Western Civilization

(Sean Pound) #1
considerably, castles did possess two common features:
they were permanent residences for the noble family,
its retainers, and servants, and they were defensible
fortifications. For defensive purposes, castles were sur-
rounded by open areas and large stone walls. At the
heart of the castle was the keep, a large, multistoried
building that housed kitchens, stables, and storerooms;
a great hall for visitors, dining, and administrative
business; and numerous rooms for sleeping and living.
The growing wealth of the High Middle Ages made it
possible for the European nobility to build more com-
plex castles with thicker walls and more elaborately
decorated interiors. With their sturdier construction,
castles were easier to defend and harder to seize
by force.

THE WAY OF THE WARRIOR At the age of seven or eight,
the sons of the nobility were sent either to a clerical
school to pursue a religious career or to another noble-
man’s castle, where they prepared for the life of a
noble. Those learning to be nobles chiefly learned mili-
tary lessons in how to joust, hunt, ride, and handle
weapons properly. After his apprenticeship in knight-
hood, at about the age of twenty-one, a young man for-
mally entered the adult world in a ceremony of
“knighting” during which a sponsor girded a sword on
the young candidate and struck him on the cheek or
neck with an open hand (or later touched him three
times on the shoulder with the blade of a sword), a cer-
emony that may have signified the passing of the spon-
sor’s military valor to the new knight.
In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, under the
influence of the church, an ideal of civilized behavior
calledchivalrygradually evolved among the nobility
that represented a code of ethics for knights. In addi-
tion to defending the church and the defenseless,
knights were expected to treat captives as honored
guests instead of putting them in dungeons. Chivalry
also implied that knights should fight only for glory,
but this account of a group of English knights by a me-
dieval writer reveals another motive for battle: “The
whole city was plundered to the last farthing, and then
they proceeded to rob all the churches throughout the
city,... and seizing gold and silver, cloth of all colors,
gold rings, goblets, and precious stones... they all
returned to their own lords rich men.”^2 Apparently,
not all chivalric ideals were taken seriously.
After his formal initiation into the world of war-
riors, a young man returned home to find himself once
again subject to his parents’ authority. Young men were
discouraged from marrying until their fathers died, at

which time they could marry and become lords of the
castle. Trained to be warriors but with no adult respon-
sibilities, young knights had little to do but fight. As
the church stepped up efforts to curb socially destruc-
tive fighting in the twelfth century, tournaments began
to be organized. Initially, a tournament consisted of a
melee, in which warriors on horseback fought with
blunted weapons in free-for-all combat. By late in the
century, the melee was preceded by a joust, or individ-
ual combat between two knights. Gradually, jousts
became the main part of the tournament. Knights saw
tournaments as an excellent way to train for war. As
one knight explained, “A knight cannot distinguish
himself in [war] if he has not trained for it in tourneys.
He must have seen his blood flow, heard his teeth crack
under fist blows, felt his opponent’s weight bear down
upon him as he lay on the ground and, after being
twenty times unhorsed, have risen twenty times to
fight.”^3

ARISTOCRATIC WOMEN Although women could legally
hold property, most women remained under the con-
trol of men—their fathers until they married (usually
at the age of fifteen or sixteen) and their husbands af-
ter they married. Nevertheless, aristocratic women had
numerous opportunities for playing important roles.
Because the lord was often away at war, on a crusade
(see Chapter 10), or at court, the lady of the castle had
to manage the estate, a considerable responsibility in
view of the fact that households, even of lesser aristo-
crats, could include large numbers of officials and serv-
ants. The lady of the castle was also often responsible
for overseeing the food supply and maintaining
all other supplies for the smooth operation of the
household.
Although women were expected to be subservient to
their husbands (see the box on p. 205), there were
many strong women who advised and sometimes even
dominated their husbands. Perhaps the most famous
was Eleanor of Aquitaine (ca. 1122–1204), heiress to
the duchy of Aquitaine in southwestern France. Mar-
ried to King Louis VII of France (1137–1180), Eleanor
accompanied her husband on a crusade, but her alleged
affair with her uncle during the crusade led Louis to
have their marriage annulled. Eleanor then married
Henry, duke of Normandy and count of Anjou, who
became King Henry II of England (1154–1189). She
took an active role in politics, even assisting her sons
in rebelling against Henry in 1173 and 1174.
Blanche of Castile (1188–1252) was another power-
ful medieval queen. She became regent while her son

Land and People in the High Middle Ages 203

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