Segments of the population in the Middle Ages. Population and social structure of the city. What have we learned

When studying a medieval city, the problem of the social structure of its population inevitably arises. There are many aspects to this problem. Chief among them: who are they, medieval townspeople, where did the urban population come from, what are its economic and social specifics? Other issues are also touched upon: property and social differentiation among the townspeople and at the same time the integration of various elements and groups into the estate of townspeople, full rights and lack of rights within the urban mass, etc. Who did the urban population consist of? From heterogeneous elements: from merchants who originally lived in isolated settlements, which in Germany were called "wik"; from artisans free and not free, dependent on the feudal lord, the lord of the city; from the vassals of the city lord, from his servants who performed various administrative duties - they ruled the court, collected taxes from the population, they were called ministerials. Most of the townspeople were originally not free peasants, artisans, fugitive rural people (who fled from their former masters). Most of the land on which the peasants worked, by the XI century. belonged to the feudal lords. The peasants, whose life was especially hard, were called in France -serves, and in England - villans. During the continuous internecine wars, the peasants sought protection from a neighboring lord or monastery. Having found a powerful patron, the peasant was forced to admit his dependence on him, to transfer his land allotment to him. The dependent peasant continued to farm on his former allotment, but for the use of it, the master demanded the execution of corvée and the payment of dues. The power of the feudal lord over the peasant was manifested not only in the fact that he worked on the corvee and paid dues, he was personally subject to the feudal lord, the landowner judged him in his court, the peasant did not have the right to move to another locality without the permission of his master. However, despite the land and personal dependence on the feudal lord, the peasant was not completely powerless. The lord could not execute him, drive him off his allotment (if he performed his duties), sell or exchange him without land and separately from his family. A huge role in the life of medieval people was played by the custom, which was observed by both peasants and seigneurs. The amount of dues, types and duration of corvée work did not change from generation to generation. What was established once and for all was considered reasonable and just. The lords could not voluntarily increase peasant duties. Seigneurs and peasants needed each other: some were the "universal breadwinners", the working people expected protection and patronage from others. In the Middle Ages, the entire population of Europe was divided into three groups - three estates (people included in the three estates had different rights and obligations). The ministers of the church (priests and monks) constituted a special layer of the population - the clergy, it was believed that it leads the spiritual life of people - it takes care of the salvation of the souls of Christians; knights protect the country from foreigners; peasants and townspeople are engaged agriculture and craft. The fact that the clergy was in the first place is not at all accidental, because the main thing for a medieval European was his relationship with God, the need to save his soul after the end of earthly life. The clergy had their own ecclesiastical hierarchy and discipline, as well as a set of privileges that sharply separated them from the secular world. The ministers of the church as a whole were more educated than the knights and, especially, the peasants. Almost all scientists, writers and poets, artists and musicians of that era were clerics; they often occupied the highest government positions, influencing their kings. The clergy was divided into white and black, or monasticism. The first monasteries - communities of monks - appeared in Europe after the fall of the Western Empire. Mostly deeply believing Christians who wanted to devote their lives exclusively to the service of God became monks. They made vows (promises): to give up the family, not to marry and not to marry; give up property, live in poverty; unquestioningly obey the abbot of the monastery (in women's monasteries - the abbess), pray and work. Many monasteries owned vast lands, which were cultivated by dependent peasants. Schools, workshops for copying books, and libraries often arose at monasteries; monks created historical chronicles (chronicles). In the Middle Ages, monasteries were centers of education and culture. The second estate was made up of secular feudal lords, or chivalry. The most important occupations of the knights were war and participation in military competitions - tournaments; The knights spent their leisure time hunting and feasting. Teaching writing, reading and mathematics was not compulsory. Medieval literature describes the rules of worthy behavior that every knight had to follow: to be selflessly devoted to God, faithfully serve his liege, take care of the weak and defenseless; keep all obligations and oaths. In fact, the knights did not always follow the rules of honor. During the wars, they often did all sorts of atrocities. The feudal lords lived in strong stone castles (there were about 40 thousand of them in France alone). The castle was surrounded by a deep moat, it was possible to get inside only with the drawbridge lowered. Defensive towers rose above the walls of the castle, the main one, the donjon, consisted of several floors. In the donjon there was a feudal lord's dwelling, a banquet hall, a kitchen, a room where supplies were stored in case of a long siege. In addition to the feudal lord, his family, warriors and servants lived in the castle. The bulk of the population of Europe in the Middle Ages was the peasantry, who lived in small villages of 10-15 households each. The peasants tried to free themselves from the oppression of the feudal lords by participating in the crusades, pilgrimages, fled to the forests, to the cities that were being revived and were being born. They could really free themselves only by fleeing to the cities. Thus, most of them were freed from personal dependence. We can verify this by reading article 2 of the city law of the city of Goslar, granted by Emperor Frederick II in 1219: he will not convict him in a servile state, may he rejoice in freedom, which is the common property of other citizens, and after death, no one will dare to make claims against him as against his serf. A city man, a craftsman or a merchant, ceased to be a serf if he managed to live in the city for a certain period. He no longer felt the oppression of the landlord regime over him. The city air became magical, and made the serf free. Only in the city, independently engaged in crafts or trade, did the peasant get the opportunity to develop his activities. But this freedom was not absolute freedom. This was freedom from feudal-local oppression. The city seigneur nevertheless taxed the townspeople, but this taxation could no longer absorb the entire mass of the surplus labor of artisans and the entire trade profit of merchants. On the economic basis, a new social stratum, previously unknown to feudalism, was formed and rallied - the townspeople. Within the framework of the ruling class - the feudal estates, in turn, there were more or less large estates, belonging to which ensured a certain social status.

