I. On the eve of Columbus' Voyages, in 1492, most of Europe still had one foot in the Middle Ages. It had a kind of society called FEUDALISM. Some features of feudalism were falling apart by 1492, but many were still very much alive and those had a strong effect on people's motivations and behavior. Let's examine some of them.
A. FEUDALISM is a social system made up of a hierarchy of NOBLE LORDS, loosely tied together by oaths of loyalty and by family connections. Each noble was loyal to the noble above him in the hierarchy, his "lord." MONARCHS (kings and queens) were simply the highest nobles in the hierarchy.
1. Each noble, from top to bottom, was relatively independent, with his own castle and small army. As a result, if there was a disagreement between one nobleman and the nobleman above him, a small war could easily break out. That did not result in a strong central government in each country. Monarchs were weak because they could not force their armed and fortified nobles to obey them. Therefore, disorder and warfare were common throughout Europe. Peace only happened when some farsighted ruler managed to get CONTROL of the nobles beneath him.
(Politics were largely a matter of family and personal connections. Loyalty was valued far more than competence or imagination. Getting ahead was almost entirely a matter of "who you knew" rather than "what you knew." The effect was often unfortunate. Even when a country was lucky enough to have a farsighted ruler and some peace, its local leaders were rarely competent or farsighted. Not surprisingly, most people were happy if the local nobles just left them alone.)
2. Each major nobleman ruled over a small, local region of Europe, controlling the common farming population of his territory as if he was a petty king. The farmers were called PEASANTS, and by tradition, they owed the nobleman a share of their crop as a kind of tax, and they owed him a certain number of days of service each year. On those service-days they would farm the nobleman's own fields, help repair the local roads and castle, etc.. In return, the nobleman was supposed to protect his peasants from other, marauding nobles and troublemakers. That system was PATERNALISTIC. A relationship is "paternalistic" when both people involved have obligations to each other, but one of them controls all the power and makes all the decisions. In other words, one person is supposed to act like a benevolent dictator.
(Personal Commentary: The paternalistic relationship between the noble lord and his submissive peasants seemed to work in theory, but it was not fair or pleasant for the peasants. They were overworked, poorly protected, and short lived. In practice, any time you give one person absolute power over another, s/he will abuse that power, no matter how good-willed s/he is. So do not ever give absolute power to anyone. Avoid paternalistic relationships, no matter how nice they sound in speeches. Just tell people that you would rather make your own decisions and run your own life.)
C. Medieval Society was very HIERARCHICAL. In other words, it was organized into people of greater and lesser power and status. It can be visualized as a pyramid, with a few extremely powerful or valued people at the top, and a lot of extremely weak and unvalued people at the bottom. There are different kinds of hierarchies, of course. Medieval Europe's hierarchy was based on CASTE (pronounced "cast").
1. A CASTE SYSTEM is a system in which a person's social position, their social group, is determined by birth. That social group determines their status and power but also their job in the economy and other social roles.
2. European people were divided into groups called CASTES. There were 2 Main Castes in Feudal Europe:
(1)
The NOBLES, who were the warriors and feudal lords of society
(2) The COMMONERS, which included almost everyone else. Commoners varied widely. Different groups of commoners will be discussed separately.
a. Each of those 2 main castes had many other social groups WITHIN IT. Those social groups within the main caste were also, sometimes, castes. For example, if you were a commoner and born a peasant-farmer, you almost certainly stayed a peasant-farmer. If you were a commoner and born an artisan, you almost certainly stayed an artisan. Therefore, peasant-farmers and artisans were more specific castes within the larger "commoner" caste.
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b. Throughout society you had the MEDIEVAL CATHOLIC CHURCH. With its own
hierarchy, from village priests up to bishops, cardinals, and the Pope.
There was no caste system in the church. As long as you were male, you
could possibly work your way from the lowest position to the highest by
skill and virtue. A peasant who became a priest (thus escaping his farming
caste). He could keep advancing and, potentially, become Pope someday.
The likelihood of that was virtually zero, but it was possible, in theory.
There was a better chance of social improvement for the peasant if he
joined the Church than there was if he stayed a farmer.
D. Each social group in medieval Europe had its own "CUSTOMARY RIGHTS" (or "CUSTOMARY LIBERTIES"). Those were a set of privileges and responsibilities peculiar to your particular group. They could be very different from the privileges and responsibilities of every other group in society.
(DO NOT confuse "Customary Rights" with our more modern idea of "human rights" or "civil rights". We consider human rights or civil rights to be universal -- they are supposed to be identical and equal for all individuals. Customary rights were not like that. They were not universal. They were a narrow set of moral obligations and privileges imposed on your specific social group.)
In summary, with a few exceptions, your whole life was determined by your caste, partly through sets of rules called "customary rights" or "customary liberties."
II. In order to understand the material that follows, make sure you understand CUSTOMARY RIGHTS in detail:
A. First, they were not freedoms. They were privileges and obligations.
1. A privilege can give you some freedom, but it is not truly freedom because it can be taken away from you.
2. Medieval people included the idea of responsibilities or obligations in their idea of "liberty" or "rights." As a result, customary rights are almost better seen as a MORAL CODE or a DUTY CODE.
B. Second, customary rights were conferred on you simply by your membership in specific social group. They were DIFFERENT from group to group. For all practical purposes, medieval Europe was a society with a different set of PRIVILEGES AND MORAL DUTIES for every single group in its midst.
1. what a peasant was allowed to do was different from what a noble was allowed to do.
2. what was moral for a peasant was not necessarily moral for a noble.
(We sometimes complain about a "double standard" in America, where women and men are treated differently and where each has a different moral standard applied to it. Imagine a society with not just two standards but MANY STANDARDS)
C. Third, customary rights were not assumed to come naturally to everyone.
1. They were really a set of expectations based on generations of TRADITION -- on "CUSTOM."
2. However, by the 1400s, more and more of these customary rights were being written down and they were being officially conferred by either a monarch or by the Church. When a king, queen or church official laid out your customary rights in writing and "granted" them to you, it was called a CHARTER.
(Some Religious groups developed their own customary rights and called them COVENANTS.)
3. Keep all those things in mind as this course progresses. The textbook talks about charters and covenants, customs and liberties. Until about 1770, they all would have been viewed the way I have just described.
III. This lecture will now go into detail on 4 basic social groups, Nobles, Mercenaries, Peasants, and Artisans. All of those groups were castes except the mercenaries. All 4 groups had their own sets of customary rights -- their own code of privileges and duties. Those customary rights help to explain their point of view on reality and their behavior. For example, after you read this, you will understand why the Spanish conquistadors were bloody-handed conquerors with nothing better to do than explore, fight battles and plunder Indians. Conquistadors were usually bands of mercenaries led by nobles. In addition, this lecture will help to explain the behavior of the English colonists that arrived in the New World a century after the Spanish. The English colonists were usually peasants and artisans (at least after 1600).
The next two sections will cover the following:
1. Nobles and Mercenaries in Medieval Europe (900-1700 A.D.)
2. Common Non-Nobles in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (1000-1800 A.D.)
Go To Medieval Europe, Part 3: Nobles and Mercenaries
References:
Copyright © 1999 Toren J.F. Hudson