Legacy of the Middle Ages

Although the Middle Ages were dark because of violence. It also had faith because the church
had power and the people renounce their lives to the church. Additionally it was a golden age due
to philosophy, art, and architecture. But most significantly it is a feudal age because everyone
had obligations between each other.
During the dark days of the plague and the attacks of the barbarians, the church had a place in
everyones lives. The church has the power to influence and control the lives of people. Every
person was a Christian during this time and was required to live by the church's laws, and pay the
taxes to support the church. In other words peoples lives were controlled because they had to
follow the rules. According to Brother Gerald his vow as a monastery where, I hereby renounce
my parents, my brother and relatives, my friends, my possessions and the vain and empty glory
and pleasure of this world. I also renounce my own will, for the will of God. This means he will
give up on his own life for serving the church for the rest of his life. From that moment he enters
a lifelong service to God and the church as a Christian. In addition to controlling the peoples
lives the church also accepted gifts. According to document 9 the gifts were a kind of bribe to
have a spot in heaven and for special favors. As the church received gifts like land and serfs it
was gaining power over the people because they wanted to be in heaven. When the church
gained power it used it to influence kings to do what they wanted. They told the king and the
people that on holy days you were not allowed to fight or shed blood. The church also reformed
to a new style called gothic to show how powerful it was and to keep the peace in the Middle
ages. Even though there was a great slaughter in London, Quentavic, Rochester and also the
Northern men plundered, according to document 2 the church was able to stay standing to help
the people. They spent their money to perform social services like caring for the sick by building
hospitals and build schools for the wealthy. This is why the Middle Ages were an age of faith
because the church had more power than the king and helped the poor by using their money to
perform social services. Up until now the Middle Ages were an age of faith, but also it was a
time when people worked together for support.
The Middle Ages were an age of faith, but also an age of feudalism. This was a time when
everyone had obligations between each other during the attacks of the barbarians. According to a
chart the feudal obligations between lord and vassal was to give land for protection. The way it
worked is a king/lord gave land to a vassal and the church, then they give some of their land to
knights for protection. The knights then gave land to the peasant/serfs to work on. Then the serfs
work on the land and raised the lords animals and crops to pay his taxes. In the painting called
Li Livres dou Sant, 13th century shows the cleric, knight, and the peasant talking to each other.
It shows that they worked together for support and protection. Even though it lacks information it
tells us they got along and never had problems between each other. This kind of relationship was
a set of rights for them. They work on the land of the lord for housing and protection from the
barbarians. From an adaptation it says they started building communities that had a church, and
market buildings, which is what the lords manor was made up of. The manor was a self-

sufficient community that had a church that shows the age of faith is still important to them. The
church was the most powerful in the lords manor. According to Davis he says, the Medieval
culture was imperfect and we must judge them by their philosophy and law, by their poetry and
architecture. I disagree that we must judge on only their knowledge the way they worked
together and have a self-sufficient community is a great thing. Even though they didn't have
knowledge to read and write they could communicate properly to provide each other support.
The serfs were able to support their family by paying the taxes and be protected by the danger of
the world. They endured this hard life but accepted it as part of the church teachings. After all
Christians believe that God determined a person's place in society.
In conclusion the Middle Ages were and age of faith and feudalism because the church had the
power to control the peoples and support them. They built hospitals for the sick and schools for
the wealthy. Also they controlled the peace by telling the kings and people that you cant fight on
holy days. This was a time of feudalism because the serfs worked for the king to pay the taxes
and in return the got protection from the knights. The Middle Ages were not a golden or a dark
age because of the philosophy, art, or the attacks of the barbarians. It was a time of working hard
for each other and being with the church.

Laura Flores
2nd period