The Hundred Years War: Demise Of Feudalism In Europe

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.

Feudalism emerged from this simple system. By the eleventh century, the High Middle Ages emerged launching numerous Crusades. The Crusades regained innovations in science and technology that developed more of an education. But, the Crusades led to the decline of feudalism. Between the two ages, it differs from knowledge and the amount of

Feudalism ended due to crusaders selling land and freed their serfs. They did this so the nobles would

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 middle ages era is best labeled under “The Dark Ages” and “The Age of Feudalism”. In this time I believe that those labels work the best and are considered the most abundant that happened between 500 and 1400 in Europe. With all that happened then there is also a hand full of information to provide you with. “The dark ages” happened and scared the world. “The age of feudalism” changed our world later on giving us information to well control the world and not let it go into complete anarchy.

In addition they could not risk taxing the peasants more, otherwise peasants might leave for other jobs (Starr). The lord was gaining less a of a profit because they had to pay the peasants more, and could not increase the taxes imposed on the peasants to raise their income. Due to the black death, Feudalism no longer profitable anymore. During the bubonic plague lords lost land, they either sold it or it was reclaimed by a king. After the plague, lords often had significantly less land that before, partly because harvests were plentiful. Therefore, lords did not gain as much money from farming leading them to cut down on land (David Routt). The plague killed people from all socials classes, so another way lords lost land was dying. Kings often reclaimed the land that once belongs to dead lords(“Black Death: The Lasting Impact”). Lords, the backbone of feudalism, led to it decline partly because of losing property. The effects of the plague led to lords losing property and money which caused the downfall of

Why did the feudal order of Medieval society fall apart? The feudal order of the Middle Ages was a system of local rule, where powerful lords gave land and protection in exchange for loyalty and military service from lesser lords. Tradition dictated that this exchange would be held in place by the feudal contract, consisting of multiple pledges. This resulted in small communities consisting of one powerful lord, peasants, and serfs who worked for the lord. These people gave their loyalty locally, and had no sense of nationalism. This type of society was predominant in the Early Middle Ages, but soon started to fall apart during the Late Middle Ages. One major event that contributed to the fall of the feudal society was the Hundred Years’ War. This war was fought between England and France, lasting for a total of 116 years. During the war, peasant uprisings became frequent, as the inordinate cost of military campaigns resulted in heavier taxes. Events such as these were caused by the Hundred Years’ War and further contributed to the decline of feudalistic society. The Hundred Years’ War was the most important cause of the fall of the feudal order, acting as a turning point in Medieval society by marking the transition from feudal knights to the masses of common foot soldiers, changing the balance of power within Medieval social hierarchies, and strengthening nationalism while creating a more modern militaristic society.

In the Medieval times, feudalism has advantages and disadvantages that impacted many people throughout Europe. The Black Death had killed and infected thousands of people and the disease was spreading all throughout Europe. The Feudalism System have impacted people throughout Europe and they were put in social classes based on their wealth and what they could do. The Black Death has led to the decline of feudalism because a lot of workers have died so business started to run out and that wasn’t good to the economy of Europe. Feudalism creates a safe economy for the social classes because of the Lord’s training their vassals to fight for protection of the villages but, the Black Plague has harmed many people throughout Europe and Asia and made business harder to

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.

Evidence is shown from Cedric Wilford’s Fakebook that Europe’s feudal structure broke down. In Cedric’s 6th wall post it begins to show the beginning of the ‘Peasants Revolt’ in which the peasants attacked the Upper classes for improved wages and better-quality working conditions. This instigated the breakdown of the feudal society. With peasants gaining more power from the demand of produce many nobles lost power but others gained power from the death of Dukes, Counts and Earls. Secondly after the plague the economic status of Nobles was lowered as the demand for workers (peasants) increased giving them a higher economic status lowering the status of the Upper Classes Nobles. Finally According to Lord Edward’s wall post peasant’s believed that God was deaf and would no longer hear their calls and many Nobles had this belief as well. It is also mentioned in his Fakebook that because of the Church’s inability to explain the Black Death they lost power and followers from all classes. This information demonstrates the influence both before and after the Plague of the significant amount of change which occurred to the Noble

The rise of Feudalism was a direct result of insecurity that caused by several significant historical factors. At first, the collapse of Roman Empire that led to prolonged unrest and power struggles was essentially a reason for why Europe was divided into many small states. The frequent fights among those states made people suffered from violence and insecurity. Even though Charlemagne united those states and Europe lasted for a period time of peace, Holy Roman Empire

Following the collapse of the Roman empire, a chaotic period known as the Middle Ages began in Europe. Historians have widely debated as to whether this time was one of hope or despair. Despite the hope that came with a booming economy and population, the Black Death, anti-semitism and manorial system conclude that Feudal Europe was a time of definite despair.

It is known that the feudal period began in the ninth century in Western and Eastern Europe. It had ended in the fifteenth century right around the time of the Middle Ages. It had a political influence, a social influence, and an economic influence. Feudalism had a huge impact in life during the Middle Ages all politically, socially, and economically.

In Medieval times during the 10th and 13th centuries, a form of political and social organization called feudalism was a way of life that had great effect on people of the time and on the modern world. Feudalism was developed because of the weakness of Europe and it's kings. The word feudalism comes from the word fief, which was the land held on condition of feudal service, similar to an estate (English). The fiefs bound together lords and vassals. Feudalism was a structure in which a lord divided his land into smaller parts to give to lesser lords (“Feudalism”).

Feudalism is, thus characterized by political decentralization. The monarchs, having delegated such a substantial amount of authority to the nobles, were left essentially without any real power. The social order, which regulated virtually all of society, dictated the need for a king to maintain public peace. Thus, the monarchs remained in power, but only figuratively (Pirenne, pp. 147-150).