The Economic Structure Of Feudal Society

You may have heard of the Middle Ages and Feudalism, but you might not know a lot about it. Some people think that the Middle Ages is just a random period of time, but actually, it is the period of time after the fall of the Roman empire. Feudalism during the Middle Ages had its advantages and disadvantages. It caused unfairness to the lowest rank, it provided military service and protection, and it also provided economic stability.

Feudalism in the Middle Ages was a key component when it came to the organization of society.

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.

In Capital, Karl Marx reveals the ugly truth that capitalism lays on the foundation of class exploitation. Without such exploitation, there is no profit to be made and capitalism will cease to exist. Capitalism, which relies on the reproduction of capital, creates and concentrates wealth to a small portion of society’s population while reproducing poverty and widening the size of inequality.

Something every civilization needs. Something so powerful that without it civilizations fall into chaos. Social Systems. But not just any social system, the European Middle Ages one. The Feudal System. While it may seem insignificant to Europe and Europe’s history compared to other events like the Hundred Years’ War or the Black Plague which killed many people and completely changed many parts of Europe, the Feudal System (also called Feudalism) was also very important to Europe during the Medieval Times.

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.

During the late 1800s, the eminent German philosopher, Karl Marx sought to create an equilibrium between the social strata by abolishing social classes. His doctrine, Marxism, is based on the idea that the means of production is the foundation of society, and ownership of this dictates the fate of the civilization. Marx attempted to place the means of production, including factories, into control of the people who operated the means of production(proletariat), and not just the owners of it (bourgeois). In Marx’s vision, society is driven not by spirituality, but by material objects. The proletariat and bourgeois may have ambivalent views on the division of wealth, but ultimately, the owners of the means of production make the decision. The

15) They switched to stone because wood caught on fire and because it needed to withstand an attack. It also helped with defense.

Feudalism: A social structure that influenced and guided economics, politics, warfare, and classes/social interaction in the Middle Ages.

This semester I have learned a lot of things about the cultures of Medieval Europe, the Medieval Islamic Empires, and the age of European exploration that I think has shaped today’s world. I learned all about how things were in Medieval Europe, Islam, China, Renaissance, and Exploration. This semester I learned about the Feudal System in Medieval Europe, I learned about the encomienda system, and I learned about the five pillars of Islam. All of these things greatly shaped today’s world and are very important pieces of our history.

“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 capitalism, the commodity holds the utmost importance, for it is the organic unit of every capitalist society: one simply does not exist without the other. Yet, the commodity also proves to be the greatest enemy of the individual, particularly to the worker. The reason for this lies behind the commodity's deceiving property: the exchange-value. The exchange-value traps the worker in an unbreakable cycle of capitalism that tortures the worker with constant self-devaluation and gradual dissociation from the essence of being human, as Karl Marx describes from his early works, such as “Estranged Labour,” to his magnus opum, Capital. In order to break the cycle, the worker must scrutinize and eventually estrange himself from the exchange-value.

He sets the stage for a history that is defined by class antagonisms, and these antagonisms imminently end up in revolution. “The bourgeoisie,” he says, “has pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his ‘natural superiors’, and has left no other bond between man and man than naked self-interest” (I, pp11). This is where Marx brings to light the most recent revolution of class – the revolution from the feudal to the capitalist system. The feature that he decides to focus on is not the exploitation of workers or social inequality, but it is the dissolution of human bonds. Marx points out how the bourgeoisie are able to replace an already false notion of human connection in “feudal ties” by an even colder quantification of relationships in “self-interest.” This is suggested by the quotes he places around “natural superiors,” which mocks how the social fabric is easily established by the upper-class. As a new cycle of class struggle ensues, we are able to see how human bonds are reduced to fit yet another form of class oppression. In all, Marx is able to present this dissolution of human relationships into an exchange-value system as a characteristic of history repeating

The feudal system had positives and negatives, for example there was order of power it did not matter how much land, children, and money they had it all depended on their job in the manor. The Knights could get land when they returned from manor. Lords are a sort of nobles and surfs are less powerful and get less things than regular peasants. Knights had restrictions that kept from being on the battle field lords where like the second command to the king he over sees the manor. Surfs basically live where they work. The lord was expected to do Judaism duty. The lord was also expected to pay taxes to the king. The feudal pyramid made it near impossible to gain power

Marx’s theory of alienated labour is structured around a class-based system. It is vital to acknowledge that Marx’s evaluation of the capitalist system is based focused the Industrial Revolution a century and a half ago, and therefore must be kept somewhat in that context. Within Marx’s simplified capitalist society model, one class of people own and control the raw materials and their means of production. They are referred to as capital, bourgeoisie, or the owning class. The capitalist does not just own the means of production, but also all the items produced. By virtue of their ownership of production property they receive an income and earn a living from the operations of their factories and shops. The owning class owns the productive resources, though they do not usually operate the production means themselves.