early middle ages

charlemagne

8th century

rector of the christian people

unified europe and saved literacy

carolingian miniscule

barbarian culture

shift to wergeld (blood money)

personal loyalty over written laws

feudalism

contracts between lords and vassals

decentralized political and military system

loyalty to serve in exchange for protection

gradual development to earning land

elements of feudalism

personal relationship

property element

decentralization of power

manorialism

economic system of the middle ages

based on peasant labor and local self-sufficiency

significance

survival era

no central army to stop viking attacks

local society needed