CM. Stam points out that the townspeople were a very heterogeneous layer. But they were united by a common interest in the greatest freedom for the development of urban commodity production and exchange. The objectivity of this social community was realized in the communal struggle, in the development of city law. City law is recorded in the sources as a privilege. But how could it be otherwise in a society where law was the monopoly of the feudal class, and all others were deprived of rights? Citizens, of course, had to win back their rights and fix them, so to speak, as an exception. But these were not the privileges of the masters, but the conquest of the oppressed. For the first time in a feudal society, urban law violated the legal monopoly of the feudal lords and protected the interests of the common people, giving them full civil rights. ON THE. Khachaturian draws attention to urban corporations and notes that in order to realize his ability to work, an artisan had to be part of a guild organization that unites artisans of a given specialty and strives for a monopoly on production. Inside the guild, he was forced to obey the guild regulations with their characteristic egalitarian tendencies, which can be seen as a kind of non-economic coercion of the guild organization in relation to its members.

The workshop is not the only type of community organization in the city. The form closest in nature to it was the merchant guild - an association of merchants with a certain discipline, common capital and common property in the form of an insurance fund and storage facilities. Even the unions of apprentices - organizations already associated with the category of medieval labor, with a common mutual benefit fund, control over working conditions and discipline - paid tribute to medieval corporatism. Finally, the urban community itself should be mentioned as a whole, within which the unity of small professional corporations (workshops, guilds) or larger social groups (patriciates, burghers) was realized and a social community of citizens was formed.

The history of the city community itself, finally, which can be observed in the change of the leading forces of the city community and forms of government, as well as changes in the status of full rights, which gradually became the property of a very narrow circle of people who not only own real estate, but also have access to city government, will reflect deep shifts in the social structure of the urban estate, which became more complex as feudalism developed.

The urban community appears more united and cohesive when it comes to its vital economic, social and political interests. The main enemy, the main danger was the lord, everything else receded into the shadows and was rarely found. In economic terms, the new estate was most connected with trade and craft activities. Usually the urban estate is identified with the concept of "burghers". The word "burgher" in some European countries originally denoted all city dwellers. Later, the "burgher" began to be used only for full-fledged citizens.

Nowhere did cities play such an enormous political role in the Middle Ages as in Italy, and nowhere was the scope of their commercial relations as great as in this particular country. In addition, not only the emergence, but also the heyday of Italian cities belonged to an earlier time than in other Western European countries. However, the various Italian cities differed greatly from each other both in their economy and in their social structure.

