Preview

Why Did Peasants Become A Peasant?

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1570 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Why Did Peasants Become A Peasant?
Although peasants were at the bottom of the chain, they still gave things in turn for other things. Peasants gave labor in turn for land. Peasants were at the bottom of the rank and worked on farms to provide food for everyone in the manor. Most worked for a lord who let them have a bit of land to farm for themselves in turn for labor (Langley 8-9). Being in feudal society gave peasants things to help their family survive, although it was in small amounts. Some people might think that being a peasant was not a good deal because they were the lowest rank, and had to do so much labor to carry the weight of feudalism and manorialism. This might be true, but peasants still got some benefits. Peasants were given a small piece of land, which was enough to have a small house …show more content…
When the knight in training was 14, they go to an army camp with their assigned Lord and act as his squire. They learned how to run a tournament which is a battle with prizes for winners. When the king said that a knight was ready, knights prepared and spent a whole night in the church to pray and took a bath because they were taught to be clean, and it also symbolized a fresh start in life. Then, they kneeled before a king, and promised to be obedient and loyal. He grazed the knights shoulder with a sword and when the king said 'Arise sir knight', they had become a knight (Macdonald 32). Knights were expected to destroy the enemies with weapons they had, such as daggers and knives, and charged on foot and struck with swords up close. They also had to force their way through enemy territory with siege engines, or surrounded the territory before the enemies starved to death (Macdonald 32-33). Knights are required to supply horses, armor, and equipment and spend most of their time in military service. In return, the King or lords gave them fiefs (Hunt P14). Feudalism helped to create the military. Lord's gave the king

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Peasant’s lives consisted of usually working all day long and sometimes into the night. Their job was not only to provide for their family but if ordered they had to give their crops away. If they could not provide the crops they were beaten and sometimes killed for this. From…

    • 1352 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    For six centuries the medieval knight dominated the battlefield and influenced the Western world greatly. The armored, mounted warrior, born in Middle Ages, revolutionized warfare and became the foundation of the new political structure known as feudalism. The Church put the medieval knight to the ultimate test-the First Crusade of 1095. The Church, which Christianized almost all of the knights, gave them a very high status in society, one that was sought after even by kings and princes. In the end, the legendary knights of the Middle Ages were lost in a world in which there was gunpowder, muskets, cannons, national states and so on.…

    • 3342 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    During the medieval era, France had a feudal system of governance where the upper nobility siding with the kings controlled the lower classes. The social structure was fragmented into three unequal hierarchical groups consisting Kings, lords and peasants. The kings ruled the land and were believed to have been granted this right by God that they passed on through heredity. They incarnated the law and were the absolute monarchs. The Lords on the other hand hold fiefs that they rented to peasants in exchange of labor, fees and protection. The Lords consider themselves far more superior than the peasants or serfs and treated them unfairly as a result. Lastly the serfs, representing the vast majority of France population, approximately ninety percent, were the most neglected and most abused of all three classes.…

    • 1424 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    (AGG)knights were an important part of the social system during the middle ages in Europe.(BS-1)Their training and education started at a young age continuing into adulthood. (BS-2)They were then considered to be weapons for their lords. (BS-3)It was expected that all knights live by a strong code of conduct.(TS)Knights helped give rise to the economic and political system known as feudalism through their contributions and involvement in the economy,military,culture and law.…

    • 2341 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Peasants are perhaps the most important members of a society; they perform many of the jobs that are vital to supporting a large population. But, they are the poorest and usually own little to no land and thus, have no power. Therefore they have usually been the lowest ranking in a society throughout history, and classical China and India are no exception. However, of the two societies,…

    • 819 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In medieval Europe, country life was governed by a system call “feudalism.” In a feudal society, the king gave large pieces of land called fiefs to noblemen and bishops. Peasants without land were known as serfs, they did most of the work on the fiefs: They planted and harvested crops and gave most of the produce to the landowner. In exchange for their labor, they were allowed to live on the land.…

    • 1526 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Living on a manor provided many advantages, but so did living in the city. If a knight lived in a town he would compete in jousting tournament and earn respect if he won (Macdonald 32). Knights living on a manor would keep the serfs in order and make sure they don’t do anything that is prohibited (Richardson 2). Yet not all the knights were good. There were many knights who did wrongfully, and because of their wrongdoings they were disgraced and punished (Walker 17). (STEWE-2) Knights also had a large arsenal of weapons and equipment that they used. The weapons that Knights used stayed the same throughout the middle ages. The weapon that knights used the most and changed the least throughout the centuries was a sword (Walker 14). In the right hands, swords could change the situation a knight was in from good to bad. Another common weapon that knights used in battle was a lance (Hilliam 17). Lances were long spear like weapons used by knights on horses (Hilliam 17). These weapons are very similar to the jousting lances, but the only difference between them was that the lance that was used during war had a pointed tip that could penetrate the armor and the jousting lance had a rounded tip that would just knock off the knight off a horse…

