Early Medieval Europe, 300–1000

In the fifth century the Roman Empire broke down. Europe was politically fragmented, with Germanic kings ruling a number of different kingdoms. Western Europe continued to suffer invasions as Muslim Arabs and Berbers took the Iberian Peninsula and pushed into France. Vikings attacked England, France, and Spain in the late eighth and ninth centuries. Vikings also settled Iceland and Normandy, from which the Norman William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066.

The fall of the Roman Empire was accompanied by an economic transformation that included de-urbanization and a decline in trade. Without the domination of Rome and its “Great Tradition,” regional elites became more self-sufficient and local “small traditions” flourished. Self-sufficient farming estates called manors were the primary centers of agricultural production. Manors grew from the need for self-sufficiency and self-defense.

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During the early medieval period a class of nobles emerged and developed into mounted knights. Feudalism was developed. Feudalism is a medieval social system: the legal and social system that existed in medieval Europe, in which vassals held land from lords in exchange for military service. Feudalism was divided into 3 sections Serf, fief and vassal – Serf – in medieval Europe an agricultural laborer legally bound to a lord’s property and obligated to perform set services for the lord. Fief - in medieval Europe, land granted in return for a sworn oath to provide specified military service. Vassal ...

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