Feudalism in Europe

Power and Authority:
 - Feudalism, a political and economic system based on land-holding and protective alliances, emerges in Europe.

Setting the Stage:
 - After the Treaty of Verdum, Charlemagne's three feuding grandsons broke up the kingdom even further. Part of this territory also became a battleground as new waves of invaders attacked Europe.

Invaders Attack Western Europe
800-1000, invasions destroyed the Carolingian Empire. Muslim invaders from the south seized Sicily and raided Italy. 846, they sacked Rome Magyar invaders struck from the east.
 - The Vikings Invade from the North
    - Vikings set sail from Scandinavia, a wintry, wooded region in Northern Europe.
    - Vikings were a Germanic people
    - they carried out their raids with terrifying speed.
    - they were not only warriors but also readers, farmers and explorers
 - Magyars and Muslims Attack from the East and South
    - as Viking invasions declined, Europe became the target of new assaults
    - the Magyars, a group of nomadic people, attacked from the east, which is now Hungary
    - Muslims struck from the south

A New Social Order: Feudalism
911, two former enemies faced each other in a peace ceremony. Roll was the head of a Viking army. Rollo and his men had been plundering the rich Seine River valley for years. Charles the Simple was the king of France but held little power.
 - Feudalism Structures Society
    - worst years of the invaders' attacks 850-950
    - the system of governing and landholding, called feudalism
    - the feudal system was based on rights and obligations, in exchange for military protection and other services, a lord, or landowner, granted land called a fief. The person receiving a fief was called a vassal
 - The Feudal Pyramid
    - the structure of feudal society was much like a pyramid.
    - at the peak reigned the king
    - next the most powerful vassals - wealthy landowners
    - serving beneath these vassals  were knight, knight were counted horsemen who pledged to defend their lords' lands in exchange for fiefs
 - Social Classes Are Well Define
    - statues determined a person's prestige and power
    - three group
      - who fought (nobles and knights)
      - who prayed (men and women of the Church)
      - who worked (the peasants)
    - In Europe in the Middle Ages, the vast majority of people were peasants.
    - most peasants were serfs, serfs were people who could not lawfully leave the place where they were born

Manor: The Economic Side of Feudalism
The manor was the land's estate. during the Middle Ages, the manor system was the basic economic arrangement. The Manor system rested on a set of rights and obligations between a lord and his serfs.
 - A Serf-Contained World
    - peasants rarely traveled more than 25 miles from their own manor
    - the manor was largely a self-sufficient community
    -the serfs and peasants raised or produced nearly everything they and their lord needed for daily life
 - The Harshness of Manor Life
    - for the privilege of living on the lord's land, peasants paid a high price after all these payments to the lord, peasant families owned the village priest a tithe, or church tax, a tithe represented one-tenth of their income
    - for most serfs, both men and women, life was work and more work
    - despite the hardships they endured, serfs accepted their lot in life as part of the Church's teaching.