    • 2289 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    I will obviously also talk about piety, which remains a crucial component of knighthood, but can be found in all of these aspects, to reinforce them, by fixing a knight's status and legitimacy. First of all, according to medieval sources, knights were the main and only military force, as can be proved by the fact that, for instance, Geoffroi de Charny wrote an entire manual meant to explain to knights how to fight more efficiently.6 Then, the knights were also at the top of the medieval society, as it is explained in the Prose…

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    High Germa Chivalry

    • 1901 Words
    • 8 Pages

    A father of prospective knight started his son’s training soon after birth. Children’s play was the first step in learning how to become a knight. Toy pewter knights were given to young boys. “Edward I gave his son's toy castles and a nature siege engine to play with, and Richard II had miniature guns as a boy” (Prestwich 16). At the age of seven, prospective knights were sent to a castle of a noble to become a page. A page is a servant to a nobleman. The future knight’s servitude obligation was found in the origin of the word knight. “The word ‘knight’ finds its origins in the Old High…

    • 1901 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Medieval Knights

    • 993 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Knights. These ironclad men of honor were the defining feature of the Middle Ages, becoming heroes and villains in post-medieval literature alike. Stories like The Once and Future King, a King Arthur story, are widely popular today for one reason: not because they are great sources of fantasy, but because they contain knights. Sir Lancelot, Sir Grummore, and Sir Gawaine are all great examples of heroic knights. However, the lives of knights are mostly unknown to the people of today. In the following 3 paragraphs, this report uncovers the truth behind becoming a knight, as well as the complex knighting ceremony, and later the daily life of these mounted warriors.…

    • 993 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The lowest strata of society remained the peasant. The peasant supported all other estates of society not only through direct taxation but in the production of agriculture and the keeping of livestock. The peasant was the property of whomever he was subject to. Be it bishop, prince, a town or a noble, the peasant and all things associated with him were subject to any whim whatsoever. Countless taxes were exacted on the peasant, forcing more and more of his time to be spent working on his lord’s estate. Most of what he produced was taken in the form of a tithe or some other tax. The peasant could not hunt, fish or chop wood freely in the early sixteenth century as the lords had recently taken these commonly held lands for their own purposes. The lord had rights to use the peasant’s land as he wished; the peasant could do nothing but watch idly by as his crops were destroyed by wild game and nobles on the chivalric hunt. When a peasant wished to marry, he required the lord's permission as well as having to pay a tax. When the peasant died, the lord was entitled to his best cattle, his best garment and his best tool.…

    • 309 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Soldiers where many times masters of war and where trained masterfully till the teacher felt they were ready. Knights of the time wore armor to protect them during war and even wore it as a sign of royalty and superiority. The weapons made for each of them where masterfully crafted to perfection and where smithed, to the discretion of the user to withstand combat. And all this training was needed. Not only to protect the town people that lived in the towns but also to give hope to…

    • 832 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Becoming A Knight

    • 1937 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Thinking about the medieval times conjures up images in the brain of kings, castles, and dragons. However, one of the most common thoughts of a majestic man in shining armor accomplishing daring adventures, a knight. Becoming a knight was not an easy process, it required complete dedication to the craft, and a lifetime devotion to be a warrior. This essay takes an in-depth look at the current scholarly thoughts about the training that young children had to complete in order to become a knight, namely, being raised until a certain age inside the house to learn skills, becoming a page, graduating to a squire, and then finally taking an oath and becoming a knight.…

    • 1937 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Effects Of The Plague

    • 650 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Kings gave out land as rewards to loyal nobles and lords, who in turn gave this land to peasants to live off in exchange for their loyalty and labor. In this system, peasants were paid very little and had no way of purchasing their own land. But after the Plague took effect, the whole system changed. Because a large percentage of peasant workers died, demand for laborers increased dramatically. Peasants took advantage of this need for labor by bargaining for higher wages. The economic system began shifting from power being in the hands of the lords, to the hands of the peasants. The effects of the Plague caused living standards to increase greatly for those who survived. The higher wages the peasants were receiving allowed some to buy land of their own and created an emerging middle class. “The Black Death was a vital factor in the breaking down of Feudalism as it disintegrated the loyalty bond between peasants and lords” (Wilson). The economy of Europe would soon no longer be about forcing peasants to be loyal to their Lords in exchange for land, but about peasants being the masters of their own land and selling their labour in an emerging…

    • 650 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In Marc Bloch’s Feudal Society Feudalism is described as a system in which the Crown gave land to nobility in return for their military support. Peasants were obligated to live on these lands and serve their lords in return for food, shelter, and military protection (Bloch XIV). Peasants were paid very little and sometimes not at all for their work. This system was very corrupt in nature and all power was held by the nobility. The massive body count among the lower class led to a shortage of peasant farmhands.…

    • 1165 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays