Lords, Knights and a Call to the East
1After the Western Roman Empire fell, much of Europe had no strong central government, and raiders such as the Vikings attacked many coasts and rivers. Over time a system historians call feudalism grew up. A king granted land, called a fief, to a noble. In return the noble became his vassal, swore loyalty and promised to bring soldiers when the king called. Nobles in turn granted land to knights, who fought on horseback for their lords.
2Most people were peasants who lived on manors, farming estates run by a lord. Many were serfs. Serfs could not leave the manor without the lord's permission, worked his fields several days each week and gave him part of their own crops. In return they received a strip of land to farm and the protection of the lord's soldiers. A manor grew most of its own food and made most of its own cloth and tools, so its people bought little from outside.
3By the late 1000s, knights often fought one another in private wars, and church leaders tried to limit the violence. In the east, the Seljuk Turks, who were Muslims, defeated the Byzantine army in 1071 and took much of Anatolia. They also held Jerusalem, a city holy to Christians, Muslims and Jews. The Byzantine emperor Alexius I asked the pope to send soldiers.
4In November 1095, at a church council in Clermont, France, Pope Urban II called on Christians to march east. Thousands answered, including many peasants as well as knights. In 1099 the crusaders captured Jerusalem after a siege in which many of the city's Muslim and Jewish people were killed. Muslim writers such as Ibn al-Qalanisi of Damascus called the crusaders Franks and described them as invaders. Later Crusades went on for almost two centuries, until the last crusader city, Acre, fell in 1291.
5The Crusades brought changes at home. Italian port cities such as Venice and Genoa grew rich carrying crusaders and goods, and spices, sugar and silk became more common in European markets. Many nobles sold land to pay for the journey, and many never returned. Towns grew as trade grew. Then in 1347 the Black Death reached Europe and killed perhaps a third of its people, leaving manors short of workers.