Feudalism is the name for a type of political and military system in which people gave military and other services to a noble person called a lord in return for protection and the use of land. Historians originally used the term to describe conditions that arose in western Europe during the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages lasted from about the A.D. 400’s through the 1400’s. Some historians claimed that a feudal system developed to fulfill the basic need for justice and protection at a time largely without effective governments. However, most historians now believe medieval governments were not as weak and limited as previously assumed. They believe that the description of feudalism as an overall social system misrepresents the realities of medieval societies.
The word feudal comes from a Latin term for fief. The fief was the property and assets granted by a landholding medieval lord in return for loyalty and service from a follower known as a vassal. Some historians still use the term feudal in a narrow sense to describe this kind of relationship between lords and vassals.
Empire to kingdoms.
The older concept of feudalism was partly an attempt to explain how western European society changed as the Roman Empire ended and the Middle Ages began. In the A.D. 400’s, a number of kingdoms emerged from the former West Roman Empire. These kingdoms were ruled by German-speaking dynasties. It was once believed that German customs replaced many Roman laws and strong Roman government disappeared.
There were two main theories about how a feudal system came to fill this political void. One theory saw the roots of such a system in the idea of a relationship of honor between a Germanic warrior and his leader. The warrior pledged his loyalty and fought for the leader’s honor. In return, he received glory and treasures. The second source of a “feudal system” was thought to be the medieval form of tenure (landholding) in which a landholder, or lord, granted land to a vassal in return for services other than rent or payment. Usually, it was thought, these services included military service. Land might also be given to a strong lord in return for protection. The lord allowed peasants to stay on the land as tenants.
It is now understood that Roman institutions and practices—particularly Christianity, laws, roads, and trade practices, as well as the use of currency and the Latin language—remained dominant well after the end of Roman rule. Society changed gradually, but the break with the past was not as total or uniform as previously thought.
Theories about the roots of the feudal system emphasized the importance of loyalty between local lords and their vassals rather than loyalty to a king or central government. In fact, medieval lords and their followers remained subject to the will of a prince or king. In addition, not all land was distributed as fiefs.
Military service in the Middle Ages.
Many influential men, and some influential women, in medieval Europe maintained small armies and paid the men in these armies with money, with room and board, and sometimes with land as well. But these influential people were expected to use these armies to support the king and the king’s commands. All lords had to take oaths of loyalty to obey the monarch and to follow the monarch’s laws.
Even with the small armies created by powerful nobles, the great majority of the men who went to war in medieval Europe were not professional soldiers. Most military service of the Middle Ages remained based on the obligations of normal citizenry. These medieval militia men had to serve in the monarch’s army when he called them to war. The more land that a person had, the more military service a person owed to the monarch. But when there was no war, these people lived on their farms and tended their crops. The obligation to go to war at the monarch’s command dated back to the Roman Empire.
One of the ideas that grew out of the feudal model for medieval Europe was knighthood. It was once thought by historians that a class of aristocrats and their vassals dominated medieval warfare through the techniques of mounted combat. These men are often thought of as knights, or knights in shining armor.
In fact, the vast majority of important men in society were not professional soldiers. Instead, they spent most of their time supervising their estates. In addition, foot soldiers—who far outnumbered mounted men in battle—were most often an army’s most dominant force.
Although knights did play a role in battles, the majority of professional soldiers came from low social and economic backgrounds. They might undertake a military career to find a better chance in life than offered back on a nobleman’s farm.
Medieval fiefs.
Fiefs were a part of medieval society for most of the Middle Ages. Some fiefs were large enough to support only one person. Others were great provinces of a kingdom, such as the province of Normandy in France. A vassal with large holdings could divide his own fief and distribute part of it to men who, in turn, became his vassals. Thus, one person could be both a lord and a vassal at the same time. Some fiefs were permanent grants that the recipient could pass on to his children without any obstacles. In other cases, fiefs were granted to a recipient for as long as he performed his services well.
Over time, it became common for sons to inherit their father’s fiefs if the sons were prepared to continue the services of the father. By 1100, it had become custom among important people for a man’s oldest son to inherit the fief. This custom was called primogeniture (the right of the first-born). Primogeniture ensured that the fief would not be broken up among many sons and that one heir would assume responsibility for the services to the lord.
If a vassal died without heirs, the fief escheated (went back) to the lord. The lord could