Read the following SIX documents and answer the questions attached to them. Answers should be typed or written in blue or black ink. Annotating the documents is encouraged, as we will be having a debate/discussion on Friday about Medieval Europe.
During the debate/discussion you will be graded on your participation and knowledge of the documents. Please be prepared.
Due: Friday 10/9
DOCUMENT 1:
Questions:
Why did people want to be vassals to lords such as the one mentioned below?
How did the lord and his vassal depend on one another?
To that magnificent lord _____ _____ Since it is known . . . to all how little I have whence to feed and clothe myself, I have therefore petitioned your piety, and your good-will had decreed to me that I should hand myself over or commend myself to your guardianship, which I have thereupon done; that is to say in this way, that you should aid and succor me as well with food as with clothing, according as I shall be able to serve you and deserve it. And so long as I live I ought to provide service and honor to you, suitably to my free condition; and I shall not during the time of my life have the ability to withdraw from your power or guardianship; but must remain during the days of my life under your power or defense. Wherefore it is proper that if either of us shall wish to withdraw himself from these agreements, he shall pay____ shillings to the other party . . . otherwise this agreement shall remain unbroken.
SOURCE: Translation and Reprints from the Original Sources of European History. Univ. of Pennsylvania, 1897 [?1, IV, No.3 (E. P. Cheyney, ed.), 3-4.
DOCUMENT 2:
Questions:
What were the six things that a faithful vassal should have always kept in mind?
What was a vassal expected to do besides avoid injurious behavior?
Why might a vassal have more responsibilities and a lord much less?
To William, most illustrious duke of the Aquitanians; Bishop Fulbert, the favor of his prayers:
Requested to write something regarding the character of fealty[faithfulness], I have set down briefly for you, on the authority of the books, the following things. He who takes the oath of fealty to his lord ought always to keep in mind these six things: what is harmless, safe, honorable, useful, easy, and practicable. Harmless, which means that he ought not to injure his lord in his body; safe, that he should not injure him by betraying his confidence or the defenses upon which he depends for security; honorable, that he should not injure him in his justice, or in other matters that relate ,to his honor; useful, that he should not injure him in his property; easy, that he should not make difficult that which his lord can do easily; and practicable, that he should not make impossible for the lord that which is possible.
However, while it is proper that the faithful vassal avoid these injuries, it is not for doing this alone that he deserves his holding: for it is not enough to refrain from wrongdoing, unless that which is good is done also. It remains, therefore, that in the same six things referred to above he should faithfully advise and aid his lord, if he wishes' to be regarded as worthy of his benefice and to be safe concerning the fealty which he has sworn.
The lord also ought to act toward his faithful vassal in the same manner in all these things. And if he fails to do this, he will be rightfully regarded as guilty of bad faith, just as the former, if he should be found shirking, or willing to shirk, his obligations would be perfidious [treacherous] and perjured.
I should have written to you at greater length had I not been busy with many other matters, including the rebuilding of our city and church, which were recently completely destroyed by a terrible fire. Though for a time we could not think of anything but this disaster, yet now, by the hope of Gods comfort, and of yours also, we breathe more freely again.
SOURCE: F.A. Ogg, ecL, A Source Book of Medieval History (New York: American Book Company, 1907), 220-221. Reprinted in David Herlihy, ed., The History of Feudalism. (New York: Walker and Company, 1970), 97.
DOCUMENT 3:
Question:
How is this author’s portrayal of life in a castle different from some Hollywood productions depicting medieval life?
On the material side the life of the feudal class was rough and uncomfortable. The castles were cold and drafty. If a castle was of wood, you had no fire, and if a stone castle allowed you to have one, you smothered in the smoke. Until the thirteenth century no one except a few great feudal princes had a castle providing more than two rooms. In the hall the lord . . . received his officials and vassals, held his court, and entertained ordinary guests. There the family and retainers ate on tables that at night served as beds for the servants and guests. The chamber was the private abode of the lord and his family. The lord and lady slept in a great bed, their children had smaller beds, and their personal servants slept on the floor. Distinguished visitors were entertained in the chamber. When the lord of the castle wanted a private talk with a guest, they [both] sat on the bed. The lord and his family could have all the food they could eat, but it was limited in variety. Great platters of game, both birds and beasts, were the chief standby, reinforced with bread and vast quantities of wine. They also had plenty of clothing, but the quality was largely limited by the capacity of the servant girls who made it. In short, in the tenth and eleventh centuries the noble had two resources, land and labor. But the labor was magnificently inefficient and by our standards the land was badly tilled. Not until the revival of trade could the feudal class begin to live in anything approaching luxury.
SECONDARY SOURCE: Life in a Medieval Castle. Sidney Painter, Medieval Society, Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1951, pp. 30-31.
DOCUMENT 4:
Questions:
Why would a knight follow the rules of chivalry?
How are the customs of knighthood discussed here, different from the ideas portrayed in video games, fairytales, and Hollywood?
According to the author, who made the ideas of chivalry popular?
During the eleventh and twelfth centuries there grew out of the environment and way of life of the feudal class a system of ethical ideas that we call chivalry: virtues appropriate to the knight or chevalier. . . .
