just for the fief. He would now have the same a group of smaller states. Each state was overlord as his father. Sometime a vassal like a tiny kingdom. died without anyone to inherit the fief. England did not have this problem. Then the overlord would keep the land. An William the Conqueror made sure it would overlord could also take the land away if a not happen. As the Duke of Normandy he vassal did not do his duties. was powerful. He might have been stronger The vassals would give aids and military than the French king. He decided that no help to the overlords. The overlords would English vassal would be as strong as him. give protection to the vassals. Protection He gave Norman vassals land in England. was greatly needed at that time. Powerful He did not give a large amount in one men took advantage of poorer men. place. He would give the vassals little Sometimes weaker men would even be pieces of land all across the country. This killed for their land. made it hard for a vassal to gather an army. There were still some nobles who The vassals could not rebel as easily. Also, owned their land. They were afraid of William made all vassals swear fealty to getting killed by a robber. They often chose him. Even the lowest vassal swore to be to give their land over to an overlord. Then loyal to only William. the nobles would hold the land as a fief. The overlord had complete power in his They would also have protection provided fief. He was the ruler. He was the judge. He by the overlord. could decide if one of his vassals lived or The feudal system seemed like a good died. He could make war if he wanted to. way to keep an army together. Kings often Men who were rich were usually went to war and needed an army to be soldiers, or knights. Being a priest was ready. With the feudal system there were their other choice. Most decided to be always soldiers ready to fight. From the soldiers. Simple knights on up to the king greatest vassals to the lowest, men would were soldiers. They were not supposed to come to fight. work with their hands. They did not have In truth the feudal system was not a much to do. They wanted adventure. They good system. Only the vassals-in-chief paid would go off to war whenever they could. homage to the king. The other vassals just Below the richer men were the workers. paid homage to their overlord. To some There were many classes of workers. The
Middle Ages: Elementary Unit 8: The Feudal System - Page 7 lowest were outlaws and slaves. The slaves tournaments for fun. They acted out a were considered to be part of the land. pretend war. They fought with dull When a fief was passed on the slaves were weapons. They even used horses. passed with it. They were property like Sometimes a large crowd came to watch cattle. They could not get married. They these tournaments. The sons of noblemen could not move to another town. The slave practiced their war skills. had no rights. Slaves could be sold by their Tournaments were meant to be a game. overlord. They could even be killed if their They were meant to help knights work on overlord decided to do so. their skills. But sometimes tournaments The criminal was not a slave. But he were more deadly than real battles. Many could not leave the land either. He stayed soldiers died while competing in there as long he paid his dues. He paid his tournaments. dues by working a certain number of days In war the soldiers did not try to kill for the overlord. He also had to give the their enemies. They tried to knock them off lord some of his harvest. He had to give their horses just like in the tournaments. him some of his cattle. They did not do this because they wanted to save lives. They did this because they TOURNAMENT AND FEUDAL could make money. If they captured a WARFARE knight alive, his vassals would pay a lot of The feudal system split the world into money for his ransom. They would not pay two groups. The upper class was made up anything if he was dead. of knights. The lower class held all the The feudal wars were not honorable. workers. There were levels of rank in each They were not about freedom or morals. class. It was almost impossible to move up They were about greed and power. Men in the ranks during feudal times. gained land by fighting. If a man was not Working was for the lower classes. The strong enough to defend his land, someone upper classes fought in wars. Sometimes else took it from him. The weakest men there was no real war going on. The upper died. The strongest men got stronger and classes would make war games to keep richer. themselves busy. These pretend battles Every neighbor was a possible enemy. were called tournaments. Castles were built with strong walls for Tournaments were usually fought in defending against attacks. The castles were front of the king or some great lord. The built on hills. This made it hard to attack soldiers put on their full armor. They them and easy to defend. Thick stone walls carried dull weapons. The knights would were built around the castles. Moats were ride on horses straight at each other. They dug to surround them. The moat could be did not try to kill each other. They tried to crossed only by a drawbridge. The castles knock the other soldier off his horse. The were so strong that there was almost no knight who knocked off the most way to defeat them. The only way to do so opponents was the winner. He got a prize. was to starve the people inside. As a result Sometimes tournaments were less sieges were common in feudal wars. formal. Young men pretended to fight in
Middle Ages: Elementary Unit 8: The Feudal System - Page 8 FEUDAL ESTATES OF THE CLERGY from Wednesday evening through Monday Many abbeys and monasteries were morning. War was also banned on Lent forts. They also had to defend against and Advent. Other holy days were also war- enemies. There were many men who were free. The Truce was broken many times. clergy as well as feudal lords. Some The Church was powerful enough to clergymen tried to add to their monastery’s sometimes punish people who broke the land. They would fight wars to get more truce. land. They did this instead of ministering The Church became more powerful. The to people. fact it could enforce the Truce of God shows its power. Kings were supposed to THE TRUCE OF GOD keep their kingdoms peaceful. They could There were a few churchmen who not do it. The Church came in to keep the fought wars. Most of the churchmen were peace instead. The Truce of God was upset by all the fighting. These clergymen carried out until the thirteenth century. created the Truce of God. They worked Then the kings gained more power. The hard to put it into practice. The Truce of “King’s Peace” took over for the Church. God was a new rule. People could not fight
Middle Ages: Elementary Unit 8: The Feudal System - Page 9