The Medieval Age - Essay Example

The Medieval Age Relationship between Feudalism and Manorialism Feudalism and Manorialism are both different forms of landholding systems practiced commonly during the medieval times. Feudalism involved peasants, knights and nobles who offered military service to the king. They also supplied the king with food and paid taxes. Manorialism collected food and taxes from the serfs. The lord or the king was responsible for providing justice and military service to them in exchange of their offerings. Since the Nobles controlled several gallant knights and the working class peasants, they grew as a potential threat to the kings. Gradually the manor system evolved. The manors were entirely self sufficient each containing a few hundred people. The protection of the manors and the responsibility of settling feuds between them belonged to the concerned lords or kings. In Feudalism the whole country belonged to the kings and all else were under him. This made the Nobles rebel against the crown often, as they controlled their own local armies. In Manorialism, the 1000’s of acres which belonged to the manor was owned entirely by the nobles. They had complete administration control over the areas. But, the military power lay entirely with the king preventing the noble’s ability to revolt against their lords. Manorialism gave more freedom to the peasants, serfs and the nobles ruling them. They were freed from the duty of guarding their territories fiercely and started to concentrate on developing the areas assigned to them. This system functioned pretty much the same way as the modern governments do. The Last Crusade and the fall of the Acre Venice and Genoa both flourished in trade from 1010. The first crusade started with an emotive appeal from the pope in November 27, 1095. Christians from all over the Europe joined together and waged a war against Muslims in getting their holy land back. This is seen as an .attempt by the church to sustain papal control over the mass. However, the first crusade ended successfully with Antioch being captured and King Bohemund of Southern Italy and his descendants becoming its rulers for the next two centuries. He encouraged the Italians to establish trade connections with Egypt through Antioch. Venice was the first state to establish trade contacts with Egypt a. They met the Egyptian merchants bringing spices from the South Asia near the Red sea, collected their goods and sold it for huge profit in the Europe. Venice was a highly modern and tolerant state where people from any religion and class could thrive free if they had something to sell. They did not encourage the papal control and remained a highly secular state. The second crusade under Conrad III and Louis VII was a massive failure, giving rise to Nur ed-Din. By 1154 Saladin, son of the Damascus governor appointed by Nur ed-In started to emerge as a major Muslim power. Genoa started to emerge as another major trade center by this time. Saladin was just ruler and avoided religious massacres completely. He started as a commander in Nur ed-dins forces trying to conquer Egypt and got the control of Syria. Both Genoa and Venice had cordial relations with him and extended their trade up to Constantinople during his time. Saladin conquered Jerusalem in 1187. The third crusade was set against him, in which Italy largely played a neutral role. The crusade ended in a truce as both the parties were equally strong. Venice was made to make up for this act in during the fourth crusade in 1202. The city agreed to supply the crusade troops with food and other facilities for the exchange of money. But, the crusaders were unable to succeed and pay back the money. Instead, they fought on Italys behalf with Hungary and conquered the city Zara. The sack of Constantinople in 1204 damaged the image of the crusaders severely earning condemns from the pope. After two more crusades, Frederick II re-conquered Jerusalem in 1229. By this time, the Mongols and Mamluk empires became much more powerful. The Italian states like Venice and Genoa could not meet their force. Genoa created Acre and extended its influence up to Syria. The siege of Acre in 1291 marked the end of Christian crusades and the emergence of a strong Islamic rule. The Identifications 1. Augustine - St. Augustine is the author of noted works like City of God and the Confessions. He lived from 354 BC to 430 BC. He is a famous Christian theologian whose works often border heresy. His principle defines most of the modern Christian beliefs differing much from the early Pagans. 2. Justinian’s Code - This widely considered as the first compiled law book. The Roman Emperor Justinian I summoned his court to produce and follow it. A team worked under Tribonian to create the Codex Justinianus and it was in practice from 529 to 534. The compilation consisted for three parts Codes, Pandects and Institutiones. This compilation is the basis for modern day international law. 3. Muhammad - Muhammad is the founder of Islam. He unified the scattered Arabian kingdoms under one religion, Islam. The religion paved way to great crusades and immense power struggle in the Medieval Europe making its founder a significant person. He was the last great messiah to kick start the next massive religion after Christianity. 4. Carolingian Renaissance - Starting from late eighth century and lasting up to the ninth century this period marks the first wave of medieval renaissance. The other two contributed mainly to visual arts while this one gave more emphasize to literature, scripts and various forms of writing. Reading and writing started to reach the upper middle class and the intellectuals only during this period. Earlier only people of royal birth and the priests were literate. A common style of reading and writing spread fast throughout Europe sowing the first seeds of effective communication across various nations’ borders. 5. Investiture Controversy - This was a power struggle between the pope and the king regarding who has more influence in selecting Bishops and controlling the Church. Several people including Pope Paschal II, Pope Gregory VII and various Emperors conflicted over the issue. In 1122, Pope Calixtus II made Emperor Henry V agree these issues be best left to the pope. However the monarchies still extended limited influence in the matter. This negotiation is important as it marked the emergence of Christianity as a key religion in Europe. Most of the Europe accepted Christianity and the Pope as the sole representation of God after this controversy. 6. Guilds - They are medieval form of modern day unions. A particular group of artisans controlled the style of the art they practice in their area. They formed an organization included all local talent as members and standardized their craft with a style unique to their area. Artisans here mean masons, textile producers, merchants, carpenters and several other craftsmen. Creation of a unique style helped them get an identification and demand in the market as their style secret or manufacturing process was well guarded. Even secret student unions and cartels between business associations were known as guilds. 7. Cathars - Cathars were Christians who opposed the traditional Church. They followed their own rituals like the Consolamentum. They thrived in most parts of the France and Italy from 12th to 14th century. The acts of Pope Innocent III to curb them paved way for the murder of his close associate leading to the Albigensian Crusade. Read More