Decline Of Feudalism And The Byzantine Empire

The feudal system began to decline after the Black Death struck Europe in the late 1340’s. The feudal system joined politics and grouped together the social classes of that period. It began with the “relationship between two freemen (men who are not serfs), a lord and his vassal. Vassal derived from a Celtic word for servant, but in feudal terms vassal meant a free person who put himself under the protection of a lord and for whom he rendered loyal military aid.” This relationship was mutually beneficial at first, but throughout the development of the system, great restrictions were endured.

The Byzantine Empire and Western Europe originally were part of the Roman Empire, but by the middle Ages(medieval times), they were very different, even though they did share some common traits, but by the 300's, the Byzantine Empire had far surpassed Western Europe in trade and economics and political unity, while both empires were having arguments over religion.

The Catholic Church was by far the largest owner of land during the Middle Ages. While bishops and abbots occupied much the same place as counts and dukes in the feudal hierarchy, there was one important difference between the religious and secular lords. Dukes and counts might shift their loyalty from one overlord to another, depending on the circumstances and the balance of power involved, but the bishops and abbots always had (in principle at least) a primary loyalty to the church in Rome. This was also an age during which the religious teaching of the church had a very strong and pervasive influence throughout Western Europe. These factors combined to make the church the closest thing to a strong central government throughout this period.

During the medieval times Kings had absolute power and the Catholic Church made sure God help the King retain this power. During this time feudalism was the structure that shaped society. In the feudalism structure the people that work the land the poor got cero power and live at the mercy of the barons. Barons where the owners of the land that people where let to work and make really low amounts of money while the baron sells and exchange the goods produced by the land and makes a fortune. At the end of the day the land belongs to the king and the king taxes the barons and collects money from all the land making him very, very wealthy and powerful.

Following the decline of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE, a new empire rose up in the ashes. This new empire, the Byzantine Empire, was a culmination of Western Roman cultures and tradition, yet, it also contains many distinctive features. Originating from the same empire, the two empires display similar cultural roots.

The feudal system was a system which the government made to organize the people in certain social classes, and it was unfair because the citizens were not treated the way that they should be. Once the feudal system was slowly fading away, “Astute lords granted charters exempting city dwellers from feudal obligations…” (Document 1). What this means is that as long as the people paid taxes, they did not have to follow the feudal system. The people that lived in the feudal system in the lower social classes hated it though. So along with this, many of these people fought in the Crusades because Pope Urban promised “All who die by the way, whether by land or by sea, or in battle against the pagans, shall have immediate remission {forgiveness} of sins…” (Document 3). Pope Urban’s promise attracted them because even though the lower social class men and women were stuck in the system, they were able to die freely. Without the feudal system, lives were easier because the people were able to be whatever they had wanted without others getting in the way. Eventually, everyone was

The central Middle Ages was a period of time from the 11th century through the 13th century that was characterized by prosperous economic growth in Europe. The lead of economic growth in Europe was the movements in the Christian communities. Christian movements in the central Middle Ages included Knights Templar, first Crusade, the Franciscans, and pilgrimages. Not only were the movements in the Christian communities made changes in the economy, but they also influenced the challenges against traditional authority. Some challenges of traditional authority were the Dominicans and the Franciscans. Guibert of Nogent’s description of the Revolt in Laon will be examined in this essay. Robert the Monk’s version of Pope Urban II’s speech from 1095

Feudalism is “a political, military and social system in the Middle Ages, based on the holding of lands in fief” (Dictionary). The feudal system relies on a very strict hierarchy. There are fewer people working on the lord’s land and the land that had usually been the main source of the economy was now valueless. The foundation of feudalism relied upon was broken, which lead to the end of the feudal system. Also, the medieval people believed that the church has a direct context to God. However, the churches were not able to provide an explanation of the plague or stop the plague from happening. Because of this, their authority and power were questioned by many followers and many of them lost faith in God and turned

The Byzantine Empire, seen as a direct continuation of the Roman Empire, lasted approximately from 500-1450 CE. This empire proved to be a valuable city for both the Greeks as well as the Romans. Throughout history, the Aegean Sea, the Bosphorus Strait, and Constantinople all impacted Roman history through constant trade and achievements. Other than trade, perfecting the oil industry, and the construction of aqueducts, conduits, and tunnels was other main achievements.

Islam did not have a direct hand in feudalism creation, but the constant threat that had been posed by Islamic raiders from the South produced the need for troops. At the Battle of Tours in 733, Charles Martel defeated a larger Islamic raiding force and ultimately throwing them out of France for the rest of the Middle Ages. Over time, feudalism was sold as God’s method of organizing society into the three classes: those that pray, those that fight, and those that work. Feudalism would have continued do to the strength of the Catholic Church, but broke down because of an agricultural revolution, the Black Death, and a rise of merchant capitalism that finally died out in the 1500s. The consistent invasion by foreign powers and the warring stature between the rival European states made the clergy especially the Pope a powerful political leader.

Western Europe suffered numerous hardships through the ninth and tenth centuries and this was the ultimate reason they established a new political organization which was known as feudalism. By providing honor, protection, and a sense of control, this new social system revived peace and order in Western Europe after the fall of the Carolingian Empire. Feudalism was a necessary ingredient to yield stability in during these times of calamity.

Feudalism, as a decentralized political system, flourished in Medieval Europe. In this essay, the main political and economic characteristics of Feudalism will be mentioned, while discussing the main historical factors to the rise and fall of feudalism.

In the void left by the collapse of the Roman Empire, the bishop of Rome grew even more in both power and prestige beginning in the sixth century and continuing to the reformation in the ninth century. It is the aim of this paper to explain how and why the papacy in Rome became the center of power of the medieval world, the factors contributing to this dominance over Western Europe, and the positive and negative ramifications of the position becoming so powerful. Through this paper you will discover how papacy was able to fill the vacuum of power left by the fall of an empire.

The Roman Empire finally fell in 1453, when the remaining remnants of the once great imperialistic superpower succumbed to the attack of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks. The decline of the Roman Empire began after a two-century period known as the Pax Romana, or the Golden Age of Rome, ended in 180 A.D. Beginning with a weakening economy and through the Empire being unable to effectively keep control in areas far from Rome, its citizens lost confidence in the Empire being able to maintain to maintain its people. Other groups of people realized the power vacuum that existed and slowly took away the territory of the Roman Empire, until the mid-15th century, when the last remaining Roman government was overthrown.

Looking at the decline of feudalism from an economic standpoint, there could be numerous theories and explanations why and how it happened. Nell says “The expansion of trade leads to an increase in wealth and size of towns and a decline in population leads to relatively greater decline in seigniorial than in artisan incomes” (J. Nell 328). Roughly before the year 1000, feudalism reigned supreme throughout various parts of the world, including Western Europe. Feudal Lords and nobles would partake in various ways to attain revenue. The decline in the feudal order was due to changing relations between factors in a network. In various parts of Europe the wealth being found in trade was dominating and being known as the ideal way to increase a peasant 's wealth. For the feudal lords, they would subtract a stipend of resources grown by a serf on land owned by a king, and this was given as payment, as the surplus of resources was traded. In Edward J Nell’s paper titled, “Economic Relationships in the Decline of Feudalism: An examination of Economic Interdependence and Social Change”, he goes on to mention various arguments and theories on the reason why the decline of feudalism took place from an economic perspective. One of the prominent proposals he makes is that the decline was due to a change in the relationship between factors in a network and that the trade, population, and class struggle theory are nothing more than factor explanations.