Middle Ages Research Project 

Caitlin Ali

Encounters 6

Ms. Damante

March 24, 2022

Feudalism, Religion, and Inventions in the Middle Ages

Introduction

Did you know that the Middle Ages are different in many ways? Its system, religion, and inventions are interesting. It has a system called feudalism. The system divides or separates the people into categories. Some of the population are in the higher classes while the majority of the population are in the lower classes. Next is religion. The main religion in the Middle Ages is Christianity. The church controlled the life of the people. Also the church had leaders who had the laws of the land and had roles in the government. Lastly is inventions. There are a variety of inventions that were invented in the Middle Ages. Some of the inventions we use today. For example, eyeglasses. People with bad vision had to give up activities that required vision. But when eyeglasses were invented, people could see better and continue their activities. 

Feudalism

The Feudalism system was made out of the government and the society in Europe throughout the Middle Ages. It is made among the noble and the lords. The feudal land was for people who were in service to the king. 

Kings were at the top, allowing people in the lower class to live on their land. If the king parashes, his first son would receive the throne. A dynasty is when one family is in power for a long period of time. Kings thought that they were right to lead by God. They call this the divine right. 

Barons and nobles own large lands called fiefs. They are very powerful and go directly to the king. They keep in charge of the army that is in the king's service. If they do not have any armies, they mostly pay the king a certain type of tax called shield money. 

The church leader in the entire kingdom is called a bishop. They run a diocese. Catholic churches are powerful in some parts of Medieval Europe. This effect made bishops powerful. Also the church obtains currency from 10 percent from the people. This also made bishops rich. 

Lords have their own land, keeping the peasants safe in return for their service. In return to the king, the lords give soldiers and taxes. They are also the king's knights, and can be summoned in a battle at any time by their baron.

 ¨The center of life in the Middle Ages was the manor.¨(Middle…) Manors are large homes where people get together to celebrate or if they are getting attacked. Manors are also runned by the local lord in the area. 

Lastly, peasants or serfs are the lowest in the entire feudal system. Some of the peasants had a tough life. Meanwhile other peasants were free, doing their own profession like balers, carpenters, and blacksmiths. Most of the population worked on land as peasants. Most peasants died at an early age, some of them were dead before they were 30. 

Serfs on the other hand were destined to a lord. They had no property of their own and needed their lord's consent to get married. Also serfs had no consent to leave the lord's land, except if they ran away. If they were to run away and stay in a town for a year and a day, then they were considered to be a free person.

Religion

In the Middle Ages, the most practiced religion is Christianity. The only church there was in the Middle Ages is the Catholic church. Bishops and archbishops are the leading church leader. They have the laws of the land and roles in the government. 

Life of the people in the Middle Ages was controlled by the church and other religious organizations. From this, they gained wealth and power. 

Popes were so special that they could banish the king from the church for doing crime. 

Benedictines are nuns and monks. They wore black robes and lived in monasteries. In the Christian monasteries, they lived by rules set by St Benedict. They didn't have the right to own their property, they couldn't leave the monastery, and they couldn't get mixed up in concerns and desires from the world. Monks were rounded up to copy precious manuscripts that were in numerous languages, creating monasteries a place for learning. 

Some holy shrines were considered to open the gates of heaven to people when the holy shrines saved people from their sins. Some examples of the holy shrines are the Church of St. James at Santiago de Compostela in Spain, and the Canterbury Cathedral in England. 

The Middle Ages saw a growth in missionary activity. Christianity spread to many parts of the word by the missionaries. People like bishops, scholars, and warriors guided these campaigns.  The campaigns were to remove all non-Christians from the Christian World. That meant Gypsies, Pagans, Muslims, and Jews. The one religion that suffered the most was Jews. They were considered to be a large threat to Christianity. Hatred grew against Jews because of the common masses. Quoting biblical texts that put blame on the Jews for crucifying Christ. The Jews were long gone from different parts of Egypt because of this. 

Jews were skilled in tradesmen and goldsmiths in Europe. Those jobs made them a lot of money. Because of that, they were considered not pure by Catholics. 

During the Middle Ages, Islam was in its golden period. Islam was spreading a lot. This was a threat to Christianity. Muslims were growing their areas in wars with Christians and Hindu leaders. The Church told the people that if they fought in the holy war, their sins would be forgiven. Many people died because of this. 

Inventions 

During the Middle Ages, there were important inventions that were created and improved. Here are some of the inventions that had been created or been improved throughout the Middle Ages.

In the Middle Ages, there were different devices to keep track of time. But most of the devices had been from classical antiquity. Which meant that the devices had no change in time tracking during the early Middle Ages.

Water clocks, candle clocks, and astrolabes were used to track time before. Now later on in the Middle Ages, a new invention was created to keep track of time. It was called the mechanical clock. The creator of mechanical clocks were Christian monks. 

