Significance and Origins of Vassalage and the Manorial System PDF

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Surname 1 Name Course Instructor Date Significance and Origins of Vassalage and the Manorial System Introduction The king was the head of the kingdom under the feudal system of leadership and during the exchange of the military and political support, the king would parcel of very large chunks to the greater Lords also called the Tenants-in-Chief. Smaller parcels could, however, be parceled out to the local load for the same terms. This called for the formation of a hierarchical network under the king of the earls, barons, manor and villains’ loads and all these were bound together by reciprocal obligations that existed in pairs. Manor, which was the smallest and basically the lowest operational unit in this hierarchical system, was controlled and headed by a lord who typically held the rank of a knight. The lord resided in a manor house and had control over a large area of land inclusive of the workers living therein. In the article, I have made exhaustion on the definition and the significance of the manorial system as well as the vassalage. The origin of Vassalage and Manorial System. Manorialism has been defined as a system involving exploitation of tenants or the serfs by the Lord of the Manor working in his estate and is regarded as an extension of the feudal fief as a principal owner of the land also known as the lord of the Manor ("Manorialism" 321). The origin of the vassalage can be traced back during the Middle Age when it began in the Western Europe and to be particular, France. This system was later exported to other nations like Kingdom of Sicily, Scotland, Jerusalem and later England due to the Norman expansions during

Surname 2 this period. The vocabulary of this leadership system was unique in a way with the most junior party in the feudal arrangement being called the vassal or the liege. Since the Vassal who held land from a lord, he had been made to pay homage and swear fealty to the lord and therefore, did not have to be a minor as everyone who was below the king had been treated as a vassal regardless of the position, even the greatest lords of the land. It was not compulsory that each and every manor become held by lay lords who rendered the military services to their superiors be it cash in lieu. Research have it that about 17% of the manors in England had directly belonged to the King during the 1086s. Elsewhere, in the other European states, a greater proportion of the manors had been subject to the bishops and abbots which range from a third to half of the total numbers in the different countries.it was also documented that the number of the Ecclesiastical manors were larger in number comparative to the neighboring lay manors (White 213). The Medieval manors on the other hand, who typically held small pieces of land of about 1200 to 1800, had varied in the number. At least there existed one manor in the noble whereas the greater nobles could have larger number of the manors who were distributed throughout the country. It was the pleasure of the king to have many manors as they could assist in the supply of food of the courts. The Medieval Feudal system provided an obligatory demand that everyone in the kingdom owed an allegiance to the King as well as the immediate superiors. Moreover, payment for the land was a requirement for everyone as they were made to provide man-days of work forms of services. The nature of the work was farming of military services or at times both where lots of fighting men were taken for the military services and these men included pike men, archers, knights among others who could fight several days each year including clothing and weapons.

Surname 3 According to White (214), this system of leadership, it was believed that the Manor House, as opposed to the castles, were exclusively residential and not used for attacking enemies of defense from the same. The sizes of the house varied with respect to the amount of wealth that the lord has, however, the general structure had consisted of a great wall, solar, kitchen, servant quarters as well as several storerooms. Some of the rights that were performed by the lords of the Medieval manor were hunting and judicial rights. The significance of the Manorial System The principal obligation of the vassal to the lord was in aiding or the military service. By the virtue that the vassals got revenue from the lands of fief as was known, they were required to take responsibility of answering to the calls to the military services in place of the lord. This was possible since the vassals could easily obtain every type of equipment using the revenues. The major reason why the lords had accepted to enter into the feudal relationship was basically the security of the military help. Obligations such as the provision of counsel to the lords was granted by the vassals as they advise the lord whether or not to go to the wars. Moreover, the vassals were needed to give or specifically yield a certain amount of the outputs from their farms to the lords as part of the obligations put in place. The manorial system was inclusive and diverse as the whole society was encompassed. At the very lowest level men who worked had held land from the local Lord of the Manor, who is believed to have held the pieces of land from a Baron, who had in turn held land from an Earl whose land was held from the King. Everyone was also held in place on a very strict hierarchy which was appointed by God as it was taught by the Church following the network of rights and obligations that were outlined. Additionally, the relationship between the lords and vassals was not restricted only to the laity member, but it also allowed the bishops and abbots to act as the

Surname 4 lords. About half or sometimes a third of the revenues gained in the Christian Europe were directed and channeled to the Church coffers for several decades via bishops and abbots in their capacity of the feudal lords. it is was during the time of Pope Innocent II that the papacy made claims of sitting at the very top of a single Christian feudal hierarchy which feudal tenants being below them. All the Christian emperors and kings owed them fealty. The whole world fief was held by the Pope himself from God himself (Bloch 230). The involvement of the Church in the feudal system of leadership is remembered in a vestigial act f homage which is built in the prayers of the Christians. During the time of swearing fealty to the lord, the vassal held his hands together and the lord on the other hand placed his hands around them. The researchers had documented that the Christians made prayers with their arms held out with open palms before the feudal period. It was during this period that putting hand together was treated as an act of homage to God and in invitation for him to place his hands around theirs. In contrary, the witches were perceived to pay tribute and homage to Satan at the height of witch mania. Following this strong relationship between the church and feudal system, explanation regarding the long and persistent opposition of the church to the alternative government systems such as democracy throughout the 19th century, could be clearly given. Bloch (253), postulates that conflicts has arisen regarding the obligations of the homage. In England, the Angevin monarchs of the state who were sovereign, did not have the duty of homage with regards to the holdings. However, they were not sovereign regarding their French holdings. In this regards, Henry II ho was the king of England, also became the Duke of Aquitaine besides being the Normandy and Count of Anjou. It was claimed by the Capetian Kings, however weak they were, made claims of rights of homage for these dukedoms and country. Henry therefore modified an oath that was added to the qualification for the lands he

Surname 5 held overseas whose significance was to ensure that no knights services was owed for his English lands. Throughout the century, it was recorded that the conflict between the French monarchs and the Angevin Kings of England was witnessed. When asked to give military service provisions to the Phillip III in his wars with Aragon in1285, Edward I prepared to provide the services from Gascony rather than England owing no services to France for the English lands. Conclusion From the discussions and researches highlighted above, it can be deduced that the manorialism has of been of great significance. The system has given the representation of the economic concepts of the feudalism where the lord of the manor was the center of life aspects including the village, churches, mills and farm lands. The Churches have had great impact and having been victims of the manorialism, the advocated for this system for long making them oppose the democratic forms of governance as explained in the above findings.

Surname 6 Works Cited Bloch, Marc. Feudal Society, Vol 1: Vol 1: The Growth and Ties of Dependence. Routledge, 1989. "Manorialism." Brill’s Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages. White, Donald A. Medieval History: A Source Book. Dorsey P, 1965....