1. The Roman Empire was in decline. Rome was never the same from the 6th century on. When the split of the Empire occurred and could not be solved Rome was falling. Rome was at its best when it was conquering new territory. Once there was no more territory to conquer, Rome became disinterested.

2. Barbarians invade Europe. The most influential band was the Vikings. However, there were many other tribes that invaded Rome during the late period of their empire. Some of the other bands were the Goths, Visogoths, and Huns. The Huns are most remembered by their one leader Attila. Attila was able to push Rome more than any other culture since the Carthaginians of Hannibal in the 3rd century BC.

3. Lastly, government was not strong enough to protect and serve the common people. The military had no solution for the barbarian invasions, and the government could not police the crime and violence of this time period. People started looking towards strong land owners who had their own private armies. They were called Lords.

Now, these people did not have money to pay for this service, but they did have something these lords wanted. Give up, cheap labor.

Now let's look at this contract the following way. What did the Lords provide; what did the common people provide; what did the Lords receive; and what did the common people receive. Now this goes two ways, the physical part of the contract and also the mental part of the contract.

Physically, the Lords provide some solid barriers. The common people were able to hide behind the walls of the Lords' castle in case of attack. The Lord also provided soldiers to protect the common people in times of attack. Besides soldiers, it was the Lord's right to provide justice and protection to all in his area.

The common people had no real money to provide for these services, but what money they had was given to the Lord in the form of yearly taxes. These people were not slaves, but not far from it. The common person was ignorant and illiterate. They agreed to contracts out of faith and necessity. The church would back the Lords in times of crisis or conflict.

Crisis meant literary when the manor was attacked. Conflict when the commoners, or serfs believed that they were being cheated. Probably 95% of the time they really were being cheated, but the church was in the Lord's back pocket. On a side note, the history of the church was not very admirable at this time.

The majority of the services the common people provided were manual labor. Manors were self sufficient. That means they did not need materials or services from outside the manor. The majority of the men and women would work the Lord's fields and farm animals. They would also make the weapons and other materials necessary for battle and protection.

Women were required for other things besides manual field labor. Women would work in the Lord's stronghold, or if he was rich enough, his castle. They would be his maids, cooks, waitresses, sewers, and any other household requirements. Unfortunately, common woman and noble women were seen differently. Common women were at the mercy of noble men all the time.

Extra Credit Crossword Puzzle

The agreement for the common people was a pledge for life, or at least until the contract was fulfilled. However, it was never fulfilled, the Lords would renegotiate the contract and make it generational. Other requirements of the common people were to march into battle when called upon; giving daughters for marriage regardless of the intentions of the men; paying the ransom of the Lord if he was ever to be captured during battle; hunting posses; and sitting on jury duty.

Mentally what did the Lord receive? Money, but that was very little, and raw materials that could be sold to the cities. Besides conquest of other lords, money was made by taking their raw materials to the cities to be sold. The Lord's also received power over all parts of his manor. Namely, he was a god on earth. His law and will was final. The ability to control all was more desirable than money.

So far it seems that the Lords got the best part of the contract, but let's look at what the vassals received. The vassals received a piece of land to live on always. This was important because these times were very unstable. Even if the Lord was defeated and lost all of his power, all nobles recognized the importance of the commoners. Therefore, regardless of who was in charge, they always had a home.

The commoners also received protection from barbarians and also thieves. Feeling safe for the good and hard working is priceless. Think about it, do you lock your doors at night? If so, why? Knowing that the Lord was protecting the people made them loyal, and this made it able to look past other minor discrepancies.