Christian monasteries needed a certain device to track time because the monks had to watch the hours of everyday prayers. Because of this, they used a lot of different time tracking inventions. The monks were very smart and had the knowledge to invent inventions like the mechanical clock. In the 10th century, the earliest mechanical clocks were created. 

In the 14th century, mechanical clocks used heavyweights. But towards the 15 century, mechanical clocks started to use spring powered operations. Monks had to wound up the clocks two times in order for them to work properly. 

Mechanical clocks only had an hour hand in the 14th century. In the 15 century, it was suggested by a lot of people that the mechanical clock should add a minute and second hand. With this added to the clock, different areas of Europe started to use the mechanical clock.

¨At the time of the invention of mechanical clocks, the primary use was in the monasteries.¨(Medieval…) The monasteries would use the clock to track time of the everyday prayers and to figure out when a solar or lunar eclipse is happening. Or to find out when a feast day is occurring.  

Gunpowder was an important war weapon in the Middle Ages. 

During the 9th century, gunpowder was created in China. In the 13 century, Europe was very up to date that gunpowder was an important weapon. Soon they started to get their hands on gunpowder, so they decided to make gunpowder weapons.  

Royal armies from all over started to make weapons with successful explosives. This started because Europe had gunpowder. The Battle of Crecy used early types of cannons by the English. Later on in the battle, every European army added cannons to their arsenal. In the 14 century, there were different gunpowder weapons created. Now different types of gunpowder handguns were added to the European armies.  

Gunpowder made a huge difference to warfare in the Middle Ages. Before gunpowder, knights were the most important group of the European armies. With gunpowder, knights were no longer important. Now with gunpowder weapons, it is said that even a peasant could hold a gunpowder weapon and shoot a knight without getting in trouble. Gunpowder took over knights and the knightly class came to an end.

Gunpowder also changed society during the Middle Ages. Knights before had to train really hard in order to go into battle. But now with gunpowder, they didn't need to train a lot. The military-centric culture in Europe ended. That ment that castles, knightly classes, and chivalry were out of date. So now society in Europe was now starting on other subjects such as art, science, education, and the creation of inventions.  

Eyeglasses were an important invention for the people in the Middle Ages. People who had trouble seeing properly did not have a cure for it. When they grew older, they had to suffer with poor eyesight and had to give up activities that used eyesight. 

The eyeglasses were created towards the end of the 13 century. But it's said that eyeglasses were invented before the end of the 13 century. In the year 1268, a man named Roger Bacon said that different lenses could expand letters. Another man named Robert Grossteste led up to this theory by explaining you could read small letters from a large distance using optics. In 1289, a Florentine manuscript stated the uses of eyeglasses. In the beginning of the 14 century, eyeglasses became an industry and placed craftsmen in cities such as Venice. But then later in the 14 century, another city named Florence became the main production of eyeglasses.

The design of early eyeglasses was two shards of glass or crystal encased in a frame and was clenched together by a handle. Most of the eyeglasses were made up of convex lenses. The people who were using the eyeglass had to use their hands to put it in place. Other eyeglasses had joined together making the handle be on the person's nose. 

In the late times of the Middle Ages, eyeglasses were used commonly all over Europe. Even though Italy was the main industry of eyeglasses, other areas like Germany made eyeglasses too. 

In the 16 century, concave lenses were used instead of glass or crystal. Concave lenses were for people who were nearsighted. The lenses helped people see clearly. At the end of the Middle Ages, the eyeglass frames used bones, metal, and leather.

Eyeglasses had become a popular item in art in the late medieval period. In 1352, an artist named Thomas de Modena started painting a lot of portraits with eyeglasses. Soon after, other artists and painters used people with eyeglasses in their art.

Conclusion 

The Middle Ages is an interesting time because of its system, religion, and inventions. The feudalism system, the religion which is Christianity, and its inventions that we mostly use today.  The feudal system is a system that divides the population into classes, Christianity dominated most of the people lifes and the Middle Ages, and inventions that were important to the people in the Middle Ages. This period of time is important because it shows what life was like back then. 

Works Cited 

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Accessed 22 February 2023. 

Ross, David. “Feudalism and Medieval Life.” Britain Express. www.britainexpress.com 

/History/Feudalism_and_Medieval_life.htm Accessed 7 February 2023.

Newman, Simon.¨Religion in the Middle Ages.¨ The Finer Times. www.thefinertimes.com 

/religion-in-the-middle-ages. Accessed 30 January 2023.

¨Religion.¨ Annenberg Learner. www.learner.org/series/interactive-the-middle-ages/. Accessed 31 January 

2023

¨Inventions.¨ Teacher Created Materials 1994 phf. drive.google.com/file/d/1PpmNIWoYnfw1 

qtQ4hVrI5YUrL169q00s/view. Accessed 7 February 2023.

¨Medieval Inventions List.¨ Medieval Chronicles. www.medievalchronicles.com/medieval-history 

/medieval-inventions-list/. Accessed 7 February 2023.