Feudalism System: The Middle Ages In Europe

During this time the social class depended on how much land you owned. Royalty in your Kings and Queens was part of the upper class; the noble lords and vassals followed the

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

Between 500 to 1500 A.D in Europe, there was a period of time called the Middle Ages (OI). During this time, kings, nobles, knights and serfs lived together in a society called feudalism (Doc. 1). The Church was very important, trade began to grow, and the knights lived by a code called the Code of Chivalry. During this time, the social, political and economic lives were influenced by the feudal system and the Church.

You would think the middle ages were a time where everyone had money and rode dragons. However, the middle ages were a time where you were either part of the rare rich life or down by the pigs. During the Middle Ages, Europeans social, economic and political life was defined by feudalism. Feudalism was the social system in medieval Europe, when knights would fight for nobles, lords, and kings in exchange for land (OI).

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.

Feudalism a social system of duties and rights on land tenure and personal relationships in fief lands by vassals that came from lords to which they owe very specific services, and to which they are bounded by personal loyalty. Feudalism started in the definite form in the lands of Frankish in the century of the 9th and the 10th. In a long disagreement with scholars whether the institutional basis was with Germanic or Roman. It could be said that feudalism started from the disintegration of the Roman institutions and the disruption of Germanic settlement and inroads. Feudalism rose in areas that were formerly dominated by Roman institutions that meant the breakdown for the central government. The regions that were not dominated by the Roman

Medieval Europe, which lasted from about 500-1300 CE, originally was filled with Germanic invasions and threats from groups such as the Islamic Caliphate, the Magyars, and the Vikings. The constant instability from these external threats eventually demanded for a new system of government, which for Europe was feudalism. This system of government would last for centuries, until the eventual rise of towns and trade around Europe began the downfall of feudalism. Japan, although geographically independent of Europe, developed a similar system in around 1300 CE, which lasted until around 1600. After any strong central power fell off, warring clans needed to bolster their military prowess, so military leaders began to hire samurai to fight the opposition.

Feudalism and manorialism are two the most important keys of medieval political and socio-economic institutions appeared toward the end of the early Middle Ages.

Life in the high middle ages, between 1000 and 1300 A.D., had two kinds of communities, manorial villages and towns. The major difference in these two distinct types of communities was the freedom, rights of the people and advancements. In the manorial villages you had lords who owned large portions of land, vassals who entered into a military obligation with the lords in exchange for land and protection, and serfs who were a class of people that worked their lord’s land as half slave, half freeman. Vassals were more of an employee and the serfs was little more than a slave because they were bound to the lord’s land. The serfs could not leave or do anything without the lord’s permission and most of the time they had to pay fees to be granted the permissions they requested. In contrast the townspeople elected their officials, had freedom to choose a career, move about where they liked, and could acquire training and schooling. Townspeople were in fact free, were not lorded over and watched all the time. As for the manorial villages, the lord had all the power and had absolute control oved all the actions and work of the vassals and serfs.

A feudal society is one in which the lords carry a significant measure of power by owning land. Workers known as Serfs are included on the land. Serfs owe the lord a certain amount of labor as well as give the lord a portion of their goods. The lords then gives protection to the serfs from their knights. To get knights, the lord offers a fief(land) to the knight in exchange for military service. A feudal society had the characteristic of being decentralized. It also had major roles and responsibilities that everyone needed to follow in order to keep the society intact. During the early Middle Ages, decentralized governments, attacks from the Vikings and other barbarians, and the strong power of the Church strongly abetted the formation of the feudal society in Medieval Europe.

Medieval government was called Feudalism, which provided protection for the townspeople. The first level was the monarch, king or queen, or clergy. The monarch was the highest level in the system and ruled over all of the land, except for the church. The next highest level in the medieval social structure was the lords, or nobles. The lords were given responsibility of estates by the monarch. Under the lords was the social class of the knights, or vassals. Knights were granted this title by the monarch of the land. The lowliest level of the medieval social classes was the serfs or the peasants. Almost 90% of the population of Medieval Europe was serfs. Serfs were regular village people that worked the land of the

From approximately AD 500 to 1400, Europe faced a period of changes in the economy and politics through faith, disease, and feudalism. This period is often labeled as the Middle Ages. The fall of the Roman Empire and diseases that followed resulted in a rise of feudalism. During this period, a few terms describing Europe rose such as the Age of Faith, the Dark Ages, and the Age of Feudalism. While all three phrases may be used to describe the Middle Ages, the Age of Faith is the best label for the Middle Ages.

Right after the “Fall of Rome” in 476 C.E., attacks from the Germanic tribes caused chaos all over the Roman Empire. The commoners sought protection which they received in exchange for produce. This exchange later developed into a system that included fiefs, contracts between peasants and their lords, which was then called feudalism (Feudalism Britannica). Feudalism was practiced on manors, land that met all the necessary needs of the people living on it, where it was called manorialism (Manorialism Britannica). Through feudalism and manorialism, a new era known as the Middle Ages emerged. Although historians may argue that feudalism handed ultimate authority to the elite, who could effortlessly manipulate their superiority, it established a safe, stable and organized society and strengthened the social structure militarily and politically. It benefitted all: the poor received protection and land while the powerful acquired military service and produce with the help of manors and fiefs. This system also secured stability, power and close control within the society.

Feudalism was the social structure of Europe during the Medieval times, and was brought into Europe by William the Conqueror and the Normans after defeating the English at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The Feudal system was a hierarchy that divided all the people in the country into classes. With Feudalism, everyone had a place to live at and a job to earn money from. The social structure consisted of four classes; the King at the top, the Lords below him, then the Knights, and then the Peasants and the Serfs at the bottom. Each class worked to help each other in return for supplies.

The microlevel of authority was know as feudalism and it relied on securing several geographical regions. However, due to military technology and economic expansion the feudal system began to fade. At the micro level of feudalism universalistic authority figures like the pope and and the Holy Roman Emperor were being challenged by kings and individuals who questioned religions role the expansion of personal freedom and intellectual growth. This led to a struggle that ended with the Treaty of Westphalia gave birth to state sovereignty within anarchical political systems. Eventually, a change occurred during World War I as the mulitipolar system was affected by the outcome of trying o preserve a balance among dominant powers at the time. As