Chapter – 4

The Three Orders

In this post we have given the detailed notes of Class 11 History Chapter 4 (The Three Orders) in English. These notes are useful for the students who are going to appear in Class 11 board exams.

Chapter 4: The Three Orders

Introduction

• Time Period: Covers 9th to 16th centuries in Western Europe.
• Focus: How society, economy, and politics changed after the Roman Empire fell in the West (5th century CE).
• Three Orders: Three main social groups in medieval Europe:
  • Clergy: Priests and religious people who prayed and guided Christians.
  • Nobility: Landowning lords and knights who fought and ruled.
  • Peasants: Farmers who worked the land, split into free peasants and serfs (unfree workers).
• Why It Matters: The way these groups interacted and changed over time shaped European history for centuries.
• Sources: Historians use records like church documents (births, marriages, deaths), land ownership details, legal cases, songs, and stories to study this period.

Background: After the Fall of the Roman Empire

• Roman Empire Collapse: By the 5th century CE, the Western Roman Empire broke apart due to invasions and weak rule.
• Germanic Tribes: Groups like the Franks (in France), Angles, and Saxons (in England) moved into former Roman lands (Italy, Spain, France).
• No Central Power: Without a strong emperor, local leaders fought over land, making military strength and resources key.
• Christianity’s Role:
  • Started as the Roman Empire’s official religion (4th century).
  • Survived the collapse and spread to central/northern Europe.
  • The Catholic Church became a major landowner and political player, influencing kings and people.

What is Feudalism?

• Definition: A system where land, loyalty, and protection tied society together in medieval Europe.
• Origin of Word: From “feud” (German for a piece of land).
• How It Worked:
  • Land Ownership: Lords owned big estates (manors); peasants worked the land.
  • Exchange: Peasants gave lords crops, goods, and labor (e.g., farming, building) in return for protection from enemies.
  • Power: Lords had legal control over peasants, like settling disputes or punishing crimes.
• Roots:
  • Mixed Roman traditions (e.g., land management) with Germanic customs.
  • Grew under Frankish king Charlemagne (742-814), but fully formed by the 11th century.
• Spread: Strongest in France, England, and southern Italy.

France and England: Early History

• France:
  • Old Name: Gaul, a Roman province with fertile plains, forests, and rivers.
  • Franks: A Germanic tribe that settled there, renaming it “France.”
  • Key Events:
    • 481: Clovis becomes king of the Franks, uniting tribes.
    • 486: Clovis conquers northern Gaul.
    • 496: Clovis converts to Christianity, tying France to the Church.
    • 714: Charles Martel becomes a powerful leader (mayor of the palace).
    • 751: Pepin, Martel’s son, becomes king, starting a new dynasty.
    • 768: Charlemagne (Pepin’s son) takes over, expands the kingdom.
    • 800: Pope crowns Charlemagne “Holy Roman Emperor,” linking Church and state.
    • 840s Onwards: Vikings from Norway raid France, causing chaos.
• England:
  • Early Settlers: Angles and Saxons (6th century) from central Europe, calling it “Angle-land” (England).
  • 1066: William, Duke of Normandy (France), invades and conquers England, defeating the Saxon king. This starts feudalism in England.

The Three Orders in Detail

Concept:

• French priests saw society split into three roles: “Some pray, others fight, still others work” (12th century).

Clergy (First Order):

• Role: Spiritual leaders who prayed and ran churches.
• Leader: The Pope in Rome controlled the Western Church.
• Power:
  • Owned huge lands donated by rulers.
  • Collected a “tithe” (10% of peasants’ yearly produce).
  • Had its own laws and taxes, independent of kings.
• Who Could Join: No serfs or disabled people; women couldn’t be priests; priests couldn’t marry.
• Bishops: Like religious nobles, lived in grand palaces with vast estates.

Nobility (Second Order):

• Role: Warriors and rulers who controlled land and fought.
• Vassalage: A loyalty system:
  • Kings gave land to nobles (vassals) who swore loyalty.
  • Nobles gave land to peasants who worked for them.
  • Ceremonies involved oaths on the Bible, symbols like a staff or dirt clod.
• Privileges:
  • Owned manors (big estates with villages).
  • Raised armies (feudal levies), held courts, minted coins.
• Manor Life:
  • Lords lived in manor houses, hunted in forests, grazed cattle.
  • Peasants worked private fields and villages under the lord’s control.
• Knights:
  • Started in 9th century due to frequent wars needing skilled cavalry.
  • Lords gave knights fiefs (land, 1,000-2,000 acres) for loyalty and fighting.
  • Knights trained daily (fencing, tactics), served in wars.
  • Declined later (15th-16th centuries) as kings used professional armies with guns.

Peasants (Third Order):

• Two Types:

• • Free Peasants:
    • Rented land from lords.
    • Gave military service (40 days/year) and labor (e.g., 3 days/week on lord’s land).
    • Paid “taille” (king’s tax; nobles/clergy exempt).
  • Serfs:
    • Unfree, tied to lord’s land, couldn’t leave without permission.
    • Worked lord’s fields, gave most crops to him, got no wages.
    • Lords had monopolies (e.g., serfs used only lord’s mill, oven, wine-press).
    • Marriage controlled by lords (fee required).
• Daily Life: Women spun cloth, kids pressed grapes, men farmed.

