Hands, a Kiss and a Rod: An Oath of Loyalty in Bruges, 1127

Bound by Promises

1In the 800s and 900s, Viking, Magyar and Muslim raiders struck many parts of Europe, and kings could not defend every village. Power passed to local lords who had armed men. A great lord granted land, called a fief, to a vassal. The lord promised to protect his vassal and treat him fairly. The vassal promised loyalty, came to his lord's court to give advice, and fought for him, often about forty days a year.

2Most people were peasants on manors. Many were serfs, who could not leave without the lord's permission. Serfs worked the lord's fields several days a week, and they paid him to grind their grain at his mill and bake bread in his oven. The lord's steward ran a manor court that settled quarrels and fined people who broke the manor's customs. Earlier, many villages left half their farmland unplanted each year so the soil could rest. Over time many switched to three fields: one for wheat or rye, one for oats, peas or beans, and only one left to rest.

3From 1095 to 1291, popes called for Crusades to win and hold Jerusalem and other lands in the eastern Mediterranean. Count Robert II of Flanders joined the First Crusade, which captured Jerusalem in 1099. Many knights sold or pawned land to pay for the journey, and many never came home. Muslims saw the crusaders as invaders, and in 1187 the sultan Saladin retook Jerusalem. Italian merchants who carried crusaders and supplies grew rich, and goods such as spices and sugar reached more European markets.

4Meanwhile, towns grew. Bruges, in Flanders, became a busy center of cloth making and trade. Many towns paid their lords for charters that let townspeople run their own markets and courts. In many places, a serf who lived in a town for a year and a day could claim his freedom.

5In 1347 the Black Death reached Europe. In about four years it killed perhaps a third to half of the people. With so few workers left, surviving peasants asked for wages and lower rents, and many moved to wherever lords would pay more. Some lords and kings passed laws to hold wages down. Peasants rose in revolt in France in 1358 and in England in 1381. Over the next century, serfdom slowly faded across much of western Europe.