Some of these cities (Venice, Genoa, Pisa) during the entire Middle Ages played mainly the role of the largest shopping centers and were mainly engaged in foreign trade. At the same time, the growth of handicraft production in the cities of Central and Northern Italy increased the need for workers employed in urban crafts, and, consequently, for an influx of people from the village to the city. But this could only become possible by breaking the feudal fetters of the peasants' personal dependence on the feudal lords. Meanwhile, although in the XII - the first half of the XIII century. among the peasantry of Northern and Central Italy there were a large number of personally free holders - libellarii, a significant part of the peasants continued to remain not free (serves, masnaderii).

The liberation of the peasants, which took place on a large scale in the second half of the 13th century. in Central Italy, expressed in the personal liberation of the peasants for ransom, without land. From the end of the XI century. groups of personally free peasants began to create so-called rural communes, which had self-government and their own elected officials. These rural communes arose at a time when the cities, in their struggle against the lords, supported the peasants' desire for independence from the feudal lords. But after the victory over their own lords, the cities began to subjugate the rural communes and cancel their self-government. They seized the communal lands of rural communes, and wealthy townspeople bought up peasant allotments. By the end of the XIII century. in Florence, various sections of the townspeople with directly opposite interests were already sharply identified. Merchants, money changers and moneylenders, united in seven "senior workshops" - were called "fat people". Members of the junior workshops, their apprentices and the urban plebeians made up the majority of the population of Florence, they were called - "skinny people".

The problem of the social structure of the city of Southern Italy is quite complex. The social and economic appearance of cities was determined by many closely related factors, both pan-European and specific to the region. The patriciate of the big cities of the Adriatic coast - Bari, Brindisi, Trani - received even in XII - early XIII in. active participation in trade with Byzantium and other Mediterranean countries. Another area of ​​activity that gave the patriciate a large profit was the credit business. It was not uncommon for individuals or companies to combine maritime trade with ship operations. The other part of the patriciate was more closely connected with the royal power than the trade and usury: from these families came officials who played a leading role in the internal political life of the city - bayuls, catepans and numerous judges. There were knights only in individual patrician families, and this did not change the social appearance of the upper stratum. The Normans settled in the cities in small numbers; meanwhile, it was they who, before the Angevin conquest, constituted the main backbone of chivalry. The urban chivalry was distinguished by its originality not only in its occupations.

The social structure of the large cities located on the Tyrrhenian coast was somewhat different. If we exclude Amalfi (whose merchants settled in other cities, forming entire colonies there), the merchants of the ports of Salerno, Naples, Gaeta in the XII century. little involvement in foreign trade. Partly for this reason, the nobility was more reserved here. In the XIII century. members of noble cities begin to use relatively widely typically urban sources of income: they own shops and warehouses, sometimes rent out houses and commercial premises. Profits received by a noble person from shops and houses sometimes serve as an object of donation to the church. Artisans made up the bulk of the middle stratum of the urban population. The growing lag of the craft of the South from Northern and Central Italy at that time is primarily due to the economic policy of the Norman kings, and especially Frederick II, who provided patronage to the Venetian, Genoese and Pisan merchants who delivered handicrafts here and exported grain and other agricultural products. In the cities of Campania - Naples, Salerno - artisans often passed on the profession by inheritance and were closely connected with each other, settling on

Literature one street or around one church. Even in large cities, there were many small owners who cultivated their lands, which were located not far from the city. Many of these proprietors, as the city economy weakened and the fiscal oppression increased, became poorer and joined the heterogeneous motley mass of the urban plebs - laborers, loaders, day laborers. As you can see, they were people of different social status. But over time, these differences are smoothed out, and a diverse, but in its own way, united population is created, bound by common rights and the duty of mutual assistance, just as it was in a rural peasant community.

