Europe: Fragmented and Agricultural
Introduced| English | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Decentralised/dɪˈsentrəlaɪzd/ | A king's authority passed through lords who held their own land and men. |
| feudalism/ˈfjuːdəlɪzəm/ | A system of social and political relationships linking landholding, obligations and service, especially between lords and vassals in medieval Europe. |
| manorial system/mæˈnɔːrɪəl ˈsɪstəm/ | The organisation of rural economic life around an estate, with peasants providing labour, produce or payments to its lord. |
| serfdom/ˈsɜːfdəm/ | A condition in which peasants are legally tied to an estate and owe labour or other obligations to its lord. |
Three faiths again, a different mix
- Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and the core beliefs and practices of these religions, continued to shape societies in Europe.
- The CED gives Europe the same sentence it gave Africa and Asia, with Christianity first.
- So Europe in this period is one region among several, described in identical terms — that framing is deliberate.
Select all the features the CED gives fragmented Europe.
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The imperial bureaucracy belongs to Song China.
Politically fragmented
- Europe was politically fragmented and characterised by decentralised 分权的 monarchies, feudalism 封建制度 and the manorial system 庄园制.
- Decentralised means a king's authority passed through lords who held their own land and men.
- Compare this with the Song bureaucracy: officials appointed and paid by the centre, removable by the centre.
Select all the kinds of labour the CED says Europe depended on.
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Both free and coerced existed at once, in the same villages.
An agricultural society
- Europe was largely an agricultural society dependent on free and coerced labour, including serfdom 农奴制.
- The CED pairs free and coerced deliberately: both existed at once, in the same villages.
- A serf was bound to the land rather than owned as property — a legal status, not slavery.
Centralised or decentralised — and on what basis?
Sort each feature by the system it belongs to.
A serf was owned as property, like a slave.
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A serf was legally bound to the land — a legal status, not ownership of a person.
Serfdom is not slavery. The CED writes free and coerced labour, including serfdom — a serf was legally bound to the land, owed labour and dues, and could not simply leave, but was not owned as property. Collapsing the two loses a distinction the exam uses.
Decentralisation followed from the fact that a monarch...
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The same estate supplied a lord's income, his soldiers and his jurisdiction.
Land and power were the same thing
- Under feudalism and the manorial system, the same estate supplied a lord's income, his soldiers and his jurisdiction.
- So decentralisation was not weakness of will but a consequence of how revenue worked.
- A monarch with no salaried officials has to rule through people who already have land.
Song China and Europe make the sharpest pair because both had to govern ____ at a distance.
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Same problem — collecting a surplus and keeping order — two different solutions.
Europe is the comparison's other end
- Unit 1 ends by comparing state formation, and Europe supplies the decentralised end of that spectrum.
- Song China and Europe make the sharpest pair: salaried officials against landed lords, both governing farmers.
- The comparison works because the problem is the same — collecting a surplus and keeping order at a distance.
A Song magistrate is appointed by the centre, paid by the centre, and can be moved to another province next year. A European lord holds his land, his soldiers and his court because they are the same estate. Both collect from farmers; only one can be replaced by a letter.
Christianity, Judaism and Islam continued to shape European societies. Europe was politically fragmented, with decentralised monarchies, feudalism and the manorial system, and was largely agricultural, dependent on free and coerced labour including serfdom — a legal binding to land, not slavery.
Write from a serf's labour
- A serf in medieval Europe farmed a plot and also worked the lord's land.
- Political power was split among many lords.
What did the serf owe, and what does that show about power?
Serfdom bound workers to a lord's land.
What did the serf owe the lord?
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The obligation was work on the lord's land.