HISTORY

THEME 6 : THE THREE ORDERS

Question 1.Describe the socio-economic and political changes that occurred in Western
Europe between the ninth and sixteenth centuries?
Answer. The socio-economic and political changes which occurred in Western Europe
between the ninth and sixteenth centuries are as follows :-
● After the fall of the Roman Empire, many groups of Germanic people from eastern
and central Europe occupied regions of Italy, Spain and France.
● In the absence of any unifying political force, military conflict was frequent and the
need to gather resources to protect one's land became very important.
● Social organisation became centred on the control of land.
● Christianity, the official religion of the Roman empire from the fourth century, survived

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the collapse of Rome and gradually spread to central and northern Europe.
● The power and authority of the Church grew as now it became a major landholder
and political power in Europe.
● The system of the three orders i.e. Christian priests, landowning nobles and

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peasants, became entrenched in European society.

Question 2.Name the three orders that emerged in Europe between the ninth and sixteenth
centuries.
Answer. The ‘three orders’ were the three social categories :-
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● Christian Priests or Clergy
● Landowning Nobles or Nobility
● Peasantry
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Question 3.Fill in the blanks :-

(A) After the fall of the Roman Empire, many groups of ______________ from the eastern
and central Europe occupied regions of Italy, Spain and France.
Answer. Germanic People
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(B) Social organisation in Europe between the ninth and sixteenth centuries was centred on
the control of _______________.
Answer. Land
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(C) The term ________________ has been used by historians to describe the economic,
legal, political and social relationships that existed in Europe during the medieval era.
Answer. Feudalism

(D) The troops raised by the nobles were called __________________.

Answer. Feudal Levies

(E) The house of the lord was called ________________.

Answer. Manor

(F) ___________________ was a gifted musician and did much to develop the practice of
community singing of prayers in the Church.
Answer. Abbess Hildegard of Bingen
(G) In Benedictine monasteries, there was a manuscript with ___________ chapters of rules
which were followed by monks for many centuries.
Answer. 73

(H) Christian festivals of _________________ & __________________ became important

dates in feudal Europe from the fourth century onwards.
Answer. Christmas & Easter

(I) __________________ was an important part of a Christian’s life.

Answer. Pilgrimage

(J) Expansion in agriculture was accompanied by growth in three related areas :-

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_________________, __________________ & _______________.
Answer. Population, Trade & Towns

(K) ________________ was the basis of economic organisation in medieval Europe.

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Answer. Guild

(L) Today, France has a __________ form of government and England has a ___________.
Answer. Republican, Monarchy
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Question 4.What are the different sources that are used by historians to reconstruct the
history of Europe between the ninth and sixteenth centuries?
Answer. Sources that are used by historians to reconstruct the history of Europe between
the ninth and sixteenth centuries are as follows :-
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● Documents such as land ownership details, prices & legal cases, birth, marriage and
death records, etc.
● Semi-historical works including songs and stories.
● Material remains such as inscriptions in churches.
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Question 5.Which of the following French historians have worked extensively on feudalism?
(a) Marc Bloch (b) Karl Marx
(c) Lucien Febvre (d) Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie
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Answer : (a) Marc Bloch

Question 6.Which of the following books is authored by the French historian Marc Bloch?
(a) The Feudal World (b) The Feudal Ordering Of Europe
(c) The Three Orders (d) Feudal Society
Answer. (d) Feudal Society

Question 7.Who authored the book 'Feudal Society'? What is it about?

Answer. Celebrated historian and scholar Marc Bloch, who is one of the earliest scholars to
work extensively on feudalism, authored the book 'Feudal Society'. This book is about
European (particularly French) society between 900 and 1300 that describes the social
relations & hierarchies, land management and the popular culture of the period in
remarkable detail.
Question 8."History consists of much more than just political history, international relations
and the lives of great people." Identify the historian from the given statement. Elaborate on
his views and historical works.
Answer.
● Of the many scholars in France who have worked on feudalism, one of the earliest
was Marc Bloch.
● He was one of the group of scholars who argued that history consisted of much more
than just political history, international relations and the lives of great people.
● He emphasised the importance of geography in shaping human history and the need
to understand the collective behaviour or attitudes of groups of people.
● Marc Bloch’s ‘Feudal Society’ is about European (particularly French) society
between 900 and 1300, that describes the social relations & hierarchies, land
management and the popular culture of the period in remarkable detail.

