Although Japan and Europe are on the opposite sides of the world, the Middle Ages and Shogun Japan had similar histories. They had their head-leader, warriors and peasants, however, they played different roles. That’s why these two civilisations were similar, but not the same.
During the Middle Ages, the King performed as a head-leader for his country but without his knights and nobles, he wouldn’t have anyone to protect him or the kingdom. He conquered all the rules until the Magna Carta was signed in 1215. The Magna Carta, also known as the Great Paper, was a list of rights from his barons. King John was the one who signed the document. Before the Magna Carta was signed, King John would promise anything to anyone if there was money included,…show more content… During the Middle Ages, after the rank of the king, the hierarchy was the knights and nobles. The role of a knight was to protect the King’s land. The easiest way to become a knight was to be the son of a noble. At about age seven, the sons were taken to a different castle to be trained as a page. They spent their whole childhood becoming stronger, riding horses and mastering the use of weapons. At about age sixteen, they move up to another level and become a squire, their duties were to work for a knight. At the age of twenty, if the squire was worthy, he then became a knight in a ‘dubbing’ ceremony. The knights had a ‘code of chivalry’, which meant knights should be brave and fearless in battle. They would wear metal armour that covered their whole body, and have a sword and a shield. Knights lived under good condition, meaning they had a good living place and were supplied food by the peasants. Knight’s condition was similar to the shoguns in Shogun Japan, however, they were not quite the…show more content… They had political power and lived in luxury. To become a particular type of warrior, the titles are usually passed on from father to eldest son in the family, this was different to the process of becoming a knight in the Middle Ages. The next level of warriors were called the Daimyos. They were also military leaders who commanded armies of samurai. They had responsibility over their own land, and had to provide protection for their land if needed. They also built big castles and lived in them. They did this because they wanted people to know that they had power over the land. Samurai were the next level of the warrior class. Samurai were professional warriors and lived with the Daimyos. The samurai had the ‘code of honour’, also known as the ‘Bushido’ in Japanese. This was similar to the knights in the Middle Ages. The warriors in Shogun Japan did not have metal armour like the knights did. Instead they had thick clothing for protection and fought with swords on horses. The Ronin stood in the lowest position of the warrior classes. They worked as body guards for rich merchants and had no political power. This proves that there were similarities between the knights and the warrior class of Shogun Japan, however there were differences