![]() In many towns and villages throughout Russia, serfdom functionally continued until the Communist Revolution in 1918. The development of serfdom there firmly anchored the peasantry to the land they worked. In Eastern Europe, feudalism developed along more stringent lines than in France. The Italian city-states boasted a feudalism that was more socially fluid, with birth not necessarily cementing social status. The Magna Carta, written in 1215, outlined specific rights and duties that the monarchy, English nobility, and Church all had to observe. English feudalism developed along different, more organizationally cohesive lines. French feudalism perhaps best fits the classic decentralized model described above. There were regional variations that are important to distinguish. However, feudalism was not a uniform system. Noblewomen had more power and authority than peasant women and could inherit land if they were widowed or without sons. Women also entered convents, where some women could exercise leadership skills. Marriage was the key to political power, and marital alliances were crucial to a family’s continued social success. They had private armies served by knights.īirth largely determined one’s social status. They maintained mills, bakeries, and breweries. Lords’ estates became large, walled manors that were economically self-sufficient. In addition, serfs paid taxes for using their lord’s mill, provided labor during agricultural off-seasons, and sent gifts on holidays to their lords. Serfs could keep a portion of their harvests, but they sent the majority of their earnings to their lord. These peasants became serfs they had the right to work a portion of the land and could pass that right on to their children, but they could not leave their land. The absence of a strong central authority led many peasants to seek protection on large estates. By the thirteenth century, the Church owned approximately one- third of Western European land. The one centralizing power in this period was the Roman Catholic Church and its ruler, the pope. ![]() This system allowed various lords and vassals to compete for power, in the absence of central authority. ![]() Instead, Europe developed a system of feudalism, in which lords gave lands to vassals in exchange for military service and loyalty. Read on for key events, periods, and developments in European history to prepare for success on the AP World History: Modern Exam.Įurope During the Late Middle Ages European Political DevelopmentĬompared to Byzantium, China, and the Islamic world, Western Europe remained politically decentralized following the decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire. Early European history set the stage for the significant world developments to follow. ![]()
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