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Good morning, class. Today we are going to start a big unit on government. Before the rise of the nation-state and absolute monarchies, Europe went through a period known as feudalism. Like our concept of democracy, feudalism had many forms and varied by location and time period.
Let's see, feudalism originated by mixing Roman law with Germanic tradition. The Germanic warriors that lived about 3,000 years ago had a tradition of electing a supreme warrior as leader. After battles, he would collect all of the spoils and distribute them fairly among all the warriors. (16) The term feudalism is defined by three principle terms: They are lords, vassals, and fiefs.
(17) Okay, a lord, in feudalism, is a person that owns land. He temporarily gives this land to another person, called a vassal. The vassal enters this contract so he may gain the land. Land sizes varied, from the size of a small farm, to huge counties. The vassal gained the revenues generated by the land, usually in the form of fanning products.
What did the lord get? At this time, there were no standing armies. There were no professional soldiers. The vassal swore allegiance to the lord. (18) In times of trouble, the lord could call upon the vassal to fight for the lord. This guaranteed the security of the lord.
Other details were often included in feudal deals. For example, since the lord still owned the land and merely lent the land to the vassal, the lord still had to maintain the land and defend it. The vassal, many times, would be required to grind his wheat and bake his bread in the ovens and mills owned by the lord, who then could collect taxes.
Umm, oh, yes, the vassals also acted as counselors to the lord. (18) During times of crisis, the lords would often hold meetings, calling together all the vassals to help them decide major decisions, such as to go to war or not.
Ah, lastly, feudalism had many levels. What I mean is, a king could be a lord, giving aristocrats large lands, who then became his vassals. Those aristocrats were lords themselves, dividing up their land to lesser vassals. (19) The top of this hierarchy was the emperor, who was the lord to his vassal kings.
Feudalism declined when lords became strong enough to maintain a standing army and did not require the services of their vassals.
16. What are the three terms that define feudalism?
17. What is a lord in feudalism?
18. During times of crisis, what would the lords do?
19. Who is at the top of the hierarchy in feudalism?
文章二
同学们大家早上好。今天我们要开始学习一个全新的单元，这个单元讲的是政府。在单一民族国家和君主专制政体出现之前，欧洲经历了一段封建社会时期。和我们熟知的民主的概念类似，封建主义同样在不同时期、不同地区以多种形式存在。
我们来看一下，西欧封建制度最初是通过罗马封建制度和日耳曼社会传统融合而形成的。生活在3000年前的日耳曼战士的传统是将他们当中最强的战士选为领袖。战争结束后，这位领袖会收集所有的战利品并将其平均分发给所有的战士。封建制度是由三个基本的名词来定义的：封建领主、封臣和封地。
好的，封建领主是拥有土地的人。他把自己的土地暂时性地交给另外一个人，即封臣。封臣接受这样的契约关系以期获得封地。封地面积大小不一，小到一个小型农场，大到囊括几个郡。封臣的收入通常是他们封地中收获的农产品。
那领主能得到什么呢？在这个时期，没有常备军队。没有职业军人。封臣发誓效忠领主。战乱时期，领主可以召集封臣为其赴战。这样领主的安全便有了保障。
封建契约中还包括一些其他细节。比如，由于领主只是将土地借给封臣，他们仍掌握着土地的所有权，因此他们仍需维护这些土地。多数情况下，封臣需要在领主的磨坊磨小麦、用领主的烤箱烤面包，这样领主就可以对他们征税。
哦，还有，封臣们还担任这领主顾问的角色。危机时刻，领主会召集会议，聚集封臣帮助其作出决定，比如是否要开战的决定。
啊，最后，封建制度中存在着很多等级。我的意思是，国王可以是领主，将大量土地分封给贵族，贵族便成为了他们的封臣。贵族本身又是领主，将自己的封地分给低一级的封臣。这个等级制度的最顶端是君主，他是封臣们领主的领主。
领主的实力逐渐壮大，足以维持常备军队，不再需要封臣的服务，这时封建制度就没落了。
16.定义封建制度的三个名词是什么？
17.封建制度中领主是什么？
18.危机时刻，领主会怎么做？
19.封建等级制度的顶端是谁？
译文属可可原创，仅供学习和交流使用，未经允许不得转载
