A Society of Orders. In the eleventh century Bishop Adalbero of Laon wrote a poem to King Robert of France that included the following lines: "Triple then is the house of God which is thought to be one: on Earth, some pray, others fight, still others work; which three are joined together and may not be torn asunder." These lines express an ideal view of society that became a commonplace among medieval intellectuals. While this three-part system may have had little to do with reality—and had less and less as time passed—it suggests how medieval Europeans of all social classes tried to create order in their world. The three orders, as Adalbero's schema was later called, may seem rigid to modern eyes, but many medieval people equated stability and structure with security. Medieval Europeans did not reject change, but they preferred it to occur within established frameworks and relatively predictable patterns......
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