Feudalism: A Military Based Society

Feudalism – a social structure and hierarchy containing mutual duties and obligations. Stability is maintained as long as the system doesn’t change. Physical power resides with the king and nobles through their knights. The Church’s power resides through controlling people’s beliefs. Serfs were tied to the land. The Black Death, however, brought about such massive changes in demographics / population that the demand for a limited labor source (the peasants) meant that this social group at the bottom of the social ladder grew in importance (as seen in the 1381 Peasants revolt) that drastic change and the end of the feudal structure was inevitable.

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.

Document 1) A: The Feudalism provided protection and military services for their families. Nobles agreed to give their loyalty to the king. As the peasants worked the land for the knights and nobles and which they gave to them was protection and a portion of the harvest to feed their families. Document 2)

The Feudal System The Feudal System is the system that controlled how people lived in Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. It also determined who were more respected than others. The order from, highest to lowest on the structure was the Pope, Kings and Queens, Lords and Ladies, Priests and Monks, Knights, merchants and farmers, and peasants. Those higher on the structure lived in better houses, wore better clothing and lived a healthier life than those lower on the structure.

Feudalism was a contrasting system dealing with political and military relationships existing among members of the higher social class, Kings, Lords and other owners of large lands in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. The Feudal system started by the granting of fiefs, chiefly in the form of land and labor, in return the lord would receive political and

Feudalism would not have survived throughout the middle ages without the support from the manors. The main source of support came from the those who lived and worked on the manors. In feudalism, the owner was the Lord of the Manor who pronounced his authority who provided protection through military service to those who lived on the manor (Ebeling). Without the lord’s service, there wouldn’t be any citizens being able to support the manorial system, therefore not being able to support feudalism. Another significant occupant of the land were serfs that supplied the village with specialists. Serfs were able to help other serfs essentially survive on the manor (Bishop 228). Serfs also served the lord when they cared for his land (Bishop 229).

Feudalism shows that whatever family you were born in, was most likely going to be your class for life. Feudalism gave power to the upper class and control over the lower class, so it wasn't as much a threat to them as it was to peasants. At the top of the hierarchy are King. They have top

The European Feudal system was developed around the twelfth century. It was developed as a way for the poor and lower class people to be protected from the incoming viking and barbarian invasions. This system offered something to the people that they could never achieve by themselves. It was a completely beneficial system, meaning that everyone involved received advantages from it. The main groups of people involved were the King, then the Nobles or Barons, then the Knights, and then finally the Pheasants.

The feudal system was able to function for over 800 years by controlling peoples bodies and minds. The peoples mind would be controlled by the church which had a strand of royalty. On the other hand the body was controlled by the king by starving and torturing people. the system was also a form that would never change people were born into what their parents were, kings were born into royalty and peasants were born into peasantry.

“Feudalism was a political and economic system and culture in Europe during the Middle Ages” (Sheldon) In 911 AD, Charles the simple, king of France, granted Rollo, head of a Viking army, a part of French territory known as Northmen’s Land or Normandy. Rollo then swore a pledge of loyalty to the king (“Feudalism in Europe” 360). 850 to 950 AD was the worst time of invader’s attacks. Charles and Rollo made similar agreements to make system of government called feudalism.

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 was a system that depended solely on all levels fulfilling each other’s needs, but what would happen if one of the levels failed? Each level had some sort of economic or military need that at least one of the other levels could trade to fulfill their their own needs. They also all had at least one soul connection, which was their culture/religion. Each role was needed in different ways, without one, the system would fail, for example, without serfs, Feudalism would not have worked and would have been a failed system much sooner than when it actually failed. Feudalism was a political system that intertwines social classes, to meet all needs with serfs being one of the most important parts.

A feudal society is one in which the lords carry a significant measure of power by owning land. Workers known as Serfs are included on the land. Serfs owe the lord a certain amount of labor as well as give the lord a portion of their goods. The lords then gives protection to the serfs from their knights. To get knights, the lord offers a fief(land) to the knight in exchange for military service. A feudal society had the characteristic of being decentralized. It also had major roles and responsibilities that everyone needed to follow in order to keep the society intact. During the early Middle Ages, decentralized governments, attacks from the Vikings and other barbarians, and the strong power of the Church strongly abetted the formation of the feudal society in Medieval Europe.

Feudalism was apart of society from the fall of the Roman Empire all the way to the start of the Renaissance. It was first used in order for French and English jurists as well as legal historians to explain property laws of that period of time. They imagined the system based on the idea that land was granted to the free nobles below the upper rank of the military in exchange for faithfulness and respect. This idea of land in exchange for fidelity became an ideal part of society in medieval times.

The feudal system consisted of four parts, the kings, lords, knights, and the peasants also known as serfs. The feudal system helped sustain order in Medieval Europe. The King, the most powerful position, owned all the land and created the laws in the country. The king would provide small areas of lands, called fiefs, to the higher class lords and nobles. In exchange, the lords / nobles would supply the king with soldiers. The nobles held power over the knights. In return for the knight’s services the nobles would give them small pieces of land. The peasants would work on the knight’s land only if they were promised for protection. There was a connection between all of the classes.