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● His career was cut short tragically when he was shot by the Nazis during the Second
World War.

Question 9.The term 'medieval era' refers to the period in European history between :-

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(a) Fifth and fifteenth centuries
(c) Sixth and sixteenth centuries
Answer : (a) Fifth and fifteenth centuries
(b) Fourth and fourteenth centuries
(d) Third and thirteenth centuries

Question 10.The word 'feudalism' is derived from which of the following languages?
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(a) French (b) German (c) Hispanic (d) Dutch
Answer. German

Question 11.What does the word 'feud' mean?

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Answer. The German word 'feud' means 'a piece of land'.

Question 12.Write a brief note on feudalism. Shed some light on its features.
Answer.
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● The term 'feudalism' has been used by historians to describe the economic, legal,
political and social relationships that existed in Europe in the medieval era (period in
European history between the fifth and the fifteenth centuries).
● Derived from the German word 'feud', which means 'a piece of land', it refers to the
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kind of society that developed in medieval France, and later in England and Southern
Italy.
● Feudalism was marked by agricultural production around castles and 'manor houses',
where lords of the manor possessed land that was cultivated by peasants (free and
unfree) who pledged them loyalty, goods and services.
● These lords in turn pledged their loyalty to greater lords who were 'vassals' of the
kings.
● In an economic sense, feudalism refers to a kind of agricultural production which is
based on the relationship between lords and peasants. The latter cultivated their own
land as well as that of the lord.
● The peasants performed labour services for the lords, who in exchange provided
military protection.
● They also had extensive judicial control over peasants. Thus, feudalism went beyond
the economic to cover the social and political aspects of life as well.
 ● Although its roots have been traced to practices that existed in the Roman Empire
and during the age of the French King Charlemagne, feudalism as an established
way of life in large parts of Europe may be said to have emerged later, in the
eleventh century.

Question 13.The roots of feudalism have been traced to practices that existed during which
of the following reigns?
(a) Roman Empire (b) The age of the French king Charlemagne
(c) Both (a) and (b) (d) None of the above
Answer. (c)

Question 14.When did feudalism become an established way of life in large parts of
Europe?

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(a) Tenth century (b) Eleventh century
(c) Twelfth century (d) None of the above
Answer. (b) Eleventh century

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Question 15.Describe the nomenclature and establishment of France.
Answer.
● Gaul, a well-endowed province of the Roman Empire, had two extensive coastlines,
mountain ranges, long rivers, forests and large tracts of plains suited to agriculture.
● The Franks, a Germanic tribe, gave their name to Gaul, making it ‘France’.
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● From the sixth century, this region became a kingdom ruled by Frankish/French
kings, who were Christian.

Question 16.Which of the following provinces of the Roman empire had two extensive
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coastlines, mountain ranges, long rivers, forests and large tracts of plains suited to
agriculture?
(a) Gaul (b) Macedonia (c) Achaea (d) Lusitania
Answer. (a) Gaul
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Question 17.Which Germanic tribe gave their name to Gaul?

Answer. The Franks
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Question 18.Which of the following religions was followed by Frankish/French kings?

