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Here below, some pray, others
fight, still others work . . .
from the beginning, mankind has
been divided into three parts,
among men of prayer, farmers, and men of war . . .
Two passages written at the beginning of the 11th
century -- the first by Bishop Adalbero of Laon, the second by Gerard of Cambrai.
The image of a tripartite society divided by function has become a hallmark
of medieval European history. I think that an understanding of this
tripartite division of European society is important both for our
understanding of medieval European history, but also for the subsequent
history of the Continent, especially in the 18th century. It was during that
century that the ancien regime faced
its gravest challenge during the heady days of the French Revolution. One of
the first things the revolutionaries abolished was feudalism (August 4, 1789)
and with it, the remnants of a society based on status and prestige, a
society based on the division of orders according to one's function -- those
who work, those who fight and those who pray.
THOSE WHO WORK
By the 11th and 12th centuries, the vast majority of European men and women
were peasants who were the land of their lords. We know very little
about these people for the simple fact that the nobility and clergy did not
keep written records about them. When the peasantry of Europe
was mentioned, it was usually in relation to the obligations they owed their
superiors.
In the centuries that followed the collapse of the Roman Empire
the line separating slave and serf. Of course, both slaves and serf lacked
freedom and were subject to the will of the lord. Throughout the long
history of medieval serfdom, the serf was required to perform labor services
for his lord. Although the number of days devoted to working the lord's
land varied from place to place, it was usually three days a week, accepted
harvest time, when the lord would expect even more. Furthermore, the serf was
tied to the land and his condition was hereditary. By the 12th century and England,
it was indeed common for some serfs to be made free. With the rise of
towns, the increased productivity of the land, long-distance trade, and the
development of a money economy, more and more serfs managed to find
themselves living in a condition of freedom. Of course, what this
really meant was that the peasants could now rent his land from the lord for
a certain period of time. Equally important, with the passage of time many
serfs no longer owed their lords a labor obligation, but rather various
direct and indirect taxes on almost every task on the medieval manor. Because
many landlords had lost their serfs, the lords relaxed ancient obligations
and duties.
Most medieval European peasants lived on vast estates called manors (from
the Latin, meaning "dwelling" or "residence"). The
medieval manor varied in size from as little as 100 acres to more than
1000. A manor could also include one village, a few villages, or none
at all.
The land of the manor was divided into two parts: the demense
was the lord's land worked by the peasants. The other part was held by
the peasants. Their plot was usually much larger based on the condition that
they cultivate the lord's demense before
their own. The land itself was divided into long strips and it was entirely
possible that one serf would have to work in number of strips spread out
across the manor. Furthermore, the medieval estate required cooperation among
all serfs since horses and plows were few. Medieval manors also had tracts of
forest as well as open meadow for the grazing of cattle and sheep. It was
from the forest and meadow that the serf could practice gleaning -- the
gathering of firewood or thatch, fishing and hunting -- in order to subsidize
the rather meager diet of his family.
It ought to be clear that life on the medieval manor was simple and
uncomplicated. The serf's life was basically the life of the manor on
which he or she was born. Most serfs never traveled beyond the estate
of their lord. Although such an arrangement may strike us as far to local, the family of the serf did maintain a strong
sense of family and community, and was also certain of support from his lord
or other members of the village community in times of trouble. In other
words, people knew what to expect from life. There was a sense of
continuity and simplicity embraced by medieval society, something we moderns
would probably have a hard time understanding. Of course, life on the
medieval manor was perhaps dull and uninspiring. If we consider that nearly
every day of the medieval peasant's existence was dedicated to farming arable
land, there must have been little time left over for things of an
intellectual or cultural nature.
Of all the characteristics of medieval peasant society that European
historians have discussed over the last several decades, none was perhaps
more important than the Christian religion as practiced by ordinary men and
women. Unlike the practice of religion today, medieval men and women saw
Christian belief and practice permeate all aspects of everyday life. In other
words, Christianity was a matrix of ideas and modes of behavior not easy to
dislodge from the mind set of medieval men and women.
The village Church
was the center of the medieval community. Nearly all of the important
events in the short life of medieval men and women took place within the
confines of the Church or churchyard. A person was usually baptized within
hours of birth. Men and women confessed their sins to the priest and
received the sacraments of Eucharist on Holy Days. There were also feasts
that accompanied baptisms, weddings and generals, and were held in the
churchyard. The village priest also read messages from secular and Church
authorities.
Popular medieval religion was shot through with rituals and symbolism. For
instance, before slicing bread a woman would tap the sign of the cross on it
with her knife. The entire calendar was created with reference to many
Holy Days. Everyone participated in village processions.
But what did Christianity mean to the medieval peasant? For the most part,
they accepted what their family, and custom, and the village priest had told
them. Although the mass was in Latin, the priest delivered sermons,
usually on the Gospel, in the vernacular. Paintings and stained-glass windows
on the walls of the church offered the meaning of biblical stories. Peasants
had a strong sense of the existence of God, believing that God was directly
involved in human affairs and could reward the virtuous. Of course,
they believed that God punished men and women for their sins with disease,
plague, poor harvest, and war. The Devil seemed to be everywhere,
forcing people to commit evil deeds and thoughts.
In general, the life of evil men and women who lived off the land was
short and hard. But life in the village community did entail
cooperation and the values of a simple life. Although these people did
not have the luxuries which the 21st century has bequeathed upon us, they did
have a life that was regular and consistent and shot through with a
singularity of purpose.
