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Towns and Trade Grows/ The End of Feudalism

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Towns and Trade Grows/ The End of Feudalism

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For hundreds of years, feudalism thrived and stole from the poor. However, towns were starting to form up in large areas. This is because the farmers had more food, which means more people, which means even more food. They had an overabundance of food. New technology, such as the heavy plow and the invention of plowing with horses swept Europe and into the Steppe. Feudalism slowly died throughout Europe, as things went back to the days of the Roman Empire - advancement of the species. Trade also helped to accelerate the death of Feudalism and created merchants. Eventually, the Middle Ages ended with the start of discovery and Italians wanting to reconnect to a long lost empire. Also the Ottomans did some stuff-

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Eleanor of Aquitaine was the duchess of Aquitaine, as her name suggests. She was originally a vassal of the king of the Franks, who happened to be Louis the VII of France. She then married Louis and they had a nice life for a couple years. Afterwards, she annulled with him and went to England. A side note here: There was two kings of the Franks during this time because history is weird.
The side note is done, so she then married Henry II of England. Then then had two British kings. She died during the reign of her son, John. You may know him from the Magna Carta.
Here's a picture of her down below.

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Life on a manor was descent for that time's standards. The serfs had to shear their own sheep, and the lord of the manor (who had it easy)'s sayings were law. Thankfully, the serfs were granted a town blacksmith and a grain mill. They basically harvested their own food. I can't really talk that much about this since almost all of it has already been said. Some eagle eyed readers will see knowledge which has been done twice.
Here's the same picture of the serfs.

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William the Conqueror was the duke of Normandy in northern France.
He attempted to take over Britain because he just wanted to. He then packed up his knights and boated across the channel. After William the Conqueror had slain the king of England Harold Godwinson and made the British submit, he was crowned king and gave plots of land to his valiant knights.
Below is a picture of William the Conqueror.

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The peasants were considered the lowest rank in the system off feudalism.
There were two types of peasants
The first type is your run of the mill peasant. This peasant was well off, but didn't have any land. They weren't really powerful.
The second type of peasant is the serf. The serf lived on a manor which a knight or lord owned. The serfs got 3/4 of the land, but they were tied to it forever. There was a way to escape from the madness - run away for 1 year and 1 day.
There was a blacksmith in the manor to help the serfs out, along with their trusty hands to pick the crops. They also used scythes.
Below is a picture of some serfs.

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Knights are brave, valiant solders who served the nobles. For their service, the nobles gave knights pieces of land. On these pieces of land they would build manors.
To get all of that in the first place, they would need to become the vassals of nobles. This is accomplished by accepting a fief, which is a gateway to vassalship.
This technically means that a knight could be a vassal to every lord. These knights wore armor in suits and rode horseback. This became obsolete around the time of the invention of some of the first guns, the Arquebus and the Musket.
Below is a picture of the Round Table.

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Nobles were the second highest rank after the king. Nobles had to give to the king money, knights, food and protection. He was a vassal of the king or stronger nobles. He had to give money to the higher ranking noble on occasion, as well having to supply them with shelter and food. The more land you had as a noble, the stronger you were and higher rank. Lords bought knights into battle with them.

The noble below is a unnamed 14th century noble.

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Kings and queens were the head lords of their country, where all the other lords were vassals of them. Kings and queens were born into the royal family. They could also get the throne by having a bigger army and taking over the country / kingdom. They did make castles, like lords and likewise they were originally made out of wood, but progressed into being made out of stone. The king gave land to the nobles in exchange for food, protection, money and knights.

The king below is Richard the Lionheart.