Feudalism was a very important aspect in developing the political organization in medieval England. It was one of dominant governments used by the nobles. Feudalism was when one of the king’s noblemen would give land to a man known as a fief and give the fief people to work the land for him. These people are known as serfs. The fief would then protect the serfs from being attacked as long, as long as the serfs worked the land to provide an income for the fief. If the fief accepted the nobles offer he would have to swear his allegiance to the king. After he swore to the nobles the fief would become a vassal to the noblemen. When the fief became a vassal he would have to provide military services or any other type of service to the king. A fief could also become a noble lord and could give some of his land away to other people known as fiefs. This process would be known as subinfeudation and this could go all the way up to the king. Feudalism was pretty much the only government at the time of medieval England. Feudalism came about because of the weak political groups and non-existent governments. The king would use feudalism as a way to show his power and make sure his military strength was strong. The use of this political organization slowly died out. “With an eye toward discovering the nature of the Marxists “transition from feudalism to capitalism” most of them concluded that marx was right; the old feudal aristocracy of the middle ages was gradually being
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.
During the middle ages the lack of protection and a stable government after the Fall of Rome created the need for a new political system. Feudalism was the political system that emerged and shaped the lives of people socially and politically. Manors were small communities that were made up of a castle, church, village, and land for farming. The structured society provided a place and responsibility for everyone. The feudal obligations showed that in exchange for one thing they would be provided with something else. Serfs and peasants would work and produce goods for the rest of the manor and in return had their land and promised protection. The vassals would need to obtain land from the Lord and in return would provide the Lord with military service, loyalty, and ransom if asked for (Doc. 4). To make clear the vassal’s specific allegiance to their lord whom they owed in for exchange for their fief they would take the Homage Oath (Doc. 2). This interdependent system required everyone to do their part and it created social classes that they were born into. Their daily lives were centered on the manor and that was how it stayed until towns began to
Feudalism was a political, economic and social system that exchanged land and loyalty in return for protection. It was a commerce of protection and goods, as seen in the feudal system diagram, there are different types of social classes that have arrows describing what they are trading and to whom they are trading (Document 4). In the late ninth century, peasants gave food and service to the knights in exchange for protection. The knights gave military service in exchange for shelter and defense. The lords gave military aid while the king gives them fief and peasants etc.
Feudalism was a unique and efficient system. Farmers were in the lowest class socially but still contributed and were important to making feudalism function. The lords manors were extremely important to the structure of feudalism. Feudalism also allowed peoples needs to be met. This system allowed kingdoms to be controlled which made it so
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
To begin with, the Age of Feudalism is a system to protect people and live in equality. “Feudalism was a political, economic, and social system” (Doc. 1). This system starts with the king at the top who owned all land and made the laws. Next, the lord
Serfs grew the food and made the things that everyone required, and without them, the system would collapse. Manorialism was also important to it as a source of order and economy. In this structure, feudalism was the main political land based system of the Middle Ages. And while the practice of it mostly disappeared with the Middle Ages, it is still an imprinted government in
Feudalism started in France after Charlemagne was overthrown. Years later, the Duke of Normandy conquered England and brought the idea of feudalism with him. Feudalism gave England a more efficient government because citizens could not choose a king and the king had a considerable amount of power. Under feudalism no one was sovereign; kings, lords, vassals, and citizens all owed something to each other. It was because of these ideas that constitutional governments later developed in England and France. Because of England’s new government, it had more civil peace and security than before. Under feudalism towns where less independent, however, there was more balance between town and country. Towns in England and France were more structured. In the thirteenth century, England created its parliament. The parliament allowed citizens to have representatives of their own town further weaving the towns of Europe into one. This was the first time in history that the idea of a representative government came into being. These parliaments also allowed for the strengthening of the royal rule. They showed power and also rights. The English government was also the first country to start a form of a tax, showing their new ideas of government and allowing for an improvement in balance between citizen and government. Kings could now use that tax to improve their lands and expand on their lands. Contrary to Germany and
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 was present prior to the 16th century. The Noble Lords ruled over tenants who worked the lands of the large estates. The lords in return would pay tribute and swore oaths of loyalty to the monarchs who granted them a place to live and protected their safety. While there was this system, there were people who wanted a perfect system, one that included the Catholic church. According to this system, the church and secular rulers would work together to keep and spread the Christian faith.
The bases of feudalism is best described as a social system in Europe throughout the Middle Ages where individuals worked and battled for upper class who gave them protection and the use of the land in return for their services (Merriam-Webster). “Feudalism” is not a medieval term and not even a translation of a medieval concept (Abels 2010; Brown 2010; Bouchard 1998). In our day and time Feudalism would be difficult and baffling in several ways, but some may feel that we would benefit from it.
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).
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.
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”).
Economic processes are those involving the production and distribution of goods and services. However, they do not alone determine this production and distribution. There is an interrelationship of economic, cultural, environmental, and political processes that all help to shape each other. Nothing that we do can be defined as a single process, for it is the interaction itself that helps to produce the final results that we observe. To understand this more fully the following basic definitions may be of use: