When the barbarians settled the territory of the Roman Empire, each of them was both a warrior and a peasant. However, they were all free. But by the X-XI centuries. almost all peasants became dependent. How could this happen? You will also learn many interesting details related to the daily life of peasants in the Middle Ages.

In the Middle Ages there was a rule: “There is no land without a lord.” By the 9th-10th centuries, all the land in Western Europe was seized by feudal lords. Fields, forests, meadows, even rivers and lakes became their property. A feudal patrimony, or estate, arose - the economy of the feudal lord, in which dependent peasants worked. In the center of the estate there was a manor's courtyard, surrounded by a fence, and later a castle. Here was the house of the feudal lord and his steward, barns for storing grain and other products, a stable, a barn, a poultry house, and a kennel. Arable and other land in the estate was divided into two parts: the master's and peasant's allotments. The harvest from the master's fields went to the landowner's barns. Working on his farm, the peasant fed himself and his family. On his oxen, with his own tools, he cultivated both the master’s field and his own allotment (Fig. 1).

Rice. 1. Peasants and lords ()

For the use of land, dependent peasants had to bear duties, that is, perform forced duties. The main duties of dependent peasants were corvée and quitrent. Corvée was the name for all the free work of peasants on the feudal lord's farm: they cultivated the master's arable land, built and repaired his house, barns and bridges, cleaned ponds, and caught fish. The peasants had to give the owner of the estate a quitrent - a share of the products of their farm: grain, livestock, poultry, eggs, lard, honey, as well as products they made: linen, leather, yarn, and in some cases money.
In order to force the peasants, who usually hereditarily owned their farms, to carry out duties correctly, the landowners needed power over them. They had the right to judge people who lived in their domains and who were land-dependent peasants. For not turning in quitrent on time, for bad work in the corvée, the peasant was summoned to the feudal lord's court; judges could impose a fine or other punishment (judicial dependence). The most difficult situation was for the personally dependent peasants. Most often, the descendants of former slaves not only did not own their land, but were personally unfree: without the permission of the master, they could not leave the village, sell or transfer their plot to other people, or go to a monastery.

The peasants were united into communities, which were primarily in charge of economic affairs. Village arable land was divided into plots (strips) that made up peasant plots. In order for the community members to have equal conditions for farming, strips of land were cut out for the peasants in different places, creating a “strip” when they had to cross the plots of their neighbors and even the master’s. After the harvest, the arable land turned into a common pasture, and all the village residents drove their livestock to it. Therefore, the community members began and finished field work at the same time and sowed the fields with the same grain crops. Gathering for a village gathering, the peasants decided where and what to sow and when to start the harvest. In addition to arable land, the estates had land: meadows, forests, lakes and rivers. Partially they belonged to the lord, but partly the land was owned by the community. The gentlemen took away communal lands in their own favor by all means, prohibiting peasants from using lakes and forests. The feudal lords demanded that the peasants grind bread at the master's mills (and not at home, using hand millstones), for which they took special taxes. All this worsened the situation of the peasants. The community maintained peace and order in its territory and searched for criminals. She helped the poor pay taxes, took care of peasant widows and orphans, preserved customs, and held festivities and games. The peasants as a whole often resisted the master when he tried to increase the usual amounts of duties. Sometimes peasants refused to work for their masters and set fire to their houses and barns. Alone and in entire villages, they ran away from cruel masters and settled on empty lands. With their stubborn resistance, peasant communities sought to limit feudal duties and the arbitrariness of their masters.

Villages at that time usually numbered no more than 10-15 and only very rarely reached 30-50 households. In each yard, in addition to the dwelling, there was a barn, stable, barn and other outbuildings. Adjacent to the yard was a personal plot: a garden, a vegetable garden, a vineyard. A peasant house was most often built from wooden poles coated with clay, from logs or local stone, and covered with straw, turf or reeds (Fig. 2). When a fire was lit in the hearth, the smoke came out through a hole in the ceiling or through an open door, so the walls were black with soot; A lot of time passed before they learned how to install stoves with a chimney. Narrow windows without glass were covered with wooden shutters at night, and in cold weather they were covered with transparent skin made from bull's bladder. The furnishings of the house consisted of a roughly hewn table, benches along the walls, and a chest for storing festive clothes: they were acquired over the years and passed on by inheritance. They slept on a wide bed or on benches covered with mattresses stuffed with hay. Household items and various utensils were stored in the house: hooks and ladles, tubs and tubs, water barrels, washing tubs, sieves, baskets, a hand mill, a spinning wheel, and a small loom. Food was cooked in a cast iron pot, which was hung on an iron tripod over the fire in the hearth. Agricultural implements, a cart, and harness for draft animals were stored in the barn. The usual food of peasants was boiled grain or porridge, beans, turnips, onions and other vegetables, edible herbs, and less often they ate meat, fish and cheese. But Europe did not know potatoes, corn, or tomatoes at that time. I didn’t know sugar either - honey replaced it. Drinks and wines were prepared from honey, grapes and berries, and various types of beer were made from barley. The gentlemen ate more abundantly and variedly; they constantly ate meat, cow's (butter) butter, and expensive fish; Spices (pepper, cinnamon and other seasonings) were abundantly added to food, so they consumed a lot of wine and beer. The clergy also did not disdain intoxicating drinks. It was in monasteries in the Middle Ages that they learned to make strong tinctures and liqueurs using 80-100 herbs. The recipes for their preparation were kept secret.

Rice. 2. Peasant's house ()

Unlike slaves, peasants respected their hard work and highly valued hard work. When choosing a bride or groom in a peasant family, the greatest attention was paid to the skill, dexterity, hard work and ingenuity of the future family member. They tried not to become related to the lazy and inept. The beauty of the bride or the personal feelings of the newlyweds were rarely taken into account. Peasants most often cultivated the land with the same tools that they inherited from their fathers and grandfathers. Usually they plowed with a light plow, which only furrowed the earth without turning over the layers. The plow was pulled across the field by a team of oxen, and rarely by a horse. The soil was loosened with a harrow or rake. When the harvest ripened, the ears were cut with sickles. They threshed with sticks or wooden flails, and then the grain was winnowed, tossed in the wind with a shovel. Grain, if the master allowed, was usually ground in a hand mill, which consisted of two stone millstones. The peasants themselves built houses and made furniture, peasant women processed food, spun, weaved, and sewed coarse clothing from flax, wool, and leather. The peasant economy was dominated by small livestock: sheep, goats, pigs. There were few oxen and cows, as there was not enough food for them in winter. The peasants kept chickens, ducks, geese, and pigeons on their farms (Fig. 3).

Rice. 3. Peasant labor (

The harvests were low: the grain received was approximately 3 times more than was sown. A third, or even almost half of what was collected was left for seeds, part was given as quitrent to the lord and 1/10 of the harvest was given to the church. The harvest depended not only on the efforts of the peasant, but also on the year. Even minor frosts and droughts destroyed the crops, and then a terrible famine occurred, lasting months and even years. Many died of hunger, and even cannibalism existed. Various diseases carried thousands of weakened, exhausted people to the grave. In the first centuries of the Middle Ages, the population of Europe almost did not increase due to high mortality. And only from the 11th century, thanks to the improvement of the climate and the plowing of new lands, the population began to increase noticeably, thousands of new villages and hamlets appeared.

The peasants provided agricultural products and handicrafts not only for themselves, but also for their master, his family, servants and guests. In the estates, feudal lords set up entire workshops: there, courtyard craftsmen made weapons, horse harnesses, and craftswomen made fabrics and clothes. Thus, everything necessary for people’s lives was produced on the estate itself. The economy was natural, that is, products and things were produced not for sale, but for personal consumption.

Bibliography

1. Agibalova E.V., G.M. Donskoy. History of the Middle Ages. - M., 2012
2. Atlas of the Middle Ages: History. Traditions. - M., 2000
3. Illustrated world history: from ancient times to the 17th century. - M., 1999
4. History of the Middle Ages: book. For reading / Ed. V.P. Budanova. - M., 1999
5. Kalashnikov V. Mysteries of history: The Middle Ages / V. Kalashnikov. - M., 2002
6. Stories on the history of the Middle Ages / Ed. A.A. Svanidze. M., 1996

1. Historic.ru ().
2. Gumer.info().
3. Bibliotekar.ru ().
4. Portal-student.ru ().

Homework

1. Why did the feudal lord have power over dependent peasants?
2. What duties did the peasants perform in favor of the feudal lord?
3. What issues of rural life were regulated by the community?
4. Why was the life of medieval peasants very difficult?
5. What type of farming is called subsistence farming?

Peasants | Formation of the class of dependent peasants

During the era of the Great Migration of Peoples, when Germanic tribes settled over vast expanses of Europe, each of the free Germans was both a warrior and a tiller at the same time. However, gradually the most skilled warriors who made up the leader’s squad increasingly began to go on campaigns alone, without involving the entire tribe in military operations. And the remaining houses supplied food and everything necessary to those relatives who went on a campaign.

Since farmers faced many dangers in the turbulent era of the early Middle Ages, they sought to enlist the support of some powerful warrior, sometimes even their own tribesman. But in exchange for protection, the peasant had to renounce ownership of his plot of land and freedom in favor of his patron and recognize himself as dependent on him.

Sometimes they became dependent on the lord not of their own free will, but because of debts or some major offenses. The peasants did not always go under the protection of the warriors, who gradually received large plots of land and turned into feudal nobility.

Often peasants were taken under the protection of a monastery, to which the king or other major lord gave lands so that the monks would pray for the salvation of his soul. By the X-XI centuries. There are almost no free peasants left in Western Europe.

Peasants | Categories of dependent peasantry

However, the level of unfreedom of peasants varied greatly. From some peasants the master demanded only a chicken for Christmas and a dozen eggs for Easter, but others had to work for him almost half of their time. The fact is that some peasants worked for the lord only because they had lost their own land and were forced to use the land provided by the lord and live under his protection. Such peasants were called land dependent. The size of their duties depended on how much land and what quality the lord provided them with. Much more difficult was the situation of those peasants who became personally dependent on the lord. These were usually debtors, criminals, captives or descendants of slaves.

Thus, all peasants were divided into two groups:

land-dependent peasants;

personally and land dependent (the so-calledservo or villans).

Peasants | Rights and obligations

General peasant duties.

The peasants' duties could consist of working on the master's field (corvée), paying quitrents in food or money. Many peasants were obliged to press wine only on the lord’s presses and grind flour only at his mill (of course, not for free), participate at their own expense in the transportation of goods, and in the repair of bridges and roads. The peasants had to obey the lord's court orders. A tenth of the harvest given to the church is church tithe.

Features of the duties of serfs.

By the 12th century there were almost no free peasants left in Western Europe. But they were all unfree in different ways. One worked as a corvee several days a year, and the other several days a week. One was limited to small offerings to the lord at Christmas and Easter, while the other gave away about half of the entire harvest. The most difficult situation was for the personally dependent (servov) peasants. They bore responsibilities not only for the land, but also for themselves personally. They were obliged to pay the lord for the right to marry or inherit the property of their deceased father.

Peasants' rights

Despite the abundance of duties, medieval peasants, unlike slaves of the ancient world or Russian serfs of the 16th-19th centuries, had certain rights. The Western European peasant was not excluded from the legal system. If he regularly fulfilled his duties, the master could not refuse him the use of the land plot on which generations of his ancestors worked. The life, health and personal property of the peasant were protected by law. The lord could not execute a peasant, sell or exchange him without land and separately from his family, or even arbitrarily increase peasant duties. With the development of centralization in the largest European countries, starting from the 12th-14th centuries, free peasants could personally appeal the lord’s court decision in the royal court.

Peasants | The number of peasants and their role in society

Peasants made up about 90% of the total population of medieval Europe. The social position of peasants, like representatives of other classes, is inherited: the son of a peasant is also destined to become a peasant, just as the son of a knight is to become a knight or, say, an abbot. Peasants occupied an ambiguous position among the medieval classes. On the one hand, this is the lower, third estate. The knights despised the peasants and laughed at the ignorant men. But, on the other hand, peasants are a necessary part of society. If in ancient Rome physical labor was treated with contempt, considered unworthy of a free person, then in the Middle Ages the one who is engaged in physical labor is a respected member of society, and his work is very commendable. According to medieval sages, each class is necessary for the rest: and if the clergy takes care of souls, chivalry protects the country, then the peasants feed everyone else, and this is their great merit to the whole society. Church writers even argued that peasants have the best chance of going to heaven: after all, fulfilling God’s commandments, they earn their daily bread by the sweat of their brow. Medieval philosophers compared society to the human body: the human soul is the praying, the hands are the fighting, and the legs are the working. just as it is impossible to imagine that legs quarrel with arms, so in society all classes must fulfill their duty and support each other.

Peasants | Folk culture

Holidays. Many peasants had gold coins and elegant clothes hidden in their chests, which were worn on holidays; the peasants knew how to have fun at village weddings, when beer and wine flowed like a river and everyone was eaten up during a whole series of half-starved days. Customs. So that “the normal course of things in the world is not disrupted,” the peasants resorted to magic. Closer to the new moon, they organized rituals to “help the moon restore its radiance.” Of course, special actions were provided for in the event of drought, crop failure, prolonged rains, or storms. Here, priests often participated in magical rituals, sprinkling fields with holy water or using other means other than prayer, trying to influence higher powers. You can influence more than just the weather. Envy of a neighbor could give rise to a desire to harm him in every possible way, and a tender feeling for a neighbor could bewitch her unapproachable heart. The ancient Germans believed in sorcerers and sorceresses. And in the Middle Ages, in almost every village one could find a “specialist” in casting spells on people and livestock. But it was not uncommon for these people (elderly women) to be valued by their fellow villagers because they knew how to heal, knew all sorts of herbs, and abused their harmful abilities unnecessarily: Oral folk art. All kinds of evil spirits are often mentioned in fairy tales - one of the most widespread types of oral folk art (folklore). In addition to fairy tales, numerous songs (holiday, ritual, labor), fairy tales, and sayings were heard in the villages. The peasants probably also knew heroic songs. Many of the stories featured animals whose behavior was easily recognizable as human. Throughout Europe, stories were retold about the cunning fox Renan, the stupid wolf Isengrin and the powerful, capricious, but sometimes simple-minded king of animals - the lion Noble. In the 12th century, these stories were brought together and translated into verse, resulting in an extensive poem - “The Romance of the Fox.” The peasants, tired from their work, loved to tell each other all sorts of stories about the fairyland. Features of peasant Christianity. Also in Western Europe, werewolves were feared (the Germanic peoples called them “werewolves” - man-wolves). The hands of the deceased saint were cut off to be used as separate relics. Peasants widely used all kinds of amulets. The amulets could be verbal, material, or represent a magical action. One of the most common “material amulets” in Europe to this day is a horseshoe attached at the entrance to a house. Christian relics, by all accounts, could also serve as talismans, heal from illnesses, and protect from damage.

Peasants | Life of peasants

Housing

Over most of Europe, the peasant house was built of wood, but in the south, where this material was in short supply, it was more often made of stone. Wooden houses were covered with straw, which was suitable for feeding livestock in hungry winters. The open hearth slowly gave way to a stove. Small windows were closed with wooden shutters and covered with bubble wrap or leather. Glass was used only in churches, among lords and the city's rich. Instead of a chimney, there was often a hole in the ceiling, and

When they were burning, smoke filled the room. During the cold season, often both the peasant’s family and his livestock lived nearby - in the same hut.

In villages people usually got married early: the marriageable age for girls was often considered 12 years old, for boys 14 - 15 years old. Many children were born, but even in wealthy families, not all lived to adulthood.

Nutrition

Crop failures and famine were constant companions of the Middle Ages. Therefore, the food of the medieval peasant was never plentiful. The usual was two meals a day - morning and evening. The daily food of the majority of the population was bread, cereals, boiled vegetables, grain and vegetable stews, seasoned with herbs, onions and garlic. In the south of Europe, olive oil was added to food, in the north - beef or pork fat, butter was known, but was used very rarely. People ate little meat, beef was very rare, pork was consumed more often, and in mountainous areas - lamb. Almost everywhere, but only on holidays, they ate chickens, ducks, and geese. They ate quite a lot of fish, because 166 days a year were during fasting, when eating meat was prohibited. Of the sweets, only honey was known; sugar appeared from the East in the 18th century, but was extremely expensive and was considered not only a rare delicacy, but also a medicine.

In medieval Europe they drank a lot, in the south - wine, in the north - mash until the 12th century, and later, after the use of the plant was discovered. hops - beer. It should be canceled that heavy alcohol consumption was explained not only by commitment to drunkenness, but also by necessity: ordinary water, which was not boiled, because pathogenic microbes were not known, caused stomach diseases. Alcohol became known around the year 1000, but was used only in medicine.

Constant malnutrition was compensated for by super-abundant treats on holidays, and the nature of the food practically did not change; they cooked the same thing as every day (maybe they just gave more meat), but in larger quantities.

Cloth

Until the XII - XIII centuries. the clothes were surprisingly monotonous. The clothes of commoners and nobles differed slightly in appearance and cut, even, to a certain extent, men's and women's, excluding, of course, the quality of fabrics and the presence of decorations. Both men and women wore long, knee-length shirts (such a shirt was called a kameez), and short pants - bra. Over the kameez, another shirt made of thicker fabric was worn, which went down slightly below the waist - blio. In the XII - XIII centuries. Long stockings - highways - are spreading. Men's blio sleeves were longer and wider than women's. Outerwear was a cloak - a simple piece of fabric draped over the shoulders, or penula - a cloak with a hood. Both men and women wore pointed ankle boots; curiously, they were not divided into left and right.

In the 12th century Changes in clothing are planned. Differences also appear in the clothing of the nobility, townspeople and peasants, which indicates the isolation of classes. The distinction is indicated primarily by color. The common people had to wear clothes of soft colors - gray, black, brown. The female blio reaches to the floor and the lower part of it, from the hips, is made of a different fabric, i.e. something like a skirt appears. These skirts of peasant women, unlike those of the nobility, were never particularly long.

Throughout the Middle Ages, peasant clothing remained homespun.

In the 13th century The blio is replaced by tight-fitting woolen outerwear - cotta. With the spread of earthly values, interest in the beauty of the body appears, and new clothes emphasize the figure, especially of women. Then, in the 13th century. Lace is spreading, including among peasants.

Tools

Agricultural tools were common among peasants. These are, first of all, a plow and a plow. The plow was more often used on light soils of the forest belt, where the developed root system did not allow deep turning of the soil. The plow with an iron share, on the contrary, was used on heavy soils with relatively smooth terrain. In addition, the peasant farm used various types of harrows, sickles for reaping grain and flails for threshing it. These tools remained virtually unchanged throughout the medieval era, as noble lords sought to receive income from peasant farms at minimal cost, and the peasants simply did not have the money to improve them.

Peasants were the largest segment of the population of Western Europe. They were entrusted with the mission of enriching the upper classes of society, such as the clergy and feudal lords.
In the Middle Ages, peasants were attached to a feudal lord, who distributed lands to them, for which they had to pay the feudal lord. Certain duties were imposed on them, which will be discussed below. Duties are the payment of peasants for the fact that the feudal lord took them under his protection. If the peasants' land was attacked, the feudal lord had to withdraw the army and defend his possessions. This was ideal, but in reality, feudal lords most often cared about their own lands and castles, rather than about the lands given to the peasants.
All these forms of peasant duties can be safely divided into four large categories:
– corvée;
– quitrent in kind;
- cash dues;
– other duties;
And now about each of these categories in detail.

Corvee

In general, corvée is the work of a peasant in favor of the feudal lord, to which every peasant to whom the feudal lord gave a plot of land was obliged. Peasants were obliged to work not only on their own land, but also to work a certain amount of time on the lands of the feudal lord, and absolutely free of charge. They also had to work on the farm, as well as in road construction and transporting goods. The number of days was clearly defined, but the feudal lords most often did not comply with this rule and took advantage of the peasants much more often than was possible.

Quiet in kind

Quirk in kind is a special type of duty in which peasants living on the land of the feudal lord had to give part of the products in favor of the feudal lord. The peasants were obligated to bring the feudal lord part of the entire grain harvest, as well as everything else that they grew on their land - vegetables, fruits. In addition, they had to share livestock products - eggs, poultry. But the feudal lords did not stop there; they also took away hay, handicrafts, firewood and other things from the peasants.

Cash dues

Cash quitrent is a duty that was imposed on the peasants by the feudal lords, the essence of which lay in cash payments in favor of the feudal lord.

Peasants who had resources had to sell them at markets and fairs, and give part of the proceeds to the feudal lords. In the Middle Ages there was already a fairly large percentage of surplus product, which made it possible to trade between settlements, cities, and states. It must be said that the monetary system in the Middle Ages was not sufficiently developed, since peasants preferred not to trade, but to exchange food products. Therefore, monetary rent began to gain momentum already in the late Middle Ages.

Other duties include baking bread on the feudal lord’s farm and caring for his estate. In France, for example, peasants had to crush grapes for the benefit of the feudal lord.

Peasants in medieval Europe were not completely dependent on feudal lords, like peasants in Eastern Europe, they were not slaves. Peasants were even allowed to move from one land to another, to serve now with one feudal lord, now with another.

Peasants made up about 90-95% of the total population of Europe, but they did not play any political role in this region. All power belonged to those other 5%.
The situation of the peasants was much worse than that of the townspeople, who were allowed to engage in crafts. Peasants were not allowed to unite into guilds; it was considered a very noble job, and to become a master you needed years of training and money.

If necessary, the peasants had to take up arms and serve in the army, playing the role of the militia, which was the first to rush into battle and was not particularly valued. In other cases, peasants were strictly forbidden to own iron weapons; violation of this law was severely punished by the feudal court.

As a conclusion, we can say that peasants were the main category of the population of medieval Europe, about 95%. They were entrusted with the task (duties): to work in favor of the feudal lord, and also to give him part of their harvest and money. We are talking about four forms of such duties: corvée, quitrent in kind and cash, and other duties.

Technological lesson map

Subject: ____________________ Class:_______ Date___________

TOPIC 4. FEUDALERS AND PEASANTS

Lesson topic. Medieval village and its inhabitants

Goals

introduce you to the features of life in a medieval village; highlight the signs of subsistence farming.

Planned results

Planned results:

subject: learn to explain the essence and characteristic features of subsistence farming; study and systematize information from various historical sources about the life and life of peasants; apply the conceptual apparatus of historical knowledge and methods of historical analysis to reveal the essence and meaning of events and phenomena;

meta-subject UUD: independently organize educational interaction in a group; determine your own attitude to the phenomena of modern life; formulate your point of view; listen and hear each other; express your thoughts with sufficient completeness and accuracy in accordance with the tasks and conditions of communication; independently discover and formulate an educational problem; choose means of achieving the goal from those proposed, and also look for them yourself; predict the result and level of mastery of the material; determine a new level of attitude towards oneself as a subject of activity; give definitions of concepts; analyze, compare, classify and summarize facts and phenomena; to form the basis of semantic reading of educational and educational texts;

personal UUD: generate motivation for self-improvement; comprehend the social and moral experience of previous generations.

Basic Concepts

Interdisciplinary connections

Resources

diagram “Reasons for uniting peasants into communities”; textbook illustrations; multimedia presentation.

Lesson type

discovery of new knowledge.

Lesson form

During the classes

1.Organizational moment

Teacher activities: Greetings, positive attitude towards cooperation.

Checking student attendance, checking students' readiness for the lesson.

Filling out the class journal and handover notebook.

Student Activities: Teacher Greetings. Getting ready for work.

The class monitor reports to the teacher about those absent from the class and students’ readiness for the lesson.

2. Motivational-target stage

A medieval French proverb says: “You can’t cut the skin once, you can’t cut it twice.” Who is it talking about and what does it mean? Let's discuss this in class.

3. Updating knowledge

When and how did the peasants of Europe lose their freedom and land?

Who formed the class of dependent peasants?

(Students' answers.)

By the middle of the 11th century. A social system was established in Europe, which modern historians call feudal. Power in society belonged to the feudal landowners. The vast majority of the population were dependent peasants. It is them that we will talk about.

Guess what questions we should consider in our lesson.

(Students formulate lesson goals using the Colored Leaves technique.)

Announcement of the topic, educational results and progress of the lesson (presentation)

Lesson topic: “Medieval village and its inhabitants.”

(Introduction to the lesson plan.)

Lesson plan:

1. The master's land and peasant plots.

2.Feudal lord and dependent peasants.

3. Peasant community.

4.How the peasants lived and worked.

5. Subsistence farming.

Formulation of problematic questions for the lesson. Why was the life of peasants in the early Middle Ages very difficult? How were medieval serfs different from Roman slaves? Why was the dominance of subsistence farming inevitable at this time?

IV. Work on the topic of the lesson

1. Master's land and peasant plots

“There is no land without a lord” - this rule existed in the Middle Ages. The whole earth by the 9th-10th centuries. was captured by the feudal lords. Fields, forests, meadows, even rivers and lakes became their property. A feudal patrimony, or estate, arose.

(Work with a dictionary.)

Patrimony - hereditary land ownership of a feudal lord.

Estate - a feudal lord's farm in which dependent peasants worked.

Let's take a virtual trip back in time and get to know a medieval village and its inhabitants.

2. Feudal lord and dependents.

Slide 1. In front of you is a feudal estate. The master's courtyard, and later the castle, was surrounded by a fence, and later by a wall. Here were the house of the feudal lord and his steward, barns for storing grain and other products, a stable, a barn, a poultry house, and a kennel.

Exercise: working with the text of paragraph 2 § 11, fill out the table

Duties of peasants

Corvee

quitrent

All the work of peasants on the landowner's farm:

cultivation of the master's arable land;

construction and repair of his house, bridges;

pond cleaning;

fishing

The peasants had to give to the owner of the estate:

share of the products of your farm (grain, livestock, poultry, eggs, lard, honey);

products they made (linen, leather, yarn), and in some cases money

Exercise: read the historical document and answer the questions.

Historical document

“The peasant Vidrad has a full plot of land. He gives for it one pig, a pound of flax, 3 chickens, 18 eggs; annually carries half a cart of grapes in May and October; delivers 5 carts of manure from his farm; 12 times he brings armfuls of firewood (the size of the armful is indicated); bakes bread and brews wine. According to custom, he grazes pigs in the forest for a week. For three days every week throughout the year, he cultivates a plot of the master's field (the size of the plot is indicated). During the harvest, he harvests the crops on it, and during haymaking, he mows a haystack, and works on the manor’s estate. And his wife must weave canvas clothes. Instead of military training, he works with a cart and oxen from May to August."(“From descriptions of the possessions of one monastery.” X century).

Students answer the questions:

What duties of Vidrad constitute corvée and quitrent?

What types of corvée do Vidrad and his wife serve?

Do you think life was easy for the peasants?

Why were the peasants forced to obey their feudal lords?

(Checking the completion of the task.)

What types of peasant dependence in the Middle Ages do you know?

How do you understand the expression “land-dependent peasants”?

Why was the situation of personally dependent peasants especially difficult?

(Students' answers.)

PHYSMINUTE

Dance

These physical exercises are especially loved by children, as they are performed to cheerful children's music and the movements are free.

3. Peasant community

Peasants in the Middle Ages were united into communities.

Exercise: Working with the text of paragraph 3 of § 11, explore and name the reasons that forced the peasants to unite into communities.

(Checking the completion of the task and drawing up a diagram.)

4. How the peasants lived and worked

- How did peasants live and work in the Middle Ages?

Exercise: listen to the story and make an outline.

Additional material

Long before dawn, a peasant family rises. Today you need to serve your corvee in the master's field. The time has come to plow and sow. The peasant's wife lights a fire in the hearth: striking flint against flint, she strikes a spark and fans the tinder. As the fire flares up, it illuminates the pitiful surroundings of the hut.

Peasant housing is a house made of local stone, logs or poles, coated with clay and covered with straw or reeds. Small windows, covered with rags, hay or bull's bladders in cold weather, let in little light. Smoke from the fire comes out through a hole in the ceiling or through an open door, but a lot of it remains inside the room, smoking the walls and ceiling. The entire furnishings consist of a roughly hewn table, benches along the walls, a bed, and a chest in which holiday clothes acquired over the years and passed on from generation to generation are stored.

The mooing of a cow and the cackling of chickens can be heard. While the oatmeal soup is being cooked in a cast-iron pot suspended on an iron tripod chain, the peasant woman goes to the second half of the hut - she needs to clean up after the cow and chickens. After all, all last winter livestock and poultry were kept indoors with people.

Meanwhile, a peasant in the yard is harnessing a pair of oxen to a heavy wheeled plow. Only recently did he manage to make it, and he had to pay the village craftsmen in grain for the ploughshare, knife and wheels. But a pair of oxen will not pull a plow into the field; three pairs are needed. Therefore, we have to turn to our neighbors for help.

While father and mother were doing household chores, the children got up. The peasant woman is in a hurry to feed them: today she has to go to the workshop to weave linen for the master.

Finally, all the work is done, and the family sits down on benches at the table. Use wooden spoons to scoop the unsalted oatmeal soup out of the bowl. There is no salt, you have to pay dearly for it. And the stall with flour is empty - there is not enough grain until summer. Having refreshed themselves with a meager breakfast, the peasants go to corvée.

All day long, from dawn to dusk, the peasants work in the master's field: some plow, others sow, others graze the master's livestock. A heavy wheeled plow can plow the soil deeply and turn over a layer of soil.

Only late in the evening do the peasants return home. Having dined on the same oatmeal soup, the peasant family gets back to work...

Autumn has come. The Lord's bread has already been harvested and bound into sheaves. The peasants are in a hurry to clean up their strip: heavy rains are about to begin, cold autumn winds are about to blow. And so a lot of grain had already fallen off, a lot of it was pecked by birds. Without straightening their backs, the whole family reaps ears of grain all day long and ties them into sheaves.

But what is this?! Why did everyone flinch, as if they were afraid of something? There was the sound of a hunting horn, barking dogs, whooping and whistling. A cavalcade of smartly dressed horsemen appeared on the field. Today guests arrived to the owner of the estate, and the owner decided to amuse them with hunting. Without making out the road, they rush across an unmown field. The gentlemen look with contempt at the bowing peasants - their destiny is labor, humility, patience. The peasants are still powerless to do anything, but their hearts are full of anger and hatred.

On this day, many peasants had their masters destroy some of the fruits of their hard labor. The indignation of the villagers knew no bounds. Without saying a word, everyone rushed to the main village square in front of the church - a community gathering always gathers here. You can see indignant faces, clenched fists, eyes burning with anger. When it becomes unbearable to endure, the peasants act as a whole community, and then things go badly for the masters.

- The gentlemen do whatever they want with us! - exclaims the young peasant. - They buy and sell like cattle, they beat with whips!

Everyone talks about their grievances and humiliations. One peasant complains that after the death of his father, the manager took a cow to the master's yard; another says that he had to give up a quarter of his property in order to obtain the master’s permission to marry his daughter to a serf from a neighboring estate.

These are ancient customs, the old people try to reassure the young. - It has long been established that when transferring an inheritance, the master must give the best head of cattle - this is the right of the “dead hand”. And for the loss of a worker, the master must pay a marriage tax.

We must run. After all, you can’t break a butt with a whip,” says the young family farmer.

“We have nowhere to run,” they answer him. - Gentlemen have seized land everywhere. We must fight!

From that day on, the community members began to work worse at corvee labor, sometimes even refusing to serve corvee labor and pay quitrent. The destruction of the master's bread occurred more and more often. One night the master's barn caught fire, and in the morning everyone knew that the young peasant, who had spoken passionately at the gathering, had fled the estate. In pursuit of him, the master equipped armed servants on horseback and with dogs. Two days later, the beaten, tortured fugitive was brought to the feudal lord's trial. The inexorable master is himself both a judge and an accuser. Give him a hundred lashes, put him in chains and throw him into a pit - this is the sentence. The servants furiously attacked their victim and dragged him to the stable to beat him with whips. Then the brutally beaten peasant was thrown into the dark basement of the manor house and chained to the wall. The next day he died from beatings, and no one was held responsible for his death. Although the master by law does not have the right to kill his serfs, he can punish as he pleases.

The death of the peasant filled the cup of patience. The alarm sounded from the bell tower of the village church - this is the signal for gathering. "Towards the master's

yard! - there was a cry. Having hastily armed themselves with whatever they could - stakes, axes, pitchforks, scythes, the peasants in a discordant but menacing crowd moved towards the feudal lord's house. The master's servants tried to repel the invasion. But the bravest of the attackers approached the wooden fence with torches and, throwing branches, set it on fire, smashed the gate with a large log and entered the master's yard. The gentleman and his family could not be found: at the very beginning of the siege they managed to escape through the second gate. The rebels unleashed their wrath on the cruel sluts.

But a few days later the feudal lord returned with the soldiers of his neighbors. The massacre of the villagers began. Participants in the uprising were interrogated under torture, several leaders were hanged, and many were brutally flogged. Everything seemed to go on as before. But the gentleman remembered well the lesson given to him by the peasants: he no longer dared to oppress them as cruelly as before. And in order to avoid a new uprising, he established the amount of duties for each peasant household - this was recorded in special local books. Now peasants could devote more time to their farming. Gradually, land cultivation and tools improved, and yields increased. But after a while the gentlemen forgot about the fear they had experienced and again increased the oppression...

(Checking the completion of the task.)

5. Subsistence farming

How did the peasant provide himself with clothes, shoes, and furniture?

Who made the tools?

Who built the house for the feudal lord?

Who provided the feudal lord with everything he needed?

What is the name of such a farm?

(Work with a dictionary.)

Natural economy - a type of economy in which products and things are produced not for sale, but for personal consumption.

Exercise . State the two main reasons for the dominance of subsistence farming by filling in the blanks in the sentences.

Agricultural technology..., so the harvests were....

All estates produced..., so there is nothing....

(Checking the completion of the task.)

V. Summing up the lesson

Conversation on questions:

Why was the life of peasants in the early Middle Ages very difficult?

How were medieval serfs different from Roman slaves?

Medieval French proverb glaciT: “If you skin someone once, you can’t cut his hair twice.” Who is it talking about? What is its meaning?

Why was the dominance of subsistence farming inevitable at this time?

(Checking the completion of the task and summing up the lesson.)

VI. Reflection

- What new did you learn in the lesson?

What skills and abilities did you develop?

What new terms did you become familiar with?

What did you like and what didn’t you like about the lesson?

What conclusions did you draw?

Homework (differentiated)

For strong students - §11, answer the question: have elements of subsistence farming been preserved in the modern village? If yes, which ones?

For intermediate students - §11, draw up a diagram of “Duties of medieval peasants.”

For weak students - §11, questions and assignments for the paragraph.

General history. History of the Middle Ages. 6th grade Abramov Andrey Vyacheslavovich

§ 10. Feudal society

§ 10. Feudal society

Feudal lords and feudalism

Since the Great Migration, Western Europe has undergone major changes. On the ruins of the Western Roman Empire, many states were formed that were different from each other, but at the same time had common features. One of these features was the similarity in the structure of society.

The Middle Ages were a turbulent time. The kings were often at enmity with each other and fought long wars. Under these conditions, it became increasingly difficult for the rulers of states to gather people’s militia. Communal peasants preferred not to fight, but to work on their plots, so Charles Martell in the Frankish kingdom, Alfred the Great in England and other rulers had to create a permanent army. Its basis was made up of cavalry, and not foot soldiers, as before.

Military engagement became a profession, and in order to reward the horseman for his service, as well as to reimburse the costs of purchasing a horse and military equipment, the kings were forced to give the warriors estates - lands with farmers working on them. Subsequently, the estate given for military service began to be inherited and called a fief, and its owner - a feudal lord. The fief was passed on by inheritance only on condition of military service, so it was considered conditional property. From the word “feud” comes the concept of “feudalism,” meaning the entire system of life of medieval Western European society.

What does conditional ownership of land mean?

By the end of the 11th century, feudalism dominated Western Europe. In countries such as France and Italy, the transition to it took place earlier, in England and Germany - a little later.

Dependent Peasants

By the 11th century, the majority of small landowners in Western Europe had lost their economic independence, turning into dependent peasants who performed feudal duties. The peasants had to cultivate the master's arable land, repair roads and bridges, build barns for the feudal lord, clean the master's ponds, that is, work for corvée. Another duty was quitrent The dependence of farmers varied: some worked for the feudal lord only a few days a year, others worked several days a week.

