SOCIAL CLASSES
LIEGE LORDS:
The new social divided society into nobility and vassals. Five
different groups can be established within the nobility:
Counts: At the top of the hierarchy.
Viscounts: their political role diminished and some families
became extinct.
Comdors: Members of the military aristocracy. They were
the largest body within the nobility. They came from a double
origin: on the one hand, they were the descendants of the old
nobility; on the other hand, they were the children, grandsons
and great-grandsons of those who had revolted, those called "
veguers."
These 3 groups would form what we call the upper- nobility. On
the other hand, the lower-nobility was numerically superior but
they were less powerful.
Castlans and knights: They were in an intermediate position
between the barons and the peasants and they had to subject the
peasants to the lords.
Militate: they were to be found in the castles. In many
cases they had a humble origin, they came from the rural world.
Two were the requirements for a peasant to become part of the
lower-nobility:
- To have a worthy economic position.
- A knighting ceremony where the vassal swore his fidelity to
the liege lord.
THE DAILY LIFE OF THE LIEGE LORDS .
Not all the inhabitants of the castle shared the same social
condition. It is difficult to specify the number of people that
lived in a castle. The number of beds could be a hint, but in
many occasions several people slept in the same bed .
In Winter the liege lords spent most of the day in bed because
of the darkness and the cold. Their bedrooms were large and the
bed the main element. The bedrooms of the servants were usually
collective.
The living room was used as a dining room and a place were to
gather. Bread and wine were staple food. Vegetables, poultry,
and pork were also basic foods. Honey was used as a sweetener
while apples, dry figs and nuts were the most abundant fruits.
During the summer the liege lords enjoyed more free time although
they were in charge of administrative tasks, since this period
coincided with the harvest.
The liege lords received from the peasants rural tithes and
censuses in species. The castle was also the centre of the farming
estate. Book-keeping was also carried out by the lords. Apart
from that the liege lords devoted their free time to their main
hobbies: chess, hunting, reading and writing .
On the other hand, the ladies devoted their free time to their
physical aspect and to the care of their bodies.
The monks that inhabited the monasteries can also be included
in the nobility, since they had lands and properties. The life
of the monks in rural communities consisted in adoring God, devoting
their lives to the cult, cultivating the lands and administering
their properties.