FEUDALISM SOCIETY AND MONARCHY Kings, Lords, Peasants

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FEUDALISM SOCIETY AND MONARCHYKings, Lords,
Peasants

• January 30, 2003
• Illustrated History of France,
• chapter 4, The Middle Ages

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Key terms (p. 1 of 2) THE VOCABULARY OF
FEUDALISM

• People
• Capetians
• King / Monarch / Suzerain
• Castellan
• Princeling
• Duke
• Count
• Lord / Seigneur
• Vassal
• Knight
• Peasant / Serf

• Territories
• Empire
• Kingdom
• Manor / Castle
• Domain
• Tenure / Tenement
• Alloidal land
• Relationships
• Homage

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Key terms (p. 2 of 2)

• Crusades
• Knights Templar
• Cathars / Albigensian heresy
• Estates General
• the Troubadours

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Capetian Dynasty987-1328 AD
See p. 76 for map of their meager lands.
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Timeline EARLY MIDDLE AGES

• 9th-10th C. Raiding pillaging. Central
  authority in decline.
• 10th-14th C. (987-1328 AD) CAPETIAN DYNASTY.
• 10th-11th C. Early Capetian rulers were weak.
• 11th-14th C. Francia becomes France.
• 12th-14th C. Period of brilliant economic
  social progress, called the new spring.
• 12th-13th C. (1095-1291) The Crusades.
• 12th-13th C. Urban growth.
• 14th C. (1302) Estates General convened
  meeting of clergy, nobility and 3rd estate to
  advise king. Lasts until 1789 revolution.

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EARLY CAPETIAN RULE, 10th 11th c. Political
authority now took the form of a confusing welter
of personal ties of dependence. (p. 78)
King
Princeling
Duke
Vassal
Vassal
Vassal
Vassal
Vassal
Vassal
Vassal
Knights
Vassal
Knights
Knights
Knights
Vassal
Vassal
PEASANTS SERFS
PEASANTS SERFS
PEASANTS SERFS
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(more peasants serfs)
PEASANTS SERFS
PEASANTS SERFS
For most French men and women, the kings of
France had simply vanished. (p. 79)
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So how does France become a front-rank power?

• The Capetians recapture monarchial authority and
  organize a nation.

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the emergence of France

• The Crusades channeled knightly energies,
  reducing violence within the hexagon.
• The Capetian kings
• reinforced their authority through the Church.
• extended their territories through marriages of
  alliance.
• contained and destroyed the Angevin empire.
• persecuted heretics (such as the Cathars).
• improved bureaucratic structures, including tax
  collection and accountancy.
• settled disputes through a centralized justice
  system.
• generally made themselves useful to manorial
  lords.
• got rid of pesky chastellans still trying to live
  through plunder.

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Technological improvements

• heavier wheeled plows
• improved draught-animal harnesses
• triennial rotation of crops
• windmills
• watermills
• domestic spinning wheel
• improved mining and metallurgy

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Lifestyle changes

• Development of a large royal court featuring
  conspicuous consumption and display.
• Development of an expensive aristocratic
  lifestyle revolving around hunts, tournaments,
  feasts, and courtly entertainment.

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Products of the Twelfth-Century Renaissance

• Universities offering law, medicine, theology and
  philosophy.
• Thomas Aquinas taught in Paris.
• Revival of interest in ancient literature and
  culture.
• Gothic architecture.
• Troubadours singing vernacular poetry.
• Courtly love.

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The French language

• French, with its roots in Latin, was originally
  Francian, the popular language of peasants and
  artisans of the Île de France.
• French was the official language of the social
  elite in England from 1066 to the late 13th
  century.
• French literature began to appear from around
  1100.
• Languages and dialects from other regions
  competed with French.

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The Return of Martin Guerre
Peasant life, 1540-1560

• book and movie based on a court case from 1559.
• written by historian Natalie Zemon Davis.

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In 1527, the Daguerre family moved from the
Basque border town of Hendaye to the village of
Artigat, near Toulouse. This was unusual most
Basques either stayed on their family land or
went to sea.
Hendaye
Artigat
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In Artigat, the Daguerre family encountered
social, political and cultural differences

• The name Daguerre becomes Guerre.
• Legal and administrative matters are conducted in
  writing (though the Guerres probably did not
  read).
• Commoners did not try to hold the family property
  together.
• Testaments rarely benefit one sole heir, but
  divides inheritance equally among sons.
• Dowries are provided for daughters.
• No inhabitants of Artigat paid manorial dues.
• Women were less assertive, and dressed more
  soberly.
• The langue doc was the dominant spoken
  language.