Was the government in the middle ages nice?

Answer 1

Some governments of the Middle Ages were nice, and others were not.

During the thousand years the Middle Ages lasted, there were scores of countries in Europe, each with its own government. These countries were led by many hundreds of people in their time. The Byzantine Empire alone had over ninety of its own medieval monarchs. To characterize all these people as brutal cannot really be accurate for the same reasons that any broad subjective characterization of any group of people fails: they are not all alike.

There were many kinds of governments in the Middle Ages. Some governments were feudal, but there were several kinds of monarchies that were not feudal, some countries were republics, some were run by the Church or Church organizations, there even a few that were tribal. Some had strong leaders; others had leaders with very little actual power. Some governments were controlled by people who killed, enslaved, and tortured, but others were ruled by people who were very active in promoting the well being of their subjects, who were kind, and who were beloved. More than one was ruled by people canonized as saints.

We should also understand that the nature of feudal systems, as it existed in Europe during the Middle Ages, was not to have a strong central government headed by a powerful autocrat. Quite the contrary, feudal monarchies had weak central governments with power distributed through lords of varying rank, downward to the lords of manors. This is an important element of feudalism, and is, in fact, part of the definition. Though some feudal governments could be brutal, feudalism does not equate to brutality. It was not simply rule of the weak by the powerful. Torture and slavery were both illegal under many medieval legal systems, including some that were feudal.

There were hundreds of monarchs, and tens of thousands of lords, and ladies having a strong influence on the government of their own estates, some kind, and some not so kind. We might look at a few of those who were regarded as nice, and whose lives are abundantly documented:

• Louis IX of France is best remembered as Saint Louis. He ruled during a time in the Middle Ages called the "Golden Century of Saint Louis." It was a time when France was considered the greatest nation in Europe, but this was not because of military power. Rather it was because of the benevolence and fairness he inspired. It was a time when France was a great center of the arts, and when his people were very prosperous. He was a great arbiter of quarrels among other monarchs, and is credited with preventing wars by his fair judgement. If the Nobel Peace Prize existed at the time, he would no doubt have won it; he was recognized as a saint instead.
• King Edward III of England married a woman named Philippa of Hainault. There were a number of occasions on which she took control of the government of England, acting as his regent, and there were other occasions when he was governing that she interceded on behalf of people she felt needed her help, making her influence felt in governmental moderation. Her kindness and devotion to the people of England made her a very popular queen, even though she was not English herself. Her generous and sweet nature were widely commented on.
• Queen Margaret I of Denmark acted as a regent for her young son Olaf, who was too young to rule. She ruled so wisely and well, that where her son died, the Danish nobility asked her to take the throne, despite the fact that Danish law was against women being monarchs. While she was a formidable enemy to those who would try to cross her, she was known for her charity and the economic benefits she brought to her kingdom. She reformed the economy, replacing the poor quality copper coins used before her time with good silver coinage, but she ran the government frugally enough that it was not put in debt by this. She had a policy of not allowing her country to get into useless wars. She united Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland under her crown, creating the Kalmar Union, which lasted over a hundred years.
• England has had several kings who are considered saints by some people. One of these was King Alfred the Great, who was a military leader of immense ability. Early in his reign, when England had been almost completely taken over by Vikings, he considered abdicating to end the bloodshed. He was urged to fight instead by his people. In time, he brought half of present day England under his control, and instituted a number of important reforms. Possibly most important of them was that he converted his Viking enemies to Christianity, which ended the religious conflicts that had been going on between them and the English. King Alfred also put in place reforms in education with a view to seeing that all free people of England be taught to read and write in English (as opposed to Church Latin). He opened schools and was careful not only that his sons be educated, but that his daughters were as well, setting an example in his own household. He put a new legal system in place, known for its justice and wisdom. He was on good terms with his neighbors in Wales, with which his country shared a border. He supported monasteries and charities, both in England and elsewhere.
• We know the story of Lady Godiva, who interceded on behalf of the people of Warwick to reduce their taxes. When she complained to her husband, he told her he would reduce the taxes when she rode naked down the main street of Warwick. As much as the story sounds like mythology, it was true. It was not quite like the story we hear today; there was no Peeping Tom, because she did not make the people of Warwick stay out of sight. Quite the contrary, according to reports of those earlier times, she assembled the people of Warwick so they could bear undeniable witness to the event, and she rode the length of the town accompanied by two knights. Her husband may not have been nice, but she, by contrast, was known and loved for her generosity, kindness, and care for the people. Interestingly, she outlived her husband, and after he died continued to govern much of their great estates. When William the Conqueror took England over, she was one of the few Anglo Saxons allowed to keep their possessions.

A scholar could probably devote a lifetime to writing paragraphs on nice monarchs and members of the nobility and their effects on government. There were many, many other people who ruled who were nice, just as there were many who were not.

Many people believe that witch hunts, general inquisitions, rulers like Vlad the Impaler, and slavery were hallmarks of medieval times. None of these things is true. Though there were occasional witch trials during the Middle Ages, the witch hunts began during the Renaissance. The inquisitions of the Middle Ages were small, isolated, and limited events compared to those that came after the Middle Ages ended. Vlad the Impaler ruled after the Middle Ages ended, during the Renaissance. The institution of slavery had gradually declined and disappeared in much of Western Europe during the Middle Ages, because it was condemned by both Church and monarchs; William the Conqueror, who introduced feudalism to England, also made slave traffic illegal there.

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