The German warriors had brought with them into the Roman Empire an admiration for the warrior virtues, courage and prowess in battle. They also valued the sound judgment that the feudal age was to call wisdom and fidelity to one's . . . word, later known as loyalty. A man whose chief function was fighting had to be brave and effective in battle. Wisdom was a necessary attribute of the successful captain. The whole structure of the feudal system depended on respect for one's oath of homage and fidelity. These were the basic feudal virtues and formed the core of feudal chivalry.
The earliest ethical ideas of the feudal class concerned their chief occupation and were designed to make war more pleasant for its participants. Armor was heavy and extremely hot under the blazing sun. No knight wanted to wear his armor when he was simply riding about, yet no knight was ever entirely safe from sudden attack by an enemy. Hence the idea developed that it was highly improper to attack an unarmed knight. You could ambush your foe, but you did not attack him until he had had time to put on his armor and prepare for battle. Then the chief purpose of feudal warfare was to take prisoners who could be ransomed. In the early days you put your prisoner in chains and dumped him in an unused storage bin under your hall. But this was highly unpleasant for the prisoner and he was likely to be the captor next time. Soon it was the custom to treat a knightly prisoner as an honored guest. The next step was to accept a son or nephew as a hostage while the captive collected his ransom. By the thirteenth century it was usual to release a captured knight on his pledge to return if he could not raise his ransom. The early tournaments were, as has been suggested, merely arranged battles. But the knights who fought in them felt it necessary to rationalize their activity. Hence they soon believed that they fought in tournaments not for amusement or to profit by ransoms but to win glory. As time went on the tournaments were carried over into actual warfare. Perhaps the high point of chivalric behavior was the return of King John of France to prison in England when he found he could not raise his ransom, unless it be the action of a noble lord who hanged one of his infantrymen because he had had the bad taste to kill a knight in battle.
One more virtue of feudal chivalry requires mention: generosity. In most societies men have admired the giver of lavish gifts, and this was a marked trait among the Germans. But this virtue assumed an unusually important place in the feudal code of chivalry. Although the concepts of feudal chivalry sprang from the feudal environment, they were popularized and made universally known by professional storytellers. The evenings dragged heavily in the gloomy castles, and knights and ladies were avid for entertainment. This was supplied by various types of wanderers. There were the tellers of . . . stories, the dancing bears, and dancing girls. But there were also those, who composed and recited long tales in verse, and minstrels who sang the compositions of others. It was through these stories that the ideas of. chivalry were spread. The livelihood of the singers and composers depended on the generosity of their patrons. Hence in their stories generosity was inclined to become the chief of all knightly virtues.
SECONDARY SOURCE: Life in a Medieval Castle. Sidney Painter, Medieval Society, Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1951, pp. 32-34.
DOCUMENT 5:
Question:
What was the medieval view of women expressed here?
What legal principal is being established he about the role of men and women?
Women should be subject to their men. The natural order for mankind is that women should serve men and children their parents, for it is just that the lesser serve the greater.
The image of God is in man and it is one. Women were drawn from man, who has God’s jurisdiction as if he were God’s vicar (representative), because he has the image of the one God. Therefore woman is not made in God’s image.
Woman’s authority is nil; let her in all things be subject to the rule of man….And neither can she teach, nor be a witness, nor give a guarantee, nor sit in judgment.
Adam was beguiled (deceived) by Eve, not she by him. It is right that he whom woman led into wrongdoing should have her under his direction, so that he may not fail a second time through female levity (lack of seriousness).
SOURCE: Gratian, Corpus juris canonici, in Not in God’s Image, ed. J. O’Faolain and L. Martines (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1973), p. 130.
DOCUMENT 6:
Question:
What is the author trying to say to women?
What do you think the author would suggest as an alternative lifestyle for women to marriage during this time period?
Look around, happy maiden, if the know of wedlock (marriage) be once knotted, let the man be idiot or dripple, be he whatever he may be, thou must keep to him. Thou sayest that a wife hath much comfort of her husband, when they are well consorted, and each is well content with the other. Yea; but ‘tis rarely seen on earth….
[On childbearing]: Consider that joy ariseth when the offspring in thee quickeneth and growth. How many miseries immediately wake up therewith, that work thee woe enough, fight against they own flesh, and with many sorrows make war upon they own nature. Thy ruddy face shall turn lean and grow green as grass. Thine eyes shall be dusky, and underneath grow pale; and by the giddiness of thy brain they head shall ache sorely….All thy beauty is overthrown with withering.
After all this, there cometh from the child thus born a crying and a weeping that must about midnight make thee to waken, or her that holds thy place, for whom though must care [like a wet-nurse]. And what of the cradle foulness, and the constant giving of the breast? to swaddle and feed the child at so many unhappy moments….Little knoweth a maiden of all this trouble of wives’ woes….
And what if I ask besides…how the wife stands that heareth when she comes in her child scream, sees the cat at the meat, and the hound at the hide? Her cake is burning on the stove, and her calf is sucking all the milk up, the pot is running into the fires, and the churl [manservant] is scolding. Though it be a sill tale, it ought, maiden, to deter thee more strongly from marriage, for it seems not sill to her that tries it….
SOURCE: Holy Maidenhood, an anonymous author of the 13c.
