Early European History Part 77

THE CASTLE AS A FORTRESS

Defense formed the primary purpose of the castle. Until the introduction of gunpowder and cannon, the only siege engines employed were those known in ancient times. They included machines for hurling heavy stones and iron bolts, battering rams, and movable towers, from which the besiegers crossed over to the walls. Such engines could best be used on firm, level ground. Consequently, a castle would often be erected on a high cliff or hill, or on an island, or in the center of a swamp. A castle without such natural defenses would be surrounded by a deep ditch (the "moat"), usually filled with water. If the besiegers could not batter down or undermine the ma.s.sive walls, they adopted the slower method of a blockade and tried to starve the garrison into surrendering. But ordinarily a well-built, well- provisioned castle was impregnable. Behind its frowning battlements even a petty lord could defy a royal army.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHaTEAU GAILLARD (RESTORED) The finest of all medieval castles. Located on a high hill overlooking the Seine about twenty miles from Rouen. Built by Richard the Lion hearted within a twelvemonth (1197-1198 AD) and by him called Saucy Castle. It was captured a few years later by the French king Philip Augustus and was dismantled early in the seventeenth century. The castle consisted of three distinct series of fortifications, besides the keep which in this case was merely a strong tower.]

A CASTLE DESCRIBED

A visitor to a medieval castle crossed the drawbridge over the moat and approached the narrow doorway, which was protected by a tower on each side. If he was admitted, the iron grating ("portcullis") rose slowly on its creaking pulleys, the heavy, wooden doors swung open, and he found himself in the courtyard commanded by the great central tower ("keep"), where the lord and his family lived, especially in time of war. At the summit of the keep rose a platform whence the sentinel surveyed the country far and wide; below, two stories underground, lay the prison, dark, damp, and dirty. As the visitor walked about the court-yard, he came upon the hall, used as the lord's residence in time of peace, the armory, the chapel, the kitchens, and the stables. A s.p.a.cious castle might contain, in fact, all the buildings necessary for the support of the lord's servants and soldiers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: KING AND JESTER From a ma.n.u.script of the early fifteenth century.]

THE CASTLE AS A RESIDENCE

The medieval castle formed a good fortress, but a poor home. Its small rooms, lighted only by narrow windows, heated only by fireplaces, badly ventilated, and provided with little furniture, must have been indeed cheerless. Toward the close of the feudal period, when life became more luxurious, the castle began to look less like a dungeon. Windows were widened and provided with panes of painted gla.s.s, walls were hung with costly tapestries, and floors were covered with thick Oriental rugs. The n.o.bles became attached to their castle homes and often took their names from those of their estates.

AMUs.e.m.e.nTS OF THE n.o.bLES

Life within the castle was very dull. There were some games, especially chess, which the n.o.bles learned from the Moslems. Banqueting, however, formed the chief indoor amus.e.m.e.nt. The lord and his retainers sat down to a gluttonous feast and, as they ate and drank, watched the pranks of a professional jester or listened to the songs and music of ministrels or, it may be, heard with wonder the tales of far-off countries brought by some returning traveler. Outside castle walls a common sport was hunting in the forests and game preserves attached to every estate. Deer, bears, and wild boars were hunted with hounds; for smaller animals trained hawks, or falcons, were employed. But the n.o.bles, as we have just seen, found in fighting their chief outdoor occupation and pastime. "To play a great game" was their description of a battle.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FALCONRY From a ma.n.u.script of the thirteenth century in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.]

154. KNIGHTHOOD AND CHIVALRY

APPRENTICESHIP OF THE KNIGHT

The prevalence of warfare in feudal times made the use of arms a profession requiring special training. A n.o.bleman's son served for a number of years, first as a page, then as a squire, in his father's castle or in that of some other lord. He learned to manage a horse, to climb a scaling ladder, to wield sword, battle-ax, and lance. He also waited on the lord's table, a.s.sisted him at his toilet, followed him in the chase, and attended him in battle. This apprenticeship usually lasted from five to seven years.

