Feudalism

Part 1 & 2
Last week in my western civ. history class we played the feudal game. We
used the game as a fun way to reinforce some of the ideas and ways of life in
feudalism. There were three roles you could have been assigned to; you could have
been a lord, a vassal, or a serf. Lucky for me I got to be the yellow lord and owned a
quarter of all the land in Europe. Vassals would pledge loyalty to me in turn for living
on my land just like how it was during the middle ages. Then the vassals would lend
there land to serfs in return for loyalty and they would become the serfs lords, just
like how it was not in feudalism. In real feudal times serfs would not do any
interacting with lords or vassals, and vassals would only make feudal contracts with
other vassals.
After ten minutes of trading with vassals the whole class took a seat. Each
person was called up to the center of the room to role a dice. The number they roll
would determine their fate. For example if you were a lord, your fate might be
fighting in tournament with another lordship or maybe lose to purple kingdom, give
six land pieces to the purple lord in which case you could take land from your
vassals or pay using your unused land. All the fates were things that would happen
in feudal time and help reinforce some of the ways of the middle ages
The game and feudalism are alike by the fact that they were both split up in
to three social classes: lords, vassals, and serfs also by the way they interacted,
excluding the fact that serfs did not trade loyalty, for land with vassals. The fates
that were given out to everyone could have happened to anyone under feudal
govern.
Part 3
Hello young children today we are going to learn about Feudalism. Feudalism
was a new political system that emerged during the middle ages. It quickly became
an effective structure for maintaining order, in a time of great confusion. Feudalism
consisted of three social classes; lords, vassals, and serfs. A lord was a powerful
noble who owned land, a vassal, or lower lord was person who was giving land by a
lord, and a serf was somewhat of a slave who worked on the lords land.
For a vassal to be granted land (also known as a fief) by a lord he must first
pledge his loyalty to the lord and promise to fight behind him, this was called a
feudal contract. Even though the vassals was given land, it still technically remain
to lord, and if the vassal does not fallow the feudal contract the lord would take the
land right back. Now a vassal could become a lord himself, by giving a segment of
his land to a vassal, in return for loyalty, and the promise to fight behind him.
Sometimes vassals would pledge loyalty to more than one lord creating very
complex relationships. This created different levels of lordship and vassalage. These
relationships were not forced on each other, but were actually holding people
together.
Serfs worked on the lords land, if the land they lived on was giving to
another lord they would stayed with the land, and work under the new lord. Serfs
were very self-sufficient, most had never wandered more than a mile off their
provide land. They worked on the land growing crops and creating everything else
they need. They got to keep some of it but most went to lords or vassals. In return
for their work their lords promised them protection from invasions.