The most difficult situation was the situation of personally dependent peasants who, without the consent of the owner, could not leave the estate, marry, or inherit property. But even they had their own home, tools and plot of land. Starting from the 14th century, corvee and quitrent were replaced by the payment of money, and peasants could gain personal freedom by paying a ransom.

The size of the quitrent, the period of corvée, as well as the duties of the feudal lord in relation to the peasants were determined by agreement. If it was violated, the peasants could protest and even rebel. But the revolts were brutally suppressed.

Peasants at work. Medieval miniature

Feudal estate

In Western Europe there was no “land without a lord,” as the medieval saying goes. The possession of the feudal lord was called an estate. In its most picturesque corner was the manor's courtyard, where there was a house, outbuildings - barns, a barnyard, a stable, a poultry house, as well as a mill and a church. The peasant farm consisted of a small hut with outbuildings, a vegetable garden and a small garden. With the permission of the feudal lord, peasants shared the use of meadows, forests, wastelands, rivers and lakes. Each family cultivated its own arable plots, lying in stripes, that is, interspersed with the plots of other peasants and the master's land.

Feudal estate. Scheme

By paying dues from their plots and cultivating the master's land on corvee, dependent peasants fully provided the feudal lord with food. The necessary products were made by artisans who lived on the estate - blacksmiths, jewelers, shoemakers, carpenters. Each village produced almost the same thing, so trade between estates was very poorly developed. The peasants had almost no money at all, and the feudal lords bought only what they did not have on their estate - salt, weapons, luxury goods. Over time, the feudal estate turned into a small closed world, dominated by natural economy.

Using the diagram and text of the paragraph, name the main parts of the feudal estate.

Feudal fragmentation

Thanks to subsistence farming, the feudal lords were almost completely independent economically. This independence was reinforced by their political rights.

For example, counts and dukes had the right to collect taxes from their subject territory, judge the population, lead the militia, wage war, issue decrees on their estate, and even mint their own coins. It is no coincidence that dukes and counts were called “feudal lords with a crown.” Indeed, their estates were small states where they were sovereign masters.

Internecine wars often broke out between the rulers of such “states.” Some feudal lords sought to seize neighboring estates and make their owners their subjects. The king often had neither the strength nor the ability to cope with his wayward servants.

Fighting warriors. Medieval drawing

The peasants who lived on the estates of their opponents suffered most from the wars between feudal lords. Their houses were burned, their crops were trampled, their livestock was stolen. Internecine wars significantly weakened the central government in Western European countries. Western European states fell apart. The period of feudal fragmentation began. Only in the 12th century were the first steps taken towards the formation of unified Western European states. Cities began to grow, trade revived, and royal power strengthened.

Three Estates

An important feature of feudalism was the special structure of society. In the Middle Ages it was believed that society was divided into three large estates:“praying”, “fighting” and “working”. The “prayers” included Christian priests and monks. Their duties were to pray for the salvation of human souls and help people atone for their sins. The “warring” - the king and the feudal lords - were supposed to punish those who did not follow Christian teachings or do not accept the Christian faith, as well as protect the “praying” and “working” from enemies. The “working” (peasants, and later city dwellers) were obliged to feed the “praying” and “fighting”.

Clash of groups of feudal lords. Medieval miniature

This idea of ​​the structure of society was very strong and persisted throughout the Middle Ages. It was believed that the Lord God himself divided people into classes, and the existence of each of them was necessary for the normal life of the entire society. Medieval thinkers sometimes compared society to the human body, where peasants are feet firmly planted on the ground, feudal warriors are hands firmly holding a sword, priests and monks are the chest, the repository of the soul, and the king is the wise head that controls the whole body.

Why did the division of society into classes persist for many centuries?

Let's sum it up

By the 11th century, feudalism had established itself in most countries of Western Europe, the main feature of which was conditional ownership of land. Since the land - the basis of economic life in the Middle Ages - belonged to the feudal lords, the entire society is called feudal.

Feudal duties - the duties of dependent peasants, performed for the right to use a land plot that belonged to the feudal lord, as well as for protection from enemies and judicial resolution of disputes between peasants.

Corvee - forced labor of dependent peasants on the farm of the feudal lord.

quitrent - payment from dependent peasants to the feudal lord in food or money.

Natural economy - an economy in which products and things are produced not for sale, but for personal consumption.

Policy – activities related to the exercise of power and public administration.

Estate - a group of people who have rights and responsibilities enshrined in law and are inherited.

“The House of God, revered by one, is divided into three parts: some pray, others fight, and others work.”

Christian writer Adalberon Lansky

1. What is a fief? How is he related to military service? Why did the kings give the fief for temporary use, and not forever?

2. What were the ways to turn free peasants into dependent ones?

3. How did the position of free peasants differ from the position of dependent peasants?

4. What is subsistence farming?

5. What reasons led to feudal fragmentation in Western Europe?

6. What is an estate? What classes existed in medieval society?

A document from the 13th century said that dependent peasants performed the following duties on church holidays: mowed grass in the meadows of the feudal lord and transported hay to the master's yard, gave away one or two piglets and several chickens, cleaned the mill ditches, brought cake and wine to the feudal lord's table. , they reaped bread in the feudal lord's field and took it to the master's barns, brought several sheaves of wheat from their plot to the feudal lord's estate, and handed over barley for beer. Determine which of the above duties constituted corvee and which were quitrents.

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Part two. COMPLETE FEUDAL STATE.