Monasteries and Church Influence

Monasteries:

• Religious communities where monks/nuns lived apart from society.
• Examples: St. Benedict (Italy, 529), Cluny (Burgundy, 910).
• Life:
  • Took vows to stay forever, prayed, studied, farmed.
  • Single-sex (men or women only), no marriage.
  • Grew from small groups (10-20) to hundreds, with schools, hospitals.
• Rules (Benedictine):
  • Limited talking, obeyed leaders, no personal property, worked manually.
• Friars: From 13th century, traveled to preach, lived on charity.

Church and Society:

• Mixed old beliefs (magic, festivals) with Christianity.
• Holidays: Christmas (Dec 25, from a Roman festival), Easter (spring, Christ’s death/rebirth).
• Pilgrimages: People traveled to shrines/churches (e.g., Canterbury).
• Influenced feudal customs (e.g., kneeling to pray like vassals to lords).

Changes in Agriculture and Technology

• Environment:
  • 5th-10th Centuries: Cold climate, long winters, little farmland, forests everywhere.
  • 11th Century: Warmer weather, longer growing season, forests cleared for farms.
• Old Farming:
  • Tools: Wooden ploughs scratched soil, needed lots of manual work.
  • Two-Field System: Land split in half—one planted, one rested (fallow). Soil weakened, famines happened.
• New Technology (11th Century):
  • Iron Ploughs: With mould-boards, dug deeper, turned soil better.
  • Harness: Shoulder-harness let horses/oxen pull harder (iron horseshoes helped too).
  • Three-Field System:
    • Land in three parts: one for wheat (fall), one for beans/oats (spring), one fallow.
    • Rotated yearly, doubled food output, added protein (peas/beans).
  • Mills: Wind/water mills ground grain, pressed grapes—lords often built them (peasants couldn’t afford).
• Effects:
  • More food, smaller farms (20-30 acres vs. 100), peasants had time for other work.

Growth of Towns: A Fourth Order?

• Population Boom:
  • 1000: 42 million; 1200: 62 million; 1300: 73 million.
  • Better food = longer life (10 years more by 13th century).
• Towns Grew (11th century):
  • Surplus crops led to markets, fairs, then permanent towns.
  • Built around castles, churches, or bishops’ estates.
  • Features: Town square, church, shops, guild-halls.
• Freedom:
  • Serfs escaped to towns, free after 1 year and 1 day (“Town air makes free”).
  • Offered paid work, unlike manors.
• Guilds:
  • Craft groups (e.g., blacksmiths, weavers) controlled quality, prices, sales.
  • Had guild-halls for meetings, ceremonies.
• Trade:
  • New routes to West Asia (11th century).
  • Merchants grew rich, rivaled nobles.
• Cathedrals:
  • Big churches built (12th century) with stone, stained glass (Bible stories in pictures).
  • Became pilgrimage centers, towns grew around them.

Crisis of the 14th Century

• Problems:
  • Climate: Warm period ended (late 13th century), cold summers cut growing time.
  • Famines: 1315-1317 (crop failures), 1320s (cattle deaths).
  • Money Shortage: Less silver from mines, coins mixed with cheap metals.
  • Black Death: 1347-1350, plague from rats on trade ships killed 20-40% of Europe (73 million to 45 million by 1400).
• Effects:
  • Fewer people = less food demand, prices dropped.
  • Labor shortage = wages rose (250% in England).
  • Lords lost income, tried forcing labor services back.
• Peasant Revolts:
  • 1323: Flanders; 1358: France; 1381: England.
  • Peasants fought to keep gains from better times, resisted old feudal rules.
  • Lords crushed revolts but couldn’t fully restore old system (money economy too strong).

Political Changes: New Monarchs

• Time: 15th-16th centuries.
• New Monarchs: Kings like:
  • France: Louis XI (1461-1483).
  • England: Henry VII (1485-1509).
  • Spain: Isabelle and Ferdinand (1474-1556).
• Changes:
  • Built standing armies with guns, not feudal levies.
  • Raised taxes, centralized power, weakened nobles.
  • Nobles resisted (e.g., tax revolts in England: 1497, 1536), but later joined kings as officials.
• England vs. France:
  • England:
    • Had Parliament (House of Lords, Commons) from Anglo-Saxon times.
    • King Charles I (1629-1640) avoided it, led to war, execution, and a republic (later monarchy returned with limits).
  • France:
    • Estates-General (3 orders) met in 1614, then not again until 1789—kings ruled alone.

Key Dates

• 1066: Norman Conquest of England.
• 1100s: Cathedrals built in France.
• 1315-1317: Great Famine.
• 1347-1350: Black Death.
• 1338-1461: Hundred Years War (England vs. France).
• 1381: English Peasants’ Revolt.
• 1461-1559: New monarchs in France.
• 1485-1547: New monarchs in England.

Important Definitions

• Feudalism: System of land, loyalty, and protection between lords and vassals.
• Vassalage: Loyalty pact where vassals served lords/kings for land.
• Manor: Lord’s estate with house, fields, forests, and peasant villages.
• Fief: Land given to knights for service.
• Tithe: 10% of peasant produce paid to the Church.
• Guild: Craft/trade group controlling work in towns.
• Serf: Unfree peasant tied to lord’s land.
• Taille: Direct tax on peasants by the king.

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