Those who pray and those who fight - Essay Example

Those who work comprised mainly the peasants in the society; the slaves and the serfs. The serfs comprised the peasants who were owned by a lord. Their duty was to work for the lord, in the field of the lords, in consideration of being allowed to use a piece of land by the lord for their use and that of their families. In addition, the lords had the duty to protect the serfs and to administer justice to them. Serfs would work for their lords for about 3 days a week, or more, during the harvest period, while they would employ the rest of their time to work in their own field set for them by their lords.

Most of the serfs were illiterate and poor but religious. Their lives were limited on their fields and their village church. To add, the serfs were not allowed to leave the manor of their lords. In essence, most of them ended up spending their entire lives on one estate. Those that pray included powerful popes, clergy, bishops and priest. They had diverse religious roles, for instance, the village priests had the task to satisfy the serfs’ spiritual needs. This group also consisted of the monks who lived in the monasteries, and consisted mostly of educated monks and who were responsible for producing most of the books made during that period.

The last order consisted of those who fought. During the medieval periods, wars were prevalent and were mostly fought by knights. Wars were expensive and since peasants could not afford arsenals of war such as horses, swords or a suit of armor, this group, therefore, consisted of people from the wealthiest order, that is, the nobles. They were mainly the land owners, living in manors, and owned all the people that lived in that Manor. They had military obligations, for instance, to the higher nobles, and were in turn owed military obligations by the lower nobles called the vassals.

The nobility never worked, but were supposed to be fierce and warlike and they spent their time in military training and attending fight tournament with other nobles. Each of the three orders contributed in a way to the aggressiveness of Christian kingdoms during the Crusades (1096-1204). The peasants worked on the lands of their lords, and though they were not allowed to leave, they contributed to the financial might of their respective lords, who in turn contributed military might to the crusaders.

To add, they contributed directly in the crusades, for instance in 1095, Pope Urban II urged both the nobles and peasants to join him in the war against Muslims, with the mission of reclaiming the Holy land of Jerusalem. The Pope promised them a lot of things from salvation to wealth, and they, therefore, joined him because of these assurances. Those who pray were mainly the religious leaders, and who wielded a lot of powers. The pope for instance, commissioned and blessed the crusaders before they waged war against people the church had declared to be heretics, including a Christian King (Hunt 2010, 354).

This order encouraged their followers to wage crusades against the non believers. Most of them were sanctioned by the pope. For instance in 1198, pope innocent III declared a crusade against the Livs, and four years later, the Pope declared the fourth crusade to the holy land. The religious leaders exploited their monopoly over salvation, wealth and charity, and confession to promote crusades. For instance, during the Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229), innocent suspended the crusaders monetary debts and promised that their