(a) Islam (b) Christianity (c) Judaism (d) They did not follow any religion
Answer. (b) Christianity

Question 19.Which title was bestowed upon King Charlemagne in 800 by the Pope?
Answer. Holy Roman Emperor

Question 20.Describe the main features of the second order of European society. How were
they linked with the other orders and the king?
Answer.
● The second order of European society consisted of the nobility i.e. landowning
nobles.
● The nobility had a central role in social processes. This is because they controlled
land.
 ● This control was the outcome of a practice called ‘vassalage’.
● The big landowners – the nobles – were vassals of the king, and peasants were
vassals of the landowners.
● A nobleman accepted the king as his seigneur (senior) and they made a mutual
promise : the seigneur/lord (‘lord’ was derived from a word meaning one who
provided bread) would protect the vassal, who would be loyal to him.
● This relationship involved elaborate rituals and exchange of vows taken on the Bible
in a Church.
● At this ceremony, the vassal received a written charter or a staff or even a clod of
earth as a symbol of the land that was being given to him by his master.
● The noble enjoyed a privileged status.
● He had absolute control over his property, in perpetuity.
● He could raise troops called ‘feudal levies’.

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● The lord held his own courts of justice and could even coin his own money.
● He was the lord of all the people settled on his land.
● He owned vast tracts of land which contained his own dwellings, his private fields,
pastures, homes and fields of his tenant-peasants.
●
●

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His house was called a manor.
His private lands were cultivated by peasants, who were also expected to act as
foot-soldiers in battle when required, in addition to working on their own farms.

Question 21.Which of the following systems was the prime-most reason behind the control
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over land in feudal-medieval Europe?
(a) Hierarchical ordering (b) Vassalage
(c) Fiefdom (d) None of the above
Answer. (b) Vassalage
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Question 22.Which of the following was not given to the vassal during the ceremony of
elaborate rituals and exchange of vows between the lord and the vassal that took place in
the Church?
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(a) A crown (b) A written charter (c) A staff (d) A clod of earth
Answer. (a)

Question 23.Write a brief note on the manorial estate.

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Answer.
● A lord had his own manor-house.
● He also controlled villages.
● A small manorial estate could contain a dozen families, while larger estates might
include fifty or sixty.
● Almost everything needed for daily life was found on the estate : grain was grown in
the fields, blacksmiths & carpenters maintained the lord’s implements and repaired
his weapons, while stonemasons looked after his buildings.
● Women spun and wove fabric, and children worked in the lord’s wine-presses.
● The estate had extensive woodlands and forests where the lords hunted.
● They contained pastures where his cattle and his horses grazed.
● The manor, however, could not be completely self-sufficient because salt, millstones,
metalware and luxury items had to be obtained from outside sources.
● There was a Church on the estate and a castle for defence.
Question 24.Which of the following activities was not followed by the people residing in the
manorial estates?
(a) Wine-pressing (b) Agriculture (c) Carpentry (d) Instrument-making
Answer. (d) Instrument-making

Question 25.Describe the main features of the social order of knights. Why were they vital in
the feudal world of Europe?
Answer.
● From the ninth century, there were frequent localised wars in Europe.
● The amateur peasant-soldiers were not sufficient and good cavalry was needed.
● This led to the growing importance of a new section of people – the knights.
● They were linked to the lords, just as the latter were linked to the king.

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● The lord gave the knight a piece of land (called ‘fief’) that could be inherited.
● It extended to anything between 1,000 and 2,000 acres or more, including a house
for the knight and his family, a Church and other establishments to house his
dependents, besides a watermill and a wine-press.

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● As in the feudal manor, the land of the fief was cultivated by peasants.
● In exchange, the knight paid his lord a regular fee and promised to fight for him in
war.
● To keep up their skills, knights spent time each day fencing and practising tactics with
dummies.
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● A knight might serve more than one lord but his foremost loyalty was to his own lord.

Question 26.What was a fief?

Answer. A piece of land given to the knights by their lords in medieval Europe was known as
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a 'fief'. It was a small estate measuring between 1,000 and 2,000 acres which consisted of
structures like a house for the knight and his family, a Church, houses for dependents, a
water mill and a wine-press.
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Question 27.What function did the 'Minstrel's Gallery' serve?

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Answer.
● In France, from the twelfth century, minstrels travelled from manor to manor, singing
songs which told stories – partly historical, partly invented – about brave kings and
knights.
● In an age when not too many people could read and manuscripts were few, these
travelling bards were very popular.
● Many manors had a narrow balcony above a large hall where the people of the
manor gathered for meals.
● This was the Minstrel's Gallery, from where singers entertained nobles while they
feasted.