CONFERRING OF KNIGHTHOOD

When the young n.o.ble became of age, he might be made a knight, if he deserved the honor and could afford the expense. The ceremony of conferring knighthood was often most elaborate. The candidate fasted, took a bath--the symbol of purification--and pa.s.sed the eve of his admission in prayer. Next morning he confessed his sins, went to Ma.s.s, and listened to a sermon on the duties of knighthood. This ended, his father, or the n.o.ble who had brought him up, girded him with a sword and gave him the "accolade," that is, a blow on the neck or shoulder, at the same time saying, "Be thou a good knight." Then the youth, clad in shining armor and wearing golden spurs, mounted his horse and exhibited his skill in warlike exercises. If a squire for valorous conduct received knighthood on the battlefield, the accolade by stroke of the sword formed the only ceremony.

CHIVALRY

In course of time, as manners softened and Christian teachings began to affect feudal society, knighthood developed into chivalry. The Church, which opposed the warlike excesses of feudalism, took the knight under her wing and bade him be always a true soldier of Christ. To the rude virtues of fidelity to one's lord and bravery in battle, the Church added others.

The "good knight" was he who respected his sworn word, who never took an unfair advantage of another, who defended women, widows, and orphans against their oppressors, and who sought to make justice and right prevail in the world. Chivalry thus marked the union of pagan and Christian virtues, of Christianity and the profession of arms.

THE CHIVALRIC CODE

Needless to say, the "good knight" appears rather in romance than in sober history. Such a one was Sir Lancelot, in the stories of King Arthur and the Round Table. [12] As Sir Lancelot lies in death, a former companion addresses him in words which sum up the best in the chivalric code: "'Thou wert the courtliest knight that ever bare shield; and thou wert the truest friend to thy lover that ever bestrode horse; and thou wert the truest lover among sinful men that ever loved woman; and thou wert the kindest man that ever struck with sword; and thou wert the goodliest person that ever came among press of knights; and thou wert the meekest man, and the gentlest, that ever ate in hall among ladies; and thou wert the sternest knight to thy mortal foe that ever put spear in the rest.'" [13]

JOUSTS AND TOURNAMENTS

The all-absorbing pa.s.sion for fighting led to the invention of mimic warfare in the shape of jousts and tournaments. [14] These exercises formed the medieval equivalent of the Greek athletic games and the Roman gladiatorial shows. The joust was a contest between two knights; the tournament, between two bands of knights. The contests took place in a railed-off s.p.a.ce, called the "lists," about which the spectators gathered.

Each knight wore upon his helmet the scarf or color of his lady and fought with her eyes upon him. Victory went to the one who unhorsed his opponent or broke in the proper manner the greatest number of lances. The beaten knight forfeited horse and armor and had to pay a ransom to the conqueror.

Sometimes he lost his life, especially when the partic.i.p.ants fought with real weapons and not with blunted lances and pointless swords. The Church now and then tried to stop these performances, but they remained universally popular until the close of the Middle Ages.

INFLUENCE OF CHIVALRY

Chivalry arose with feudalism, formed, in fact, the religion of feudalism, and pa.s.sed away only when the changed conditions of society made feudalism an anachronism. [15] While chivalry lasted, it produced some improvement in manners, particularly by insisting on the notion of personal honor and by fostering greater regard for women (though only for those of the upper cla.s.s). Our modern notion of the conduct befitting a "gentleman" goes back to the old chivalric code. Chivalry expressed, however, simply the sentiments of the warlike n.o.bles. It was an aristocratic ideal. The knight despised and did his best to keep in subjection the toiling peasantry, upon whose backs rested the real burden of feudal society.

155. FEUDALISM AS A SYSTEM OF LOCAL INDUSTRY

DECLINE OF URBAN LIFE

Under the Roman Empire western Europe had been filled with flourishing cities. [16] The Germanic invasions led to a gradual decay of trade and manufacturing, and hence of the cities in which these activities centered.

As urban life declined, the ma.s.s of the population came to live more and more in isolated rural communities. This was the great economic feature of the early Middle Ages.

