: In the early Middle Ages, the Church played a very important role in protecting ancient works, and monks were heavily involved in the “reproduction and preservation of the literature that had been inherited from earlier writers,—writers whose works had been accepted as classics.”
The monks who were not yet competent to work as scribes were to be instructed by the others.”
The copying of books was also slow, tedious, and very time-consuming; it took years for a scribe to complete “a particularly fine manuscript with colored initials and miniature art work.”
it is, therefore, no surprise that monks sometimes jotted remarks about their frustration and relief in the margins, or the colophons, of their manuscripts. Examples of these remarks included “Thin ink, bad vellum, difficult text,” “Thank God, it will soon be dark,” and “Now I’ve written the whole thing: for Christ’s sake give me a drink.”
Serfs could buy their
freedom from the manor, but where
would they get the money?
If a new lord
took over the
manor, he would need the serfs for labor.
Peasants
were free to leave if they wished
Peasants worked the land and made
the goods in exchange for protection.
Other than that,
their life was just like a serf's life.
A few peasants escaped the
hard work on the farm by joining the church. But most lived and died
on the manor where they were born.
Everyone had to pay taxes to the lord
To pay the crop tax, some crops went
to the lord, and some they kept. To pay the bread tax, some bread they
made went to the lord, and some they kept. To pay the coat tax, some
of the warm coats they made went to the lord, and some they kept.
Everything was paid in barter. Coinage or money did not exist on the
manor.
People believed that the only
way to get to Heaven was to follow the teachings in the Bible.
The
common people could not read or write.
The priest told them who
they must marry and when. You had to do everything the priest said if
you wanted to get to heaven.
peasants and serfs were mostly content with their lot.
work kept
everyone on the manor fed and comfortable, including themselves.
They were not slaves. These people
could not be bought and sold. But they could not leave the manor without
permission.
Feudal SystemThe Feudal System was sustained by the rights and privileges given to the Upper Classes and in most cases enacted by laws. Everything was a source of privilege for the nobles. They had a thousand pretexts for establishing taxes on their vassals, who were generally considered "taxable and to be worked at will." Kings and councils waived the necessity of their studying, in order to be received as bachelors of universities. If a noble was made a prisoner of war, his life was saved by his nobility, and his ransom had practically to be raised by the "villains" of his domains.
Knights had the right of receiving double rations when prisoners of war; the right of claiming a year's delay when a creditor wished to seize their land; and the right of never having to submit to torture after trial, unless they were condemned to death for the crime they had committed.
Reviving Double Rations when Prisoner of war. The right to not pay money for the land for a year. The right to have no tourture after a trail.
of claiming the goods of a person dying on their lands who had no direct heir. They also had the right of claiming a tax when a fief or domain changed hands.
the right of common oven required serfs to make use of the mill, the oven, of the lord