Feudalism in the Middle Ages

Before this class, the only thing I ever really knew about the Middle Ages was through scrimmage games my father plays that are based off King Arthur and war. I knew nothing of its society or how things went about in their world. To learn something interesting outside of class, I used Google to search around and find interesting facts and things about the Middle Ages and its society. I happened apon the website, http://discoverthemiddleages.com, and found very interesting facts varying from war and weapons, to society and Feudalism. Today I will be focusing on the the Middle Age society and Feudalism.

Feudalism in the Middle Ages was a key aspect of society. As said in the website of http://discoverthemiddleages.com, "Feudalism was a societal system  where each person traded their goods  or labor for protection- essentially a market for safety. Peasants would trade their goods and labor to a local lord for protection in his castle in case of war." This way of life shaped the way the people lived. I was very unaware of how the people lived and what they had to do for protection. The website goes on to show us that "A portion of their harvest was taxed, and each year they had to help the lord harvest his fields. In return, the lord would keep a small force of men-at-arms who would protect his castle and the people." (http://discoverthemiddleages.com) People in today's society are very entitled to protection. It is scary to think that these people had to do so much to just have people to protect them.

I was very unaware of how large of a part that Feudalism was to the Middle Age society. This is something that will help me understand them as a society more because it will help me understand what they had to live through. I have heard of Feudalism before but I always connected it with being a modern concept. (At least more modern than the Middle Ages.) Altogether, this was an interesting thing I learned about the Middle Ages outside of the classroom environment.