Case studies: Western Europe and the Abbasid Caliphate

Answer

A feudal-manorial society: land granted for loyalty and service, ruled by many local lords, with the Church as the dominant institution and serfs farming the land.

Answer

A centralised, city-based empire ruled from Baghdad by the caliph and a large paid bureaucracy, rich in trade, scholarship, merchants and artisans.

Answer

A system where land is granted in return for loyalty and military service, creating a pyramid of king, lords, knights and peasants.

Answer

An unfree peasant tied to the land of a manor who owed labour to a lord and could not leave without permission.

Answer

The caliph — both political ruler and religious leader of the Muslim community — supported by a vizier and thousands of salaried officials.

Answer

Europe was decentralised, with power split among many lords; the Abbasids were centralised, ruled by one caliph and a paid bureaucracy in Baghdad.

Answer

An enslaved soldier, often bought young and trained as an elite warrior; some rose to real political power in the Abbasid world.

Answer

Both were unfree, but a serf stayed bound to the manor for life while a mamluk could be armed, promoted, and even seize power.

Answer

The protected legal status of non-Muslims (mainly Christians and Jews) in the Abbasid Caliphate, who could worship freely in return for paying the jizya tax.

Answer

They had no protected legal status, were tolerated mainly for trade and moneylending, faced rising restrictions, and suffered expulsions such as from England in 1290.

Answer

Both remained steep, male-dominated hierarchies resting on unfree labour — no medieval society was equal.

Answer

Compare theme by theme (governance, labour, minorities), show similarities and differences in each, and finish with a judgement on which contrast mattered most.