If he did not comply, the baron could lose his manor, his luxurious lifestyle, or maybe even his life. By complying with the King’s requirements the Baron was possibly able to earn a higher title, more land, or prosperous marriages for his children and other family members. The king might require the baron to serve in the military or engage in various other activities. The female equivalent of a Duke was a Duchess.Ī baron was responsible first to his king and second to the people who lived on his manor. The Duke was the highest ranking in the nobility. A Duke was also the direct superior of a Count. The main responsibility of a Duke was to be the ruler of a province. Nobility included hereditary nobility, which were those whose power was bestowed on them through blood relations, and non-hereditary nobility, which included those who rose to power through non-familial means. NobilityĪfter the Royals, Nobility had the most power of the social classes in the Middle Ages. Sometimes this was successful, but more often than not it backfired. Princesses were oftentimes married off to princes in other countries in order to secure long lasting friendly economic and political ties with those countries. Princesses were not usually next in line for the throne unless there was no male heir who could take the place on the throne that was being left. Princes most likely sat in on courtly meetings. Queens also served as hostesses and event planners.ĭepending on their birth order, a prince may have been next in line for the throne when his father died. Queens were usually second in command to Kings, and often served as regents when their King was unfit to rule, either because he was ill or considered too young to make intelligent decisions. Though they did not often rule alone, Queens played an important part in the Medieval class system. The King had to make laws, attempt to remove poverty from the Kingdom and take care of the citizens in his kingdom. The King was the highest authority in the land. Royals had complete power over the land and political and economic decisions during the Middle Ages. The Royalty included Kings, Queens, Princes, and Princesses. The Royalty were the highest of the Social Classes in the Middle Ages. Clergy were also an important part of the social order during the Middle Ages, though they were not necessarily considered a separate class. Most Medieval people were peasants, over 90%, but the divide between peasants and nobility was very clear-cut. The frequency with which it occurs in literature, and the varied thematic use made of it to express abhorrence of treason, illustrates the significance which that crime had for the middle ages.There was a very distinctive social class system during the Middle Ages. It reviews and analyses the legal, historical, and literary records of this exceptional penalty. This paper, though surveying the legal, moral, and symbolic bases of the penalties for treason, concentrates on the evidence for flaying, which has largely been ignored. In rare and aggravated cases flaying alive seems to have been included. Both demanded exemplary punishment and drawing, hanging, emasculation, disembowelling, beheading, and quartering were employed in various combinations. The basis of the felony was the same - betrayal of trust by an attack upon the security of the state, its administrative or economic validity, or the legitimacy of the succession - whether directed against the king or some lesser liege lord, and the law made no absolute distinction between high and petty treason. As the most fundamental felony, it struck at the rools of feudal society through a complex of crimes: compassing or plotting the death of the sovereign, betraying his realm to an enemy, counterfeiting his coinage or falsifying his signature, seducing his wife or the wife of his son and heir. Treason appears to have fascinated the middle ages.
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