The
Society had a definite structure in middle ages. People usually stayed in the
same class in which they were born for entire life. (Western Reserve Public
Media, 2008) Status did not change in spite of hard work. After the king’s rank
come the nobles, then the knights, next to knights were religious people
(clergy) and then the tradesmen and peasants. The top-most level was the monarch,
who was the ruler of the overall land, except the church.
The
topic often came first when discussing the middle ages is feudalism. The two
major impacts of feudalism are that first the unified government was
discouraged by this system. (Wheeler, 2016) The feudal system was like a contract between
the individuals who promise their loyalty to the high-rank person. The reward
of faithfulness was the pledge of protection and chances of occupying a land.
Secondly, this system also discouraged the growth of trade and economy. The
serfs or peasants worked on the land of their lord. They were not allowed to
move to the other places. The part of the products and crops were given to the
nobles who further sent most of it to the monarch.
The
church played a huge role in supporting the feudalism. Their belief was that
the God has decided the position of every person in society was. The
involvement of the church in the religious matter was definite. In middle ages,
the most educated were the clergymen, who advise the monarch on the political,
judicial, financial and other military issues.
This
positioning difference had many negative consequences. Unlike the nobles and
other persons of higher ranks, the peasants get heavily taxed, and they had
very lesser job options like farming or look after of noble’s land. They were
restricted from their basic freedom rights. They used the old tools for farming
which become even harder for them than it was. The plague spread fast among
serfs as they were unhygienic and poor. They had to take permission from their
lord when they move.
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