Medieval Feudalism

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.

The serf provided material, military aid, and advice for the lord’s counsel. The lord provided protection for the serf, maintenance, and aid when the vassal requested. The land of the vassal, holder of he land through homage, was broken into strips of land called fief. After the homage ceremony, the lord then granted a fief to the serf. A man could then be a vassal to multiple lords and a lord could obtain multiple vassals, which thus introduced subinfeudation. This caused great complexity especially if the lords had different views and the vassals were divided. In this case, a contract was initiated swearing a serf to the main lord.

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

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)

As Tony Imperato points out, 'Medieval feudalism placed the monarch in the position of owner of all the lands in the realm, which he distributed to his nobles in return for their loyalty and service. As their overlord, the King could demand a payment whenever changes took place in landholding arrangements.' This paved the way for the exploitation of his nobles in order to gain revenue. There were many means in which he did this. One was the system of 'wardship', and 'relief'.

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.

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).

Monarchs owned the land and he would divide the land that he did not need up between the men who were called lords in return for loyalty to him in times of war. The lords enlisted soldiers who were called knights to be the fighting force in these wars. The lowest people in the feudal system were called peasants; these people farmed the land to provide food and provided other services for the kingdom in exchange for protection.

The Lord owned the land and everything that was in it. The lord had a lot of power and would provide the safety of the peasants but in return, the peasants would give their service. The lord would also provide the King, the person with the highest power in Medieval Europe with soldiers and taxes. The monarch actually didn't own the whole country in terms of

The king will usually grant what is known as a fief or portions of land to nobles or lords or barons in exchange for their loyalty, protection and their services. The king could and would also give fiefs to knights for their military service. Many knights were warriors who served in the lord's army. In return for their service, lords gave knights many riches such as food, armor, weapons, horses and money. Peasants farmed land and provided the lords with wealth in the form of food and products rather than money. Peasants were bound to the land because it’s where they worked therefore it was in the knights interest to protect them from invaders or any other type of harm. Fiefs usually were from passed down leadership from father to son throughout

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”).

In Medieval Europe, the king’s had full authority over the feudal system. The king’s owned all the land in the country of which they were king’s in. However, the king could not maintain all the land so the king’s would lease the land to Barons. Barons were rich and important any land they had leased from the kings the had complete control over.

The feudal system of the time operated on the premise of peasants or serfs, and thanes, or lords. The lords owned the land, and the peasants worked on it. In turn, they received the protection