Feudalism began in England during the medieval period. Times were hard, people needed help from a

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.

There was a definite structure to society in the Middle Ages. In Medieval Europe, the life of a peasant was very difficult and grueling due to the Feudal system. Medieval peasants were forced to work a certain job due to this system. Peasants were also frowned upon by commoners and forced to serve under nobles or their lords. On top of the extremely hard working conditions, peasants lived in poverty. Since they were uneducated and unsophisticated, peasants were stuck doing farm labor and working other jobs. Even though it seems peasants had it the worst during the Middle Ages, they were a necessity for society. Without peasants, there would be no food, resources, or workers to keep up the economy. Medieval peasants were

With labor shortages apparent, people began to starve due to a lack of farming because people had abandoned their farms and villages. The *Serfs at the time were the main laborers, and due to the inevitable plague they were no longer tied to their masters of land. Due to the economic strain at the time, Serfs who survived were able to demand higher wages and better working conditions from their new landlords (Utah State University). Therefore, worker’s wages had skyrocketed. It was known that “a reaper was not to be hired for less than eightpence [a day, 50-75% up], plus his meals,” (The Economist). This eventually led to the end of Serfdom and the start of workers rights in Europe. This in turn socially changed the way people felt about the different socioeconomic classes due to the Peasant's Revolt (Utah State University). The need for better working conditions and situations for Serfs forever changed Europe.

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

The Nobles or Lords were the upper and middle class. These were the people who owned the land and were the rulers. It was their responsibility to insure that the peasants and churchmen were protected so that they could live in peace and act as judges to handle domestic disputes. The serfs, peasants, and Yeomen kept the economy going with hard work. Church would now begin to play a huge role during this time. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/615557/United-Kingdom/44830/England-in-the-15th-century

Feudalism was the system used in Europe during the late middle ages. The economic part of feudalism was centered on the lord's estate or manor. A lord's manor consisted of a peasant village, a church, farm land, a mill and the lord's castle. Feudalism was split in society levels. Kings would be on top with the most power, then upper lords followed by lesser lords, underneath the lesser lords were the knights, and then the serfs being the lowest social class.

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

Feudalism was a combination of legal and military customs that flourished from the 9th to 15th centuries that provided political organization. Feudalism was created as a solution due to the fall of Empires around the area of Europe. Broadly defined, Feudalism was a way of structuring society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for services and labors. In a feudal society, everyone was set in place in a class system. The classes consisted of nobles, church officials, peasants, and serfs. These classes brought organization and order to the people in order to maintain a stable government through the feudal system. The class system brought defense, and property of land. Through a mutual relationship between a lord (a man from whom a landholding or a manor was held) and a vassal, (a holder of land by feudal tenure on conditions of homage and allegiance) defense and internal order was brought. When a vassal made an arrangement with a lord, the vassal pledged immediate loyalty to the

Aside from the economy, the society of Europe had become very unstable and went through some big changes. A common phenomenon along with all other widely spread disease is starvation. There was not enough manpower to harvest, so both rural and urban area suffered from food shortage, thus causing a serious inflation. For example, “in some parts of England, food prices went up by four times.” (The HLS) This put the poor in a very desperate situation. Meanwhile, the landlords didn’t show any sympathy for the peasants, they kept collecting tax and tried to lower the farmers’ salary. There was even a law published for the sake of lords’ interests. It confined peasants’ wages to the level in 1346, and prohibited peasants from going to villages other than his own master’s for “a better income” This caused a great indignation among the serfs and later lead to a revolt known as the Peasants Revolt. Thousands of peasants with their leader, Wat Tyler, marched to London to meet the king,

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 began in the middle ages and it was a way for England to care for the poor. Wealthy and prosperous landowners would section off an area of their property for serfs to farm (p. 20, Martin). This did provide a way to assist those suffering; yet, in many ways it was another form of slavery due to the landowner is utilizing complete control. During medieval times, society viewed poverty as an inevitable way of life and thought that caring for those in need was a form of charity. One important aspect to keep in mind is that during this time, there was no separation between, church and state. Eventually feudalism diminished due natural disasters, which caused crops to fail, bubonic plague, and urbanization. The Industrial Revolution caused a mass amount of people to relocate to the city in hopes of finding work. It is during this time that England realized that they needed to change their system for assisting the poor.

If you ask someone about the Medieval Ages, they would typically think of kings, princesses, the village folk, and knights in shining armor. What many don't know about of is the Feudal System that made certain images iconic about the Medieval Ages. This system classified them into social classes that ruled their day-to-day lives. The lowest of these social classes were the peasants, who worked in the fields and prevented the kingdom from falling. The last thing people would think about is the hygiene of the Medieval Ages, which was horrendous compared to our modern day way of keeping ourselves clean. These awful living condition led to many outbreaks of disease, which killed many people in the Medieval Ages.

This was due to the lack of jobs. Peasants really never got paid a lot. For example, in the movie, once William got paid, the peasants helping him only got enough of the earnings that would buy them the amount of food they needed. People really didn’t have to work though, peasants were given shelter depending on the type of king and/or queen that was in place. This is very, very different compared to today's modern society.

Feudalism is an area of land controlled by a landlord. The local lord and manors formed small communities. In these communities, the Lord owned everything in his land and would protect the peasants in return for their service. The lord provided the king with either soldiers or taxes.The lord also ran the local marons, and when needed for battle, they were used as knights. In

Life as a serf or peasant was not easy. Serfs were bound to their lord's land and required to do services for him. Although they could not be sold like slaves, they had no freedom (Ellis and Esler 219-244). Peasants farmed for the goods that the lord and his manor needed. They went through difficult hardship because of this. Peasants were heavily taxed and had to provide for themselves the goods that they needed (“The Middle Ages”). According to the medieval law, the peasants were not considered to 'belong to' themselves (“The Middle Ages”). Although serfs were peasants and had relatively the same duties and similar rights, what differentiated a peasant from a serf was that a peasant was not bound to the land (“The Middle Ages”). Peasants had no schooling and no knowledge of the outside world (Ellis and Esler 219-244). They rarely traveled more than a couple miles outside of their villages. All members of a peasant family, including children, tended crops, farmed, and did some sort of work to help out (Ellis and Esler 224). Very few peasants lived past the age of 35 because of hunger in the winter and the easy development and transmission of disease (Ellis and Esler 224).