Question 28.Describe the main features of the first order of European society. Elaborate on
their powers and appointments to the religious office of clergy.

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Answer.
● The Christians in Europe were guided by bishops and clerics – who constituted the
first ‘order’.
● Bishops were the religious nobility.

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● Like lords who owned vast landed estates, the bishops also had the use of vast
estates and lived in grand palaces.
● At the head of the western Church was the Pope who lived in Rome.
● The Catholic Church had its own laws, owned lands given to it by rulers and could
levy taxes.
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● It was thus a very powerful institution which did not depend on the king.
● The Church was entitled to a tenth share of whatever the peasants produced from
their land over the course of the year, called a ‘tithe’.
● Money also came in the form of endowments made by the rich for their own welfare
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and the welfare of their deceased relatives in the afterlife.

● Most villages had their own Church, where people assembled every Sunday to listen
to the sermon by the priest and to pray together.
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Question 29.Everyone did not have access to the religious office of priesthood. Comment.
Answer. In the feudal world of Europe, everyone did not have access to the religious office
of priesthood. Serfs were banned, as were the physically challenged. Women could not
become priests either. It is only unmarried and celibate men who could become priests in
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medieval Europe.

Question 30.The religious and the lay worlds of feudalism shared many customs and
symbols. Comment.
Answer.
● Some of the important ceremonies conducted by the Church copied formal customs
of the feudal elite.
● The act of kneeling while praying, with hands clasped and head bowed, was an exact
replica of the way in which a knight conducted himself whilst taking vows of loyalty to
his lord.
● Similarly, the use of the term ‘lord’ for God was another example of feudal culture that
found its way into the practices of the Church.
● Thus we can say that the religious and the lay worlds of feudalism shared many
customs and symbols.
Question 31.The Church was entitled to a tenth share of whatever the peasants produced
from their land over the course of the year. What was the share called?
Answer. Tithe

Question 32. Assertion (A) : Some of the important ceremonies conducted by the Church
copied formal customs of the feudal elites.
Reason (R) : The religious and the lay worlds of feudalism shared many customs and
symbols.
(a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A
(b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A
(c) A is true but R is false
(d) A is false but R is true

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Answer. (a)

Question 33.What was the role of Christianity in feudal Europe?

Answer.

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● Christianity was the religion that had survived the collapse of Rome.
● The Church was an independent law-making body and it acted as an all-pervasive
force throughout Europe.
● On this basis, clergy was the first order of the feudal society.
● The Pope was the supreme head of the Catholic Church and Christians in Europe
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were guided by bishops and priests.
● In a world where uncertainties of life, poor medical advancement and low life
expectancy were common, the Church showed people how to behave so that life
after death would be tolerable.
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● Monasteries were created where god-fearing people could devote themselves to the
service of God in a way Catholic churchmen thought fit.
● This made the Church an extremely powerful candidate in the gamble for power.
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Question 34.What are abbeys or monasteries?

Answer. In Christianity, some deeply religious people chose to live isolated lives in contrast
to clerics who lived amongst people in towns and villages.
Abbeys or monasteries were religious communities, often in places very far from human
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habitation, where such religious people used to live. In fact, the word ‘monastery’ is derived
from the Greek word ‘monos’, meaning someone who lives alone.

Question 35.Describe the life of monks and nuns in a monastery.

Answer.
● Apart from the Church, devout Christians who chose to live isolated lives had another
kind of organisation - abbeys or monasteries.
● These were religious communities, often in places very far from human habitation.
● Monks took vows to remain in the abbey for the rest of their lives and to spend their
time in prayer, study and manual labour such as farming.
● Unlike priesthood, this life was open to both men and women – men became monks
and women nuns.
● Except in a few cases, all abbeys were single-sex communities i.e there were
separate abbeys for men and women.
 ● Like priests, monks and nuns did not marry.
● From small communities of 10 or 20 men/women, monasteries grew to communities
often of several hundred, with large buildings, attached schools or colleges and
hospitals.
● They also contributed to the development of the arts.