Finally, the townspeople used the labor of dependent people, as well as slaves, mainly for domestic work. Even in the thirteenth century there were quite a few of them, especially in Bari - the main market for slaves captured on the Balkan Peninsula. Slaves were included in the dowry, bequeathed to heirs, pledged upon receipt of a loan. In the 13th century, when the opportunity to engage in a craft in the city or find a profitable occupation narrowed, the influx of rural residents to a large city decreased. The exception was Naples, turned by Charles I into the capital of the kingdom. After the Angevin conquest, many small and medium-sized cities were distributed as fiefs to the associates of Charles I, which significantly influenced their future fate. But the character of the big city, the position of certain sections of its population, underwent a noticeable transformation. The agrarianization of the city began, associated with the entry of the economy of southern Italy into a long period of decline.

social structure Medieval society was pretty simple. In the "dark" ages, more than 90% of the population were peasants (colons, villans, litas, serfs), more or less personally dependent on the owner of the land - a spiritual or secular feudal lord. The share of the middle strata (artisans, soldiers, monks, servants, officials, merchants) was about 7-9%. The upper stratum (feudal lords, nobles, higher clergy) did not exceed 1.5-2%. For simplicity, we can assume that one hundred peasants could feed ten artisans and two idlers.

During the period of communal revolutions, the proportion of the middle strata rapidly increases and reaches 15-20% of the population, while the proportion of peasants decreases to 80%. By the end of the Middle Ages, the share of peasants in the most developed countries was reduced to 75%, while the share of the middle strata increased to 25%. True, in the middle urban strata there is a significant stratification. A significant part of them gradually passes into the state of paupers - hired workers, whose situation is in some ways even worse than that of the peasants.

The social structure in the Middle Ages was very rigid. A person's position was determined by birth. It was extremely difficult to move from the peasant class to the handicraft class, and to the upper stratum it was almost impossible. Mixed marriages were practically excluded, especially since marriages were concluded, as a rule, within a workshop, guild or community. The only career ladder that a commoner could climb was the church hierarchy, and such cases were isolated.

medieval life

The German emperors, from the Carolingians to the Franconians, remained faithful to Frankish customs and dress. On the other hand, as the heirs of the Roman Empire, they adopted the Roman-Byzantine dress of late Antiquity for solemn occasions. Late antique elements in men's clothing are, first of all, a long, to the heel, tunic or dalmatic with rich decorations, for women - a semi-long or freely falling tunic, and under it - a long and wide undershirt. Traditionally, Germanic men's clothing was a wide, mostly belted jacket in the form of a blouse with long sleeves and long trousers tied at the calves - windings went further to the feet. In itself, rather modest clothing among the nobility was made from expensive, brightly colored fabrics with decorative trim along the edges. Leather "peasant shoes" without heels, tightened with straps, served as shoes.

Hats were strictly different: married women covered their hair with a scarf or veil; girls walked around with their heads uncovered.

Knightly poetry and the norms of behavior of the era of the Crusades, brought sophistication to the personal and public relations. Religion, the honor of weapons and the cult of the lady - these are the three shrines that the knight served. It was considered especially important to master the seven knightly arts: horseback riding, swimming, archery, fisticuffs, birding, playing chess and writing poetry.

The combat equipment of a warrior and a knight complemented the picture of medieval male attire. Before the Crusades, the Normans had scaly shells and ring shells. In the XII century. chain mail appeared: thin iron rings were not sewn to each other, but were woven into one another and fastened so as to form a dense, elastic mesh, more convenient and reliable. The costume was complemented by helmets of various shapes and camisoles with coats of arms.

In the middle of the XIV century. fundamental changes in clothing take place, a genuine “domination of scissors” sets in. The new trend was to shorten, narrow and lace up clothes. Since the clothes that used to be worn over the head became very narrow, they had to be cut in front and provided with a clasp. Appeared jacket - tight-fitting outerwear with sleeves and fasteners, barely reaching the hips. Shoes became long beyond measure, therefore, to facilitate walking, they wore wooden shoes - clogs.

No sooner had the new fashion become ubiquitous than the first dress laws were introduced to curb the passion for fashion and luxury and, in particular, to preserve the differences between classes.

The architecture was distinguished by a harsh, "serf" character. The use of stone as building material became almost ubiquitous. The weight of the stone vaults was supported by thick walls with narrow windows sparingly cut through. According to their plan, the church buildings reproduced the cruciform type of the Roman basilica with its longitudinal and transverse naves and a portal at the western end. The new architectural style was named Romanesque.

