Middle Ages Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Society=== [[File:Cleric-Knight-Workman.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A miniature depicting a tonsured man, a fully armored man wearing a shield, and a man who holds a spade|13th-century French [[historiated initial]] with the three [[Social class|classes]] of medieval society: those who prayed (the [[clergy]]) those who fought (the [[knight]]s), and those who worked (the [[peasant]]ry).]] Between around 950 and 1060, severe draughts hit the Middle East, and the [[Eurasian Steppe]] experienced cold anomalies. The ensuing famines led to riots and military coups in the Byzantine Empire, the Abbasid Caliphate, and Egypt, and forced masses of nomadic Turks to seek new pasturelands in [[Iraq (region)|Iraq]], Anatolia, and the Balkans. Their influx caused much destruction, and culminated in the establishment of the [[Seljuk Empire]] in the Middle East.{{sfn|Ellenblum|2012|pp=3–11}} In contrast, a period of tremendous [[Medieval demography|population expansion]] began in Europe, and the estimated population grew from 35 to 80 million between around 1000 and 1347. The exact causes remain unclear: improved agricultural techniques, [[assarting]] (or bringing new lands into production), a [[Medieval Warm Period|more clement climate]], and the lack of invasion have all been suggested.{{sfn|Jordan|2002|pp=5–10}}{{sfn|Backman|2022|p=221}} [[Feudalism]] regulated fundamental social relations in many parts of Europe. In this system, one party granted property, typically land to the other in return for services, mostly of military nature that the recipient, or [[vassal]], had to render to the grantor, or lord.{{sfn|Backman|2022|pp=247–249}}{{sfn|Singman|1999|pp=4–6}} In other parts of Europe, such as Germany, Poland, and [[Kingdom of Hungary (1000–1301)|Hungary]], inalienable [[allod]]s remained the dominant forms of landholding. Their owners owed [[homage (feudal)|homage]] to the king or a higher-ranking aristocrat but their landholding was free of feudal obligations.{{sfn|Singman|1999|p=6}}{{sfn|Curta|2019|p=467}} In the Byzantine Empire and the Balkan states, the {{lang|he|[[pronoia]]}} system—landholding with limited rights—assured to the benefit of the military aristocracy.{{sfn|Sedlar|1994|p=73}} Most medieval western thinkers divided the society into three [[social class|fundamental classes]]. These were the clergy, the [[nobility]], and the [[commoner]]s. Constituting about 98 per cent of the total population, commoners were mainly rural peasants and artisans. The number of townspeople was growing but never exceeded 10 per cent of the total population.{{sfn|Singman|1999|pp=6, 11, 171}}{{sfn|Backman|2022|p=220}} Many of the peasantry were no longer settled in isolated farms but had gathered into more defensible small communities, usually known as [[Manorialism|manor]]s or villages.{{sfn|Jordan|2002|pp=5–10}}{{sfn|Backman|2022|pp=220–221}} In the system of manorialism, a manor was the basic unit of landholding, and it comprised smaller components, such as parcels held by peasant tenants, and the lord's [[demesne]].{{sfn|Backman|2022|pp=231–232}} As churchmen prohibited the enslavement of coreligionists, a new form of dependency ([[serfdom]]) almost completely supplanted slavery by the late {{nowrap|11th century}}. Unlike slaves, serfs had [[legal capacity]], and their hereditary status was regulated by agreements with their lords. Restrictions on their activities varied but their freedom of movement was customarily limited, and they usually owed {{lang|fr|[[corvée]]s}}, or labour services.{{sfn|Jordan|2002|pp=10–12}}{{sfn|Backman|2022|pp=221–222}} Peasants left their homelands in return for economic and legal privileges, typically a lower level of taxation, and the right to administer justice at their communities. The crossborder movement of peasantry had radical demographic consequences, such as the [[Ostsiedlung|spread of German settlements]] to the east.{{sfn|Bartlett|1994|pp=111–123}} With the development of heavy cavalry, the previously uniform class of free warriors split into two groups. Those who could equip themselves as mounted [[knight]]s were integrated into the traditional aristocracy, but others were assimilated into the peasantry.{{sfn|Singman|1999|p=2}} The new elite's position was stabilised through the adoption of strict inheritance customs, such as [[primogeniture]]—the eldest son's right to inherit the family domains undivided.{{sfn|Barber|2004|pp=36–37}} Nobles were stratified in terms of the land and people over whom they held authority; the lowest-ranking nobles did not hold land and had no vassals.{{refn|group=note|In France, Germany, and the Low Countries there was a further type of "noble", the {{lang|la|[[ministerialis]]}}, who were in effect unfree knights. They descended from serfs who had served as warriors or government officials, which increased status allowed their descendants to hold fiefs as well as become knights while still being technically serfs.{{sfn|Singman|1999|p=8}}}}{{sfn|Singman|1999|p=3}} The nobility was never a closed group: kings could raise commoners to the aristocracy, wealthy commoners could marry into noble families, and impoverished aristocrats could loose their privileged status.{{sfn|Barber|2004|p=40}} Western aristocrats often moved to the peripheries of Latin Christendom either with the support of local rulers who appreciated their military skills, or as conquerors.{{refn|group=note|For instance, the [[Anglo-Normans|Anglo-Norman]] aristocrat [[Robert de Brus, 1st Lord of Annandale|Robert Bruce]] (d. 1141) received the [[Lord of Annandale|Lordship of Annandale]] in southern Scotland from [[David I of Scotland|King David I]] (r. 1124–53), whereas [[John de Courcy]] (d. 1219), also an Anglo-Norman knight, seized [[Ulaid]] in Ireland by force.{{sfn|Bartlett|1994|pp=32, 79}}}} French-speaking noblemen mainly settled in the British Isles, southern Italy or Iberia, whereas German aristocrats preferred Central and Eastern Europe.{{sfn|Bartlett|1994|pp=24–39}} The clergy was divided into two types. The [[secular clergy]] cared for believers' spiritual needs, mainly serving in the [[parish church]]es, whereas the [[regular clergy]] lived under a religious rule as monks, [[Canon (clergy)|canons]], or [[friar]]s.{{sfn|Singman|1999|p=11}} The introduction of [[Clerical celibacy in the Catholic Church|clerical celibacy]]—the ban on priestly marriage—clearly distinguished Catholic clergy from laity.{{sfn|Thomson|1998|p=87}} [[Church court]]s had exclusive jurisdiction over marriage affairs,{{sfn|Singman|1999|pp=11–12}} and church authorities supported popular [[Peace and Truce of God|peace movements]] in the west.{{sfn|Backman|2022|p=252}} From the early {{nowrap|13th century}}, laypeople were obliged to [[Sacrament of Penance|confess]] their sins to a priest at least once a year which reinforced priestly control of their life.{{sfn|Thomson|1998|p=209}} Women were officially required to be subordinate to some male, whether their father, husband, or other kinsman. Women's work generally consisted of household or other domestically inclined tasks such as child-care. Peasant women could supplement the household income by spinning or brewing at home, and they also did field-work at harvest-time.{{sfn|Singman|1999|pp=14–15}} Townswomen could engage in trade but often only by right of their husband, and unlike their male competitors, they were not always allowed to train apprentices.{{sfn|Singman|1999|pp=177–178}} Noblewomen could inherit land in the absence of a male heir but their potential to give birth to children was regarded as their principal virtue.{{sfn|Barber|2004|pp=41–42}} As women were not [[ordination|ordained]] priests, the only role open to them in the Church was that of [[nun]]s.{{sfn|Singman|1999|p=15}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. 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