Question 36.Name the two monasteries that were widely known in medieval Europe?
Answer. Two of the most well-known monasteries were those established by Saint Benedict
in Italy in 529 and of Cluny in Burgundy in 910.

Question 37.Who were friars?

Answer. Friars were a group of monks who chose not to be based in a monastery but to
move from place to place, preaching to the people and living on charity.

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Question 38.By the fourteenth century, there was a growing uncertainty about the value and
purpose of monasticism. Name two literary sources that have helped historians in
understanding this uncertainty.

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Answer. The two literary sources are as follows :-
● The poem “Piers Plowman” by the poet Langland of England.
● Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales

Question 39.Why did the peasants welcome 'holy days'?

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Answer. Overworked peasants welcomed ‘holy days’/holidays because they were not
expected to work then. These days were meant for prayer, but people usually spent a good
part of them having fun and feasting.
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Question 40.Who are palmers?

Answer. A monk who travels to distant shrines is referred to as a palmer.

Question 41.Describe the main features of the third order of European society.
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Answer. The third order consisted of the vast majority of people who sustained the first two
orders i.e. the cultivators. These cultivators were of two kinds : free peasants and serfs
(peasant-slaves).
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FREE PEASANTS
● Free peasants held their farms as tenants of the lord and had to set aside certain
days of the week (usually three) to work on the lord’s estate.
● The output from such labour, called labour-rent, would go directly to the lord.
● In addition, they were also required to do other unpaid labour services, like digging
ditches, gathering firewood, building fences and repairing roads and buildings.
● The men had to render military service (at least forty days every year).
● Women and children spun thread, wove cloth, made candles and pressed grapes to
prepare wine for the lord’s use.
● They also had to pay a direct tax imposed by the kings called ‘taille’ (the clergy and
nobility were exempted from paying this).
SERFS
● Serfs cultivated plots of land, but these belonged to the lord. Therefore, much of the
produce from this land had to be given to the lord.
● They also had to work on the land which belonged exclusively to the lord.
● They received no wages and could not leave the estate without the lord’s permission.
● The lord also claimed a number of monopolies at the expense of his serfs.
● Serfs could use only their lord’s mill to grind their flour, his oven to bake their bread,
and his wine-presses to distil wine and beer.
● The lord could decide whom a serf should marry, or might give his blessing to the
serf’s choice, but on payment of a fee.

Question 42.Name the direct tax imposed on peasants by the king that was not imposed on
the clergy and the nobility.

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Answer. Taille

Question 43.Describe the nomenclature of England. Also comment on the efforts of William
I in its establishment.
Answer.

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● The Angles and Saxons, from central Europe, had settled in England in the sixth
century.
● Therefore, the country’s name - England, is a variant of ‘Angle-land’.
● In the eleventh century, William I - the Duke of Normandy, crossed the English
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Channel with an army and defeated the Saxon king of England.
● William I had the land mapped and distributed it in sections to 180 Norman nobles
who had migrated with him.
● This led to the rise of feudalism in England in the eleventh century.
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● The lords became the chief tenant of the king and were expected to give him military
help.
● They were obliged to supply a certain number of knights to the king.
● They soon began to gift some of their own lands to knights who would serve them
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just as they in turn served the king.

● They could not, however, use their knights for private warfare (which was forbidden in
England).
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Question 44.Name the groups of people from Central Europe who settled in England during
the sixth century.
Answer. The Angles and the Saxons

Question 45.Which of the following rulers had their newly-conquered land mapped and
distributed amongst his nobles who had migrated with him?
(a) King Charlemagne (b) Louis XIV
(c) William I (d) None of the above
Answer. (c)
Question 46.Changes in environment, agricultural technology and land use pattern
impacted the socio-economic ties between the lords and vassals. Elucidate the given
statement with the help of examples.
Answer. Changes in environment, agricultural technology and land use patterns impacted
the socio-economic ties between the lords and the vassals.