In France, the most consistent process was the formation of Romanesque art, primarily architecture, especially monastic. The monasteries took care of the construction of bridges, the laying of new roads and the restoration of old roads, along which there were monastery shelters and church bell towers. It was the monasteries that were the centers of education. In monastic schools, ancient disciplines were taught, called the "seven liberal arts": grammar, rhetoric and dialectics (the first stage of education); arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music (second level). They learned to read by memorizing prayers, the psalter and the gospel. The medieval school did not know the age limit, children were taught to read and write along with adult boys. The merchants brought up their children separately, as church moralists condemned trade and credit practices. The widespread spread of literacy led to the appearance in the XII century. the first major private libraries. One of these libraries belonged to Robert de Sorbon, who donated it in 1253 to the college named after him.

The medieval city was characterized by overcrowding, overcrowding, unsanitary conditions and the constant danger of fires. Sewage and garbage, which were mostly dumped into rivers or city moats, were a source of infectious diseases. Plague, cholera, gastrointestinal diseases throughout the Middle Ages remained primarily urban diseases.

Urban houses differed little from rural ones. They were erected from willow covered with clay, wood plastered on top or poorly hewn stone. Wooden buildings of the type were widespread. "schgender-bau" from portable elements: pillars, from which the foundation of the building was made, and beams. Such a house was considered movable property, because in the event of termination of the lease land plot the structure could be dismantled and taken away by the tenant with him. However, in large cities such as Paris, London or Cologne, stone houses of 4-5 floors were also built. On the first floor there was a workshop, a craftsman's or merchant's shop, on the second - a living room, a refectory, above the master bedroom, even higher - rooms for servants, apprentices, guests, closets and pantries.

From the 12th century cities become poles of attraction for pilgrimage - this "medieval prototype of tourism" (in the words of Le Goff). Pilgrims rushed to the city to venerate the holy relics kept in the city's cathedrals and churches, as well as to gawk at city sights, various buildings and monuments.

The people of the Middle Ages had a lot of free time, loved and appreciated the holidays and amusements timed to coincide with numerous church holidays, on which it was impossible to work, like on Sunday.

The nobility regularly arranged knightly tournaments, feasts and balls, with the participation of musicians and minstrels, which lasted 3-5 days. The common people were content with fisticuffs, archery, performances by comedians and circus performers, gratuitous food and drink offered by the workshop or guild. Church processions and services attracted the entire population of the city, without distinction of class, sex and age.

Ladies and gentlemen, sometimes for 36 hours did not get up from the festive table. Behind him (and under him) they slept, relieved themselves, had sex. The smells in the castle were very strong - a mixture of aromas of kitchen, sweat, urine, leather, dogs roaming freely through the halls and chambers, as well as perfumes specially invented to somehow drown out this bouquet. However, the people of the Middle Ages were not squeamish. They rarely bathed - from twice a month to twice a year. Cleanliness was generally under suspicion - after all, Muslims and Jews - non-Christians often and thoroughly washed. AT late medieval, however, public baths came into fashion, in which men, women and children washed both separately and together. In the latter case, we are dealing with the prototype of a visiting house.

Morality in the Middle Ages was low, in today's sense of it. Men, of course, sought to limit the sexual freedom of their wives in order to ensure “legitimate” offspring, but they themselves enjoyed a fair amount of freedom. Ladies from the upper stratum could have official lovers, especially after the “invention” of courtly love.

Crisis of the 14th century

The fourteenth century was again very unfortunate. For almost a century, bloody wars were going on in the center of Europe, as usual accompanied by the destruction of herds and crops, as well as the migration of viruses. The most famous of them is the Hundred Years War between England and France.

At the end of the second quarter of the century, gray rats that migrated from Central Asia brought an epidemic of bubonic plague, which killed about a third of the population of Europe - about 25 million people. Urban population decreased by 4 times, and the population of individual cities decreased even by 10 times!

In addition, another local cooling occurred, the conditions for grain ripening worsened, which again led to famine.

As a result, the population of Europe decreased from 73 million people in 1300 to 42 million in 1400. There are no exact data, but there is reason to believe that in 1350 the population of Europe did not exceed 33 million people.

