MEDIEVAL LIFE IN EUROPE 289

sheaves of oats, three hens, one cock yearly, and five eggs
at Easter.' Conditions varied, for better or for worse, in
different places, but serfdom survived in Western Europe
until the French Revolution (1789) and further east until
more recent times.

In those rough times there was no sovereign law that was
universally recognised, except the canon law of the Church.
In secular matters custom and tradition ruled. Ordeal and
battle decided disputes which could not be otherwise settled.
The accused person had very often to prove his innocence
by tests of fire or water, In the last resort the disputants
would be allowed to fight each other according to rules and
justice was declared to be on the side of the victor; for it
was considered to be the judgment of God.

Knight-errantry was a typical institution of the Middle
Ages. It was governed by the highly developed code of
chivalry. The free landlords took to it as the most
honourable profession. The Crusades afforded a very
congenial atmosphere for its development and refinement.
Where no other just cause was to be found the knights
fought each other for sheer entertainment. Individual jousts
and group tournaments were very common in medieval times,
They were the survivals of the Greek games and the Roman
circuses. But unlike the brutal gladiators the knights mostly
combated each other with blunt weapons when it was not
a real fight. The barbarians were used to fighting on foot.
But the contacts of the Saracens had established the superior-
ity of the horse. The knight was a mounted warrior armed
cap-a-pie. The term "chivalry" is itself derived from the
French word for horse. A vivid portrayal of this medieval
atmosphere is to be found in Scott's Ivanhoe.

The feudal system, though it was the natural outcome of
the circumstances obtaining in the Middle Ages and rendered