BEFORE
Environment : From the fifth to the tenth centuries, most of Europe was covered with vast
forests. Thus the land available for agriculture was limited. Also, Europe was undergoing an
intensely cold climatic spell in this period. This led to severe and prolonged winters, a
shortened growing season for crops and reduced yields from agriculture.

Agricultural Technology : Agricultural technology was primitive. The only mechanical aid

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available to the peasants was the wooden plough, drawn by a team of oxen. Agriculture was
therefore very labour intensive.

Land Use : An ineffective method of crop rotation was in use. The land was divided in half,

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one field was planted in autumn with winter wheat, while the other field was left fallow. Rye
was planted on this piece of fallow land the next year while the other half was put to fallow.
With this system, the soil slowly deteriorated and famines became common.

AFTER
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Environment : From the eleventh century, Europe entered a warm phase. Average
temperatures increased, which had a profound effect on agriculture. Peasants now had a
longer growing season and the soil, now less subjected to frost, could be more easily
ploughed.
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Agricultural Technology : By the eleventh century, there is evidence of several

technological changes. Instead of the basic wooden ploughs, cultivators began using heavy
iron-tipped ploughs and mould-boards. The methods of harnessing animals to the plough
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improved. Instead of the neck-harness, the shoulder-harness came into use. Horses were
now better shod with iron horseshoes, which prevented foot decay. There was also an
increased use of wind and water energy for agriculture.
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Land Use : The most revolutionary change came in the land use pattern where there was a
switch from a two-field to a three-field system. This meant that farmers could break their
holdings into three fields. They could plant one with wheat or rye in autumn for human
consumption. The second could be used in spring to raise peas, beans and lentils for human
use, and oats and barley for the horses. The third field lay fallow. Each year they rotated the
use among the three fields.

CONCLUSION
With these improvements, there was an almost immediate increase in the amount of food
produced from each unit of land. For cultivators, it meant better opportunities. Therefore from
the eleventh century, the personal bonds that had been the basis of feudalism were
weakening thereby changing the socio-economic ties between the lords and vassals.
Question 47.'Town air makes free'. Comment on the roots of this popular saying in feudal
Europe.
Answer.
● In towns, instead of services, people paid a tax to the lords who owned the land on
which the town stood.
● Towns offered the prospect of paid work and freedom from the lord’s control for
young people from peasant families.
● That's why many serfs (craving to be free) ran away and hid in towns.
● Hence the popular saying - ‘town air makes free’.

Question 48.Who constituted the fourth order?

Answer. Skilled, unskilled and specialised labour residing in towns such as free peasants,
escaped serfs, shopkeepers, merchants, artisans, bankers and lawyers constituted the

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fourth order of the medieval European society.

Question 49.What are guilds?

Answer. Guilds are associations which control the quality of a specific product, its price and

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its sale. Each craft or industry has its own guild.

Question 50.Describe the growth, importance and architectural features of Cathedral-towns.

Answer.
● From the twelfth century, large churches – called cathedrals – were being built in
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France.
● These belonged to monasteries, but different groups of people contributed to their
construction with their own labour, materials or money.
● Cathedrals were built of stone and took many years to complete.
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● As they were being built, the area around the cathedrals became more populated,
and when they were completed they became centres of pilgrimage.
● Thus, small towns developed around them.
● Architecturally-speaking, cathedrals were designed so that the priest’s voice could be
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heard clearly within the hall where large numbers of people gathered, and so that the
singing by monks could sound beautiful and the chiming bells calling people to prayer
could be heard over a great distance.
● Stained glass was used for windows.
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 ● During the day the sunlight would make them radiant for people inside the cathedral,
and after sunset the light of candles would make them visible to the people outside.
● The stained glass windows narrated the stories in the Bible through pictures which
illiterate people could ‘read’.

