Medieval Feudalism Research Paper

The article, “European Feudalism” by Deborah Symonds, is a brief analysis of the political economy found in Europe in and around the year of 1500, more commonly known as the medieval ages. During said period, little to no established form of modern governance was visible, leaving a barbaric and bloodlust culture to find a means to controlling areas of land. This culture, mixed with a heavily strong presence of the Frankish ruling style lead to a system in which a ruling class divided the power to rule among lesser noble people. The system of a warrior aristocracy left an often impoverish group of persons underneath them to provide crops, products and labor as a means of economic stability to an unstable economy. Throughout her article, Symonds touches on the key areas of how the society was governed and the relationships between classes of people.

At the height of the Medieval Ages, life existed mainly in two different forms: the Feudal system and the Manorial System. Barbarian attacks created many dangers for the common citizen, generating a need for personal protection of both their lands and their lives. It is true that kings still did exist at this time, but due to the decentralization of the government, the king became a distant and ambiguous figure. The lord of the manor then became the authoritative figure for the people of medieval society. Society now subsisted on the self-governing basis of the manor.

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

During the Middle Ages social class much different than modern day. In a feudal society “nobles were granted the use of land that legally belonged to the king,” (Doc. 1). The nobles, in return, would give the lord loyalty and military services (Doc. 1). As peasants or serfs worked for nobles and knights they received protection and a portion of the harvest to feed their families (Doc. 1).

Everything in Medieval times everything was based on the Feudal System or the social class. It determined your rank, power, wealth,

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.

When Louis the Pious’, the son of Charlemagne, empire was divided, the subsequent actions of his sons led to the necessary creation of a new social and political structure. The structure that was embraced across western Europe became known to historians as feudalism. According to historians and legal scholars, feudalism is categorized as a political system in which warriors and religious figures swore their than allegiance, in the form of of loyalty, aid, and military assistance to the most powerful noble, in the area. In exchange for their allegiance, these warriors and religious figures, better known as vassals, were given protection and material reward, often in the form of a fief, from their lord (UWS, 234-235). Another important aspect

Nobles had control over all other non-nobles within his territory, excluding clergy and merchants of a free town.

Feudalism, as a decentralized political system, flourished in Medieval Europe. In this essay, the main political and economic characteristics of Feudalism will be mentioned, while discussing the main historical factors to the rise and fall of feudalism.

During the semester, there are three topics that come to mind that I believe are especially important to world history. They were located in chapter one, chapter seven, and chapter twelve. In chapter one, we discussed civilization and its characteristics. In that chapter we also listed historical examples that related to it. In chapter seven, we discussed the founding of Islam and compare and contrast with that of the other major monotheistic religions. An in chapter twelve and fifteen we went over the societal needs and social and political trends were involved in the development of feudalism? What social problems did feudalism create, as well as solve, in western European societies?

The Medieval times were not about the knight in shining armor slaying a dragon and rescuing the princess, instead it’s about how Christianity was spread throughout the Roman Empire during the 1st- 4th centuries, or how the Black Death spread across Europe around the 13th century and killed over half the population. Don’t you worry; I’ll go into details about the Black Death later. Now that you know a little bit about the medieval times, I think it is time to introduce myself.

The Middle Ages were a period of a lot of discoveries and falls. This period began after the fall of the Roman Empire which led to the rise of Feudalism. Post-Classical Europe should be remembered as the Dark Ages because Europe experienced widespread invasions by barbarian hordes  and destruction during this period, the Roman Catholic Church forced Christianity upon the people of Europe, and the political and social concept of Feudalism dominated the region, subjecting the people of Europe to an unequal social hierarchy. Post-Classical Europe should be remembered as the Dark Ages because Europe experienced widespread invasions by barbarian hordes and destruction during this period, the Roman Catholic Church forced Christianity upon the people of Europe, and the political and social concept of Feudalism dominated the region, subjecting the people of Europe to an unequal social hierarchy.

Feudalism was a model of government during medieval Europe, it centered on a military hierarchy. At the top was the lord, who would offer usage of his lands in exchange for military service (Wheeler), this man would become known as a vassal. This system of hierarchy was a key part within the feudalistic society. A unified government was not part of the feudal system due to the fact that the government always consisted of agreements between individuals instead of between nations or citizens (Wheeler). Each lord was a ruler of his own lands and could only control the vassals under his subjection. Due to the centralization of the economies within the lord’s lands, trade and economic growth was often subdued.

Feudalism the legal and social system that evolved in Western Europe in the 8th and 9th centuries, in which vassals were protected and maintained by their lords, usually through the granting of fiefs, and were required to serve under them in war. During 476 to the 1100’s feudalism appeared from Europe starting with France all the way to Japan, so what were the characteristics of feudalism where it began compared to the last place it was, Japan.

The Medieval Ages that descended upon the Europeans following the deconstruction and devolution of the formerly grand institutions of the Roman Empire left a world darkened to the eyes of history. The world lost touch with simple concepts to a modern history student of writing, economy, culture, and government—the mainstay of that which we cannot see ourselves without—civilization. What was left of Europe was a state of chaos. In all other periods of human history I have studied there were similarities among them from which I could draw conclusions upon the condition of the respective times. The Text helped to give order to the progression of European history from the ancient to the modern drawing