11 sentences with “lords”

In general, vassals did not have to pay taxes to their feudal lords (all tax revenue came from the peasants).

Over time, the relationship between feudal lords and kings was formalised into a system of mutual protection (or even a protection racket).

In 1525, Luther wrote a venomous attack on the rebels entitled "Against the Hordes of Thieving and Murderous Peasants" which encouraged the lords to kill the peasants like dogs.

In the process, medieval politics evolved over time into a hierarchical, class-based structure in which kings, lords and priests ruled over the vast majority of the population: the peasants.

Thus, by 1200, most Italian cities were politically independent of the lords and came to dominate their respective hinterlands, serving as lords over "vassal" towns and villages for miles around.

Henry also seized the lands of rebellious lords and banned private armies. The result was a streamlined political system under his control and a nobility that remained loyal to him out of both fear and genuine loyalty.

The immediate effect of the Black Death was that lords tried to prevent their peasants from fleeing the land and to keep wages at the low levels they were at before the plague struck, provoking several peasant uprisings.

Economies were almost entirely local; feudal lords and local kings extracted wealth from peasants, but since there was nowhere to sell surplus food, peasants tended to grow only what they needed to survive, using methods that did not change for centuries.

Many of the crusaders were minor lords or landless knights, men who had few prospects at home but who now had the opportunity to make something of themselves in the name of liberating the Holy Land. Thus, most crusaders combined ambition and greed with genuine Christian piety.

Similarly, the feudal system had never been so entrenched in Italy: there were lords and vassals, but especially in the cities there was a large and strong independent class of artisans and merchants who resisted submission to the lords, especially those who did not live in the cities.

One of the effects of this new approach was the numerous outbreaks of anti-Semitic violence in Europe; many Crusaders attacked Jewish communities in Europe as the Crusaders made their way to the Holy Land, and many kings and lords enacted anti-Semitic laws inspired by the new fervent and intolerant brand of Christian identity that emerged from the Crusades.