Author Bio: Bishop Fulbert of Chartres. He was the Bishop of the Cathedral of Chartres, was responsible for one of its many reconstructions and also taught at the Cathedral school.
Context: Feudalism is a decentralized form of power with very distinct classes. In classic Feudalism there was the King on top, then lords who reigned over a region and vassals who were the class beneath the lords. Vassals swore fealty or loyalty to a lord and in return would receive a section of land or a fief that they could harvest a crop on. Along with their fealty the vassals would also pay homage, meaning that they would fight on the lord's command in order to protect him and the lord promised to protect the vassal from external forces. This type of feudalism was mainly based on military service.
Summary: Bishop Fulbert writes this letter to Duke William of Aquitanians on the relationship between a lord and his vassal. The Bishop believes that the lord and the vassal have an equal relationship in the respect they show for each other. The vassal should always remember to be harmless, safe, honorable, useful, easy and practicable to the lord. The vassal should not only be those six things and avoid doing evil but he also needs to do good. If he does not perform any good, then his avoidance of the bad has no meaning. A vassal should always look to counsel and help his lord in order to keep the worth to the fealty he swore. On the other hand, the lord in return should also be those 6 things because otherwise he will be looked upon with bad faith.
Key Quotation: "However, that the faithful vassal should avoid these injuries is proper, but not for this does he deserve his holding; for it is not sufficient to abstain from evil, unless what is good is done also."
I think that you did a great job of CASKing and analyzing this passage. The context that you provided on the workings of feudalism was very detailed and provided a good background for the text. The summary also described the text very well and addresses all the points that the Bishop highlighted, and the quote was relevant since the text does emphasize the necessity for the vassal to both refrain from evil towards the lord, obviously, but also to treat him with the respect he deserves as lord and master.
ReplyDeleteThat said, there were also some things that could be improved. The background information about the author, the Bishop, did not really investigate any bias that he would have regarding the feudal system, and thus this section could probably have been improved by including the Bishop's relationship with the feudal system, and possibly his connection to the Duke of Aquitanians, to whom he is writing the letter. Regarding the summary of the text, I'm not entirely sure that the Bishop intended for the relationship of the lord and vassal to be "equal," since although the text talks about the lord "reciprocally" treating the vassal with respect and dignity, I think that the vassal's submissiveness towards the lord is still a key aspect as well. Finally, although I liked the quote that you chose, maybe one that would back up your assertion of the mutual respect of lord and vassal would have been a good choice as well, such as "the lord also ought to act towards his faithful vassal reciprocally in all these things," or something along those lines.
Excellent work! Just a few other points to consider... Bishop Fulbert of Chartres (ca. 960-1028 CE) was the founder of the cathedral school at Chartres, whose curriculum was based on the seven liberal arts, greatly contributing to the 12th century Renaissance and the emergence of Christian humanism. This particular piece describes the reciprocal relationship between lord and vassal and emphasizes the teachings of early Christianity (as reflected in the Sermon on the Mount).
ReplyDeleteAnother quote to consider: "He who swears fealty to his lord ought always to have these six things in mind: what is harmless, safe, honorable, useful, easy, practicable."