THOSE WHO FIGHT
The nobility influenced all aspects of medieval politics, economics,
religion, and culture. It is perhaps for this reason alone that
European society from about the 12th century on may be termed
aristocratic. In fact, the aristocracies continue to hold within its
grasp political and social power right down to the eve of the Great War of
1914-1918. Although the nobility of medieval Europe
varied from place to place, and from time to time, a few general conclusions
can be made.
As the second Estate, the medieval nobility had special legal
status. A man who was a member of the nobility was free in his person
and in his possessions. His only limitation concerned his military obligation
to his lord. As a member of the nobility, he had certain rights and
responsibilities: he could raise troops and command them in the field, he
held his own courts of justice, he could coined his
own money. He was the lord of all those people who settled on his land.
The medieval nobility was, of course, was an Estate of warriors -- those
who fight. His social function was to protect the weak and the poor. And this
was to be accomplished with a horse and a sword, the two visible signs of his
nobility. He was also encouraged to display the virtues of chivalry, a code
of conduct created by the clergy to curb the brutality of this order of
knights.
When a young member of the nobility finally came into possession of his
property, he acquired authority over land and people. The nobility
rarely lived up to this standard. The reasons for this may be that the
nobility wanted immediate gratification. The problem was, there were many times when the nobility were not
involved in warfare either with foreign enemies or rival lords. In other
words. in times of peace the nobility needed an
outlet for their warlike aggression. This came with their participation
in the medieval tournament.
The medieval nobility lived without working. Instead, one's
identification with the nobility came from their ability as a warrior and
also with their complete jurisdiction over their property. Such
jurisdiction allowed them to gratify their desires for lavish living.
Since the status of the medieval noble depended on his household, it seems
obvious that he would make every attempt to increase the number of retainers,
or vassals, he could maintain. His clothes grew more elegant, his castle
larger, his food and table more ornate.
The noble also had to look after his own land. He had to appoint
wise stewards who would watch his estate, collect direct and indirect taxes
as well as rents, while he made every effort to obtain more status by
fighting were serving the court of his lord. And since a great lord's
estates were usually scattered over wide area, he was constantly on the move.
Although the Church condemned fighting in killing, it was not able to stop
the violence so characteristic of the medieval nobility. As a result the
nobility of Europe became a constant thorn in the side
for nearly all European monarchs. From the 13th century on, the
medieval kings began to draw upon the middle classes in order to create a
bureaucracy that would eventually lay the foundation for royal absolutism of
the 16th and 17th centuries. Lastly, it was the Holy Crusades that
managed to give the European nobility a chance to dedicate themselves to
their Christian lords by conducting missions to rid the Holy Lands of the
infidels. European monarchs were more than happy to see their nobility go off
and fight, from the one hand, the Crusades served as a safety valve, and on
the other, preserved the prestigious status of the monarchies themselves.
THOSE WHO PRAY
At the top of medieval society was the first Estate,
the clergy, those who pray. It was the village priest who was to oversee the
spiritual life of his flock on the medieval manor. His duties were to
administer the necessary sacraments with regularity and consistency. He
was also important to absolve men and women of their sins for the act of confession.
He was also, as we have already seen, the usual
source of secular and ecclesiastical pronouncements. His role, then, in
the medieval village was extraordinary. Of course, not all village
priests were as dedicated to the holiness of their flock as we would like to
believe. However, it was the village priest with whom medieval men and
women identified the Church, its teachings, and authority.
Although monasticism was firmly entrenched in medieval society by the time
of Charlemagne, by the 11th or 12 century, monks
had become more visible members of town and village alike. The monasteries
were dedicated to prayer and supplying the evil Europe
with the ideal of a Christian civilization. Monasteries also produced and
educated elite that were utilized in service to lords and kings. The
monks also kept alive classical culture and introduced the techniques of
efficient and profitable land management.
By the 11th or 12 century, the original mission of the monastic movement
had been altered to accommodate the children of the nobility with an
honorable an aristocratic life. Such a life also held out the
possibility for an ecclesiastical career. By the 13th century the older
Benedictine monasteries had to compete with new orders such as the Dominicans
and Franciscans .As a result, more monks had to be recruited from the middle
classes who inhabited the area near an abbey.
As medieval Europe prospered during the 12th
century Renaissance and after, there was a marked increase in the number of
cities in large towns. In these sorts of places one could see firsthand
the representatives of the Church. What the townspeople began to
observe was a clergy who seemed more willing to live the life of a European
prince or noble, then someone whose sole duty was the spiritual guidance of
the people. The Church, it was commonly believed, seemed to be
inhabited by people who were interested only in the aggrandizement of their
own wealth, power, and prestige. The stage seemed to be said for the
rise in heresy of the 12th century and after. Most medieval men and
women regarded their Christianity with seriousness and genuine faith.
If monks, and bishops, and other members of the clergy, were engaged in acts
of holiness, then why did it seem that they were living a life of luxury and
opulence? These were questions that would become of utmost importance in the
following centuries leading up to the Protestant Reformation.
Our exposition of the three estates has been decidedly brief, however, it
must again be stressed that medieval European society cannot really be
understood without reference to this carefully graded hierarchy based on
function and status. Indeed, prestige and status oftentimes became more
important than wealth or land. Just the same, this tripartite division
of society predominated European history right down
to the 18th and 19th centuries when the French and Industrial Revolutions
changed all social relationships for good.
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