The Great Chain Of Being: Feudalism

The Great Chain of Being was created after the fall of Rome similar to feudalism and coincidentally held feudalism together. The Great Chain of Being was a system of rankings that formed after the decline of the Roman Empire. Churches having power and wealth would try to help with the chaos and European life overall, and thus the concept of the Great Chain of Being came to life (Richardson). However, the concept of the Great Chain of Being wasn’t just thought of and created right away, but formed overtime from customs and beliefs. The Great Chain of Being is the concept that everything existing on the universe has a place in divinely planned hierarchical order, hierarchical order refers to an order base with high and low rankings, and similar
This concept also didn’t believe in everything being equal similar to feudalism and how someone was fortunate to be a noble as oppose to a serf who lives in horrible conditions (Richardson). Additionally, the Great Chain of Being supported feudalism and in the end contributed to establishing stable order in the feudal system. The concept of the chain allowed authority to be authority as people believed that god had given them the right to their role and was the life they should live (Melani). People came to Catholic Churches in times of a crisis, the Catholic Church would assured them that they will have a better afterlife in heaven if they were good in the eyes of god and this made people have something to look forward to (Richardson). If people had something to look forward to and were at ease, people wouldn’t strive to have a better life (Richardson). Through this the Great Chain of Being had political authority and ultimately held feudalism together, as one would be punished (cause a sin) if one would try and rise beyond their “place” / role they had in life
Manors were pieces of land that allowed for a self sufficient lifestyle for people living on the manor. Manor comes from the French verb “manier” which means “to dwell” (Jovinelly 8). Manors are large estates with 90 to 2,000 acres, on the manor there was a manor house where the lord rightfully lived (Jovinelly 8). Manors also contained a parish church, huts for peasants, barns, a mill, outdoor oven for baking, gardens and a place to keep bees (Jovinelly 8). Manor was divided into five different sections being, the farmland, meadows, pasture land, woodland and the village (Jovinelly 8). A manors general basis was to be completely self sufficient without any sort of interference (Jovinelly 12). Everything was made within the manor, animals were bred and kept for food and wool, ponds provided fish, trees were cut and used for fuel, and grains like oats and barley was made into flour for baking (Jovinelly 12). Although manors were self sufficient, there were items which were brought to the manor like salt for preserving meats and iron for making tools (Jovinelly 12). Firstly, all the reason as to why a manor was self sufficient started with the blacksmiths. Blacksmiths worked with swords, armor, keys, nails, and tools (Benjamin). Blacksmiths were valued in society for their skills and ability to make or break an economy and army