FEUDALISM AND RURAL LIFE

The introduction of feudalism fostered the movement from town to country, for feudalism, as has been shown, rested on the soil as its basis. The lord, his family, his servants, and his retainers were supported by the income from landed property. The country estate of a lord was known as a manor.

THE MANOR

A manor naturally varied in size, according to the wealth of its lord. In England perhaps six hundred acres represented the extent of an average estate. Every n.o.ble had at least one manor; great n.o.bles might have several manors, usually scattered throughout the country; and even the king depended on his many manors for the food supply of the court.

England, during the period following the Norman Conquest, contained more than nine thousand of these manorial estates. [17]

COMMON CULTIVATION OF THE ARABLE LAND

Of the arable land of the manor the lord reserved as much as needful for his own use. The lord's land was called his "demesne," or domain. The rest of the land he allotted to the peasants who were his tenants, They cultivated their holdings in common. A farmer, instead of having his land in one compact ma.s.s, had it split up into a large number of small strips (usually about half an acre each) scattered over the manor, and separated, not by fences or hedges, but by banks of unplowed turf. The appearance of a manor, when under cultivation, has been likened to a vast checkerboard or a patchwork quilt. [18] The reason for the intermixture of strips seems to have been to make sure that each farmer had a portion both of the good land and of the bad. It is obvious that this arrangement compelled all the peasants to labor according to a common plan. A man had to sow the same kinds of crops as his neighbors, and to till and reap them at the same time. Agriculture, under such circ.u.mstances, could not fail to be unprogressive.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FARM WORK IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY Plowing, Harrowing, Cutting Weeds, Reaping.]

FARMING METHODS

In other ways, too, agriculture was very backward. Farmers did not know how to enrich the soil by the use of fertilizers or how to provide for a proper rotation of crops. Hence each year they cultivated only two-thirds of the land, letting the other third lie "fallow" (uncultivated), that it might recover its fertility. It is said that eight or nine bushels of grain represented the average yield of an acre. Farm animals were small, for scientific breeding had not yet begun. A full-grown ox reached a size scarcely larger than a calf of to-day, and the fleece of a sheep often weighed less than two ounces. Farm implements were few and clumsy. The wooden ploughs only scratched the ground. Harrowing was done with a hand implement little better than a large rake. Grain was cut with a sickle, and gra.s.s was mown with a scythe. It took five men a day to reap and bind the harvest of two acres.

COMMON USE OF THE NON-ARABLE LAND

Besides his holding of farm land, which in England averaged about thirty acres, each peasant had certain rights over the non-arable land of the manor. He could cut a limited amount of hay from the meadow. He could turn so many farm animals--cattle, geese, swine--on the waste. He also enjoyed the privilege of taking so much wood from the forest for fuel and building purposes. A peasant's holding, which also included a house in the village, thus formed a complete outfit.

156. THE VILLAGE AND LIFE OF THE PEASANTS

A VILLAGE DESCRIBED

The peasants on a manor lived close together in one or more villages.

Their small, thatch-roofed, and one-roomed houses would be grouped about an open s.p.a.ce (the "green"), or on both sides of a single, narrow street.

The only important buildings were the parish church, the parsonage, a mill, if a stream ran through the manor, and possibly a blacksmith's shop.

The population of one of these villages often did not exceed one hundred souls.

A VILLAGE AS SELF-SUFFICING

Perhaps the most striking feature of a medieval village was its self- sufficiency. The inhabitants tried to produce at home everything they required, in order to avoid the uncertainty and expense of trade. The land gave them their food; the forest provided them with wood for houses and furniture. They made their own clothes of flax, wool, and leather. Their meal and flour were ground at the village mill, and at the village smithy their farm implements were manufactured. The chief articles which needed to be brought from some distant market were salt, used to salt down farm animals killed in autumn, iron for various tools, and millstones. Cattle, horses, and surplus grain also formed common objects of exchange between manors.

HARD LOT OF THE PEASANTRY