Read Feudal Documents including Duties of Vassals and Lords, Charter of Homage and Fealty (1110 A.D.), and Formula for Conducting the Ordeal of Boiling Water:
http://historymuse.net/readings/feudaldocuments.html
Please make sure to read and answer all the guiding questions pertaining to the prompt you have selected. Remember that your answer to the question must utilize information from the assigned readings, so it would be appropriate to support your answer with short quotes from the text. While quotes can be helpful, please do not overuse them.
Please organize your answers in accordance with the following guidelines:
Based on the narrative by Bishop Fulbert, what can the lord and his vassal expect from one another in their relationship? Why is the “oath of fealty” also important?
What was a fief? Why is this important to the second document, The Charter of Homage and Fealty?
As a Bishop, what obligations would Fulbert have to the Church? How about the Pope? What could conceivably occur if war or other conflict cut communications between Rome and Fulberts Church in Chartres?
Why would people during this time period believe in the use of the Ordeal of Boiling Water to settle an issue of justice?