Question 51.By the early fourteenth century, Europe's economic expansion slowed down.
State three reasons for the same.
Answer. By the early fourteenth century, Europe’s economic expansion slowed down. This
was due to three factors.

(A) Environmental Factors

By the end of the thirteenth century, the warm summers of the previous 300 years had given
way to bitterly cold summers. Seasons for growing crops were reduced and land

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deterioration became inevitable. The shortage of pasturage reduced the number of cattle.
Population growth was outstripping resources and the immediate result was famine.

(B) Severe Shortage Of Metal Money

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Trade was hit by a severe shortage of metal money in the fourteenth century because of a
shortfall in the output of silver mines in Austria and Serbia. This forced governments to
reduce the silver content of the currency and to mix it with cheaper metals.

(C) Black Death Epidemic

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As trade expanded in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, ships carrying goods from
distant countries had started arriving in European ports. Along with the ships came rats –
carrying the deadly bubonic plague infection also known as the ‘Black Death’.
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As trade centres, cities were the hardest hit. The population of Europe, 73 million in 1300,
stood reduced to 45 million in 1400. This catastrophe, combined with the economic crisis,
caused immense social dislocation and unrest.
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Question 52.What were the main features of the royal absolutist states that emerged in the
fifteenth-sixteenth centuries?
Answer.
● The dissolution of the feudal system of lordship and vassalage, and the slow rate of
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economic growth led to the rise of a new political system in medieval Europe known
as Royal Absolutism.
● In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, European kings strengthened their military
and financial power.
● They dispensed with the system of feudal levies for their armies and introduced
professionally trained infantry equipped with guns and siege artillery directly under
their control.
● By increasing taxes, these monarchs got enough revenues to support larger armies
and thus defended and expanded their frontiers and overcame internal resistance to
royal authority.
● Historians have therefore called these kings ‘the new monarchs’.
● Louis XI in France, Maximilian in Austria, Henry VII in England and Isabelle &
Ferdinand in Spain were absolutist rulers, who started the process of organising
 standing armies, a permanent bureaucracy, national taxation and overseas
expansion.
● The nobility managed a tactical shift in order to ensure their survival. From being
opponents to the new regimes, they quickly transformed themselves into loyalists.
● It is for this reason that royal absolutism has been called ‘a modified form of
feudalism’ as the lords continued to dominate the political scene.

SOURCE BASED QUESTIONS

1.Read the source carefully and answer the questions that follow.

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ID
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(A) What was the source of origin of the concept of “three orders”?
Answer. The concept of “three orders” is believed to have originated from the speech of a
bishop who stated that here, on Earth - some prayed, others fought and the rest worked i.e.
the clergy, the nobility and the peasantry.
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(B) Who believed in the concept that people were members of one of the “three orders”
depending upon their work?
Answer. French Priests
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(C) On what basis was the concept of the “three orders” premised?
Answer. The concept of the “three orders” was premised on the basis of occupation.
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(D) Who wrote : 'God makes distinctions among his flock, in heaven as on earth. All are
loved by him, yet there is no equality among them.'
Answer. Abbess Hildegard of Bingen

(E) Mention the essence of the given source.

Answer. In the given source, Abbess Hildegard of Bingen says that as cows, donkeys,
sheeps and goats have different characteristics from one another and therefore cannot be
put in a single enclosure, human beings similarly; require different settings in the society.

(F) Why was it necessary to establish differences amongst human beings as per the author?
Answer. According to the author - Abbess Hildegard of Bingen - it was necessary to
establish differences amongst human beings so that they don't destroy each other.
(G) Give another example of such a gradation and/or hierarchical classification of human
beings based on occupation.
Answer. The Varna System of India

2.Read, Reflect & Write.

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ID
Connect the given source with COVID-19 Pandemic and write a brief analysis in your
own words.
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MAP SKILL BASED QUESTIONS

(A) Map Of Europe

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AT
SH

Learn The Location Of France, England, Spain & Rome In The Political Map Of Europe
(B) Map Showing France & England

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(C) English Channel
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AK
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(D) Normandy
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