In the second half of the century, a period of "feudal reaction" begins. The landowners are trying to return to natural forms of rent collection, to raise dues, to revise the terms of land lease. Due to the sharp decline in the working population, wages have unexpectedly increased. Attempts to reduce it, along with an increased tax burden, lead to a series of powerful performances: the revolt of Wat Tyler in England, the Jacquerie in France.

1. Early Middle Ages, The World History. T. 7. - Minsk, 1996.

2. Medieval culture and the city in the new historical science. - M., 1995.

3. Brun V., Tilke M. Costume history. - M, 1996.

4. Mozheiko II. V. 1185.

5. Le Goff J. Civilization of the Medieval West. - M., 1992,

6. Theis Laurent. Carolingian heritage. - M.. 1993,

7. Lebec Stefan. Origin of the Franks. - M., 1993.

8. Eco Umberto. The name of the rose.

9. Follet Ken. Pillars of the earth.

10. Druon Maurice. Damned kings.

Chapter 4

Feudal society consisted of just a few estates. estate -social group possessing, according to the corral, rights and duties that were inherited. Medieval Western European society consisted of three estates:

Clergy. . Knights, secular feudal lords, nobles entered. . Citizens and peasants.

The first two estates were privileged. Belonging to the estate was hereditary and determined the property status. The hierarchical structure of society made it difficult to move from one social stratum to another. It was basically impossible. One of the distinguishing features of the medieval civilization of the West is corporatism. Medieval man always felt himself a part of a collective, a community. He belonged to various communities and was united according to a great variety of signs. He could belong to different corporations at the same time. Rural communities, handicrafts, monasteries, spiritual knightly orders, military squads - all this is an example of some corporations. The corporation had its own treasury. Corporations were based on consolidation, mutual assistance and support. The corporation did not destroy the feudal hierarchy but gave strength and cohesion to the various strata.

Estate-representative monarchy. Institutions of Western European Medieval Democracy.

The most widespread form of government in the era of the early and medieval Middle Ages was the monarchy. Moreover, in the Western European Middle Ages, there were several types of monarchy. For example empires, kingdoms, principalities, duchies. In the early Middle Ages, the role of royalty was very significant. But the church was a powerful counterbalance to the re. At the same time, in the early Middle Ages, the feudal lords were gaining strength. Which in turn led to feudal fragmentation, to the weakening of the power of the king. But in the 10-11th century, the resuscitation of Roman cities took place in Europe. On the site of Roman cities, medieval towns began to be created, which were centers of trade and crafts. But even in the early Middle Ages, those cities that were post-trane were political and administrative centers. They were the residences of sovereigns, feudal lords, bishops. But later they became primarily centers of crafts and trade. Craftsmen united in workshops, merchants in guilds. By the end of the Middle Ages, a new class, the bourgeoisie, was born in the cities. With the advent of cities, a wave of urban movements is growing. Cities are fighting for their rights and interests. Rights and interests were reduced to obtaining privileges that cities bought for money. The deal was formalized in the form of a special document called a charter. England provided the first example of this kind. In the 13th century, ravens forced King John the Landless to sign the Magna Carta, limiting royal power.

The political consolidation of the feudal lords, namely the nobility and clergy, on the one hand, and the townspeople in the form of special estates, led to the formation of an estate of representative institutions. This is how the feudal monarchy of estate representatives or estate monarchy arose. In 1265 the first parliament was created. In which, in addition to the barons and the higher clergy, representatives of the free population of the counties and large cities sat. Soon there was a division of this parliament into the House of Lords, it was attended by representatives of the secular and spiritual aristocracy, and into the House of Commons, it was attended by representatives of the middle class. Thus, already in the 13th century, a monarchy limited by parliament was established in England, the form of government of which exists there to this day. In the 14th century in France, for the first time, a class-representative body was convened, which was called the States General. In the 15th century, the same class-representative body appeared in Spain, which was called the Cortes. In the 16th century, such an organ called the Reichstag also arose in Germany.

The second, although less common, form of government in medieval Europe was the city-republic. For example, the head of the Venetian city was the ruler, the doge. His reign was for life. The legislature was the Grand Council. However, the actual power in the city belonged to several merchant families.

The imperial cities of Germany were formally subordinate to the emperor, but in reality were independent city republics. They had the right to independently declare war, make peace, mint their own coin.

In northern France and Flanders, commune towns appeared. They were exempted from duties in favor of the feudal lords and had their own government.

Medieval European society was hierarchical. At the top of feudal power was the king. His rule was of an impersonal private-legal nature. First of all, he was the lord of the largest feudal lords. Other feudal lords were his vassals. The power of the king was based on an agreement, on a conditional grant of land to them. Large feudal lords received land under the condition of performing service, more often military. Large feudal lords could have a vassal and transfer part of this land to him. At the bottom of the hierarchy were the peasants. The basis of the feudal system is the monopoly property of the feudal lords and feudal states on land and the personal dependence of the peasants on the feudal lords. The key formula says there is no lord, there is no land without a lord. Payment for the use of land was taken in the form of rent. There were 3 forms of rent: . Natural. Corvee. . Grocery. Grocery giveaway. . Monetary. . In the early Middle Ages, the first form of rent - corvée - prevailed. It was supplemented by rigid forms of personal dependence of the peasants before the feudal lord.

The feudal lord lynched the peasants, limited their freedom of inheritance. From the 12th century, corvee gradually began to move away. In feudal society, two classes were formed: the class of feudal lords and the class of peasants.

The structure of feudal society.

The social order, which was established in Western Europe in the Middle Ages, historians call feudal.

feud, from which the words “feudalism”, “feudal lord”, “feudal” were formed - this is the name of the land ownership granted by the lord - seigneur (Latin “senior”) to his vassal - subordinate, a person who undertakes to perform service for possession of a feud, mainly knightly, i.e. fully armed and mounted on a war horse.

Medieval Christian culture was not integral; it existed as a unity of cultures of various social classes.

Each class of medieval society was assigned not only public functions, but also sacred duties.

1. 2. 3.

All classes of medieval society recognized the spiritual leadership of the church, but nevertheless, each of them developed their own special culture, in which they reflected their own moods and their own idea of ​​​​Christian ideals.

The first estate is the clergy.

Closest of all to the Christian ideal of man was the model that was taking shape among the clergy, and especially the monastics, who departed from worldly life, devoting themselves to ascetic "feats" in the name of God.

Initially, the monks did not have any statutory rules and were guided in their service by their own fantasies. Later, monasteries arose (from the Greek monasterion - a cell of hermits) - communities of monks or nuns who accept the same rules of life. The substantiation of the rules of monastic life was first given by Basil the Great (4th century, Byzantium). At the origins of monasticism in the West was Benedict of Nursia (6th century), who founded the Benedictine order, a centralized association of monasteries with a single charter. According to the "Rules" of Benedict, monastic brethren were prescribed strict military discipline, and their service to God was more turned to the world, being an example of practical Christian charity. In the conditions of the early Middle Ages, when the monopoly on education belonged to the church, monasteries contributed to the spread of literacy, bookkeeping, and artistic crafts.

Priest and monk of the XI-XII centuries. is a preacher, school teacher, doctor, economist, lawyer, teacher, politician, crusader, etc.

But Christian image of man was not implemented by the monks. The main reason for this is life itself, the inclusion of monasticism in the real relations of feudal society with its wars, crusades struggle for secular and ecclesiastical power.

The second estate is Chivalry.

Chivalry originated in the early Middle Ages, reached its peak in the XI-XIV centuries. and declined in the 15th century .

The ideology of chivalry is rooted, on the one hand, in the cultural traditions of the ancient community of Germanic tribes with its stereotypes of thinking and pagan beliefs, and on the other hand, in the concept of service developed by Christianity.

At the heart of the knightly code of honor are eight core virtues:

loyalty their obligations towards the lord and equals, ancient origin

courage, great physical strength

noble conduct in battle

careful attitude to your horse and weapons

concern for fame

generosity,

courtesy, external attractiveness

devotion and falling in love with a beautiful lady.

· The virtues of a true knight were brought up in the sons of secular feudal lords from childhood. Until the age of 7, they were in the care of women in the family, until the age of 14 they were pages at the court of a seigneur, and until the age of 21 they remained squires. The system of their education included:

teaching religion

court etiquette

horseback riding

fencing

wielding a spear

swimming

game of checkers

writing poetry and singing in honor of the lady of the heart

· jousting tournament - a military competition, the purpose of which is to show the fighting qualities of knights.

With a close examination of the vital activity of chivalry, the shell of Christianity and nobility becomes thinner and thinner. Instead of humility - pride, instead of forgiveness - revenge, complete disrespect for someone else's life. Contemporaries constantly accused the knights of greed, attacks on travelers, robbing churches, breaking oaths, debauchery, beating wives, ignorance, non-compliance with the rules of the duel, turning tournaments into a profitable business - hunting for armor, weapons, the horse of the vanquished.

High Christian ideal did not find its embodiment in this class of medieval society.

The third estate is the peasantry. The peasants were in varying degrees of dependence on the feudal lord. Personally dependent peasants (serfs) could not dispose of themselves, their land and property, worked on corvee, carried a number of duties, could be sold with land to another feudal lord. A significant part of the population were personally free peasants. They themselves disposed of their movable property, but paid high taxes to the feudal lord and had to submit to the court of the lord. There was also a small layer of peasants - landowners, whose dependence on the lord was of a judicial and political nature.

The life of the peasants bore the imprint of extreme poverty: the simplest tools, miserable wooden utensils, small dwellings, where the whole family huddled in one room, stocks were stored and cattle were kept. Almost the whole life of the peasants was filled with hard work.

The Christian principle of two worlds was hardly perceived by the people's consciousness. In the village they still believed in spirits, brownies, elves, mermaids, dragons, worshiped pagan gods, sometimes under the guise of Catholic saints. The highest manifestation of the spirit of paganism was folk festivals, including carnivals, where the natural need for psychological relief, for carefree fun after hard work resulted in a parody mockery of everything high and serious in Christian culture.

During the first century and a half, the social structure of society was dual. The indigenous people, former Roman citizens, lived according to the laws of the no longer existing state, retained their social and partially political (at the level of local self-government) institutions. The newcomers-Germans began to structure a loose tribal organization: the king and his entourage, tribal nobility, a permanent squad, whose members had a higher social status than other warriors, stood out.

Gradually, society moved towards achieving internal unity. The Germans adopted Catholicism, which brought them closer to the Romans, the prohibitions on German-Roman marriages were lifted, legislation appeared that was equally binding on both the Romans and the Germans. The Germans begin to pay taxes, which they did not do before, and the Romans begin to serve in the army, where before they were allowed only in exceptional cases. Finally, the achievement of internal unity by society can be said in the 6th - 7th centuries.

Around this time, the process of establishing stronger ties between the king and vigilantes began. If the latter, according to tradition, received a war horse, weapons and refreshments at feasts for their service, now land is being transferred to them. The new practice was brought to life by the action of the following factors: 1) the exhaustion of the land fund, which was at the disposal of the king, and the difficulty in connection with the distribution of land on the rights of allod; 2) the transition in the formation of the troops from the foot people's militia to heavily armed cavalry detachments, which showed their high efficiency in battles with the Arabs.

It was the heavily armed horsemen who began to receive from the king for their service land grants for lifelong possession - beneficiaries. The beneficiary could be deprived of the land in the event of an act of felony, i.e. avoidance of their duties. After the death of the beneficiary, the land returned to the former owner, but could also be transferred to the son of the deceased, subject to a separate oath and the performance of paternal service. Over time, the magnates began to get themselves beneficiaries.
The new form of land tenure did not immediately enjoy the trust of the beneficiaries. This is connected with their desire to improve the economic situation of their allods at the expense of the received lands.

If the upper strata of society acquired an internal hierarchy based on personal service and receiving benefits for it, then the lower strata formed a relatively homogeneous group of dependent peasants. The middle layer - allodists - was eroded: some of them passed into the category of beneficiaries, some fell into land or personal dependence on magnates or the church.