The Middle Ages was a time of knights in shining armor, kings and queens, lords and ladies, glorious feasts and tournaments, wandering minstrels and court jesters, and vassals and serfs. Life in the Middle Ages was centered around the castle where the noble lord ruled through a system known as feudalism. The feudal lords exerted economic control over their lands and territories. In return for goods and services, the feudal lord gave the peasants and villagers rights to use the land and protection from armed attacks by barbarians, Vikings, and other powerful lords and their armies.

The Feudal Society of the Middle Ages

Society in much of medieval Europe was organized into a "feudal" system, which was based on the allocation of land in return for services to the king. The king gave grants of land or fiefs, to his most important noblemen (barons and bishops) and in return each noble promised to supply the king with soldiers in time of war. A noble pledged himself to be the king's servant or vassal, at a special ceremony - kneeling before the king he swore an oath of loyalty saying, “Sire I have become your man.” The great nobles often divided their lands among lower lords, or knights, who in turn became their vassals. In this way feudalism stretched from the very top of the society to the very bottom. At the lowest rung of the society ladder were the peasants who worked the land itself. They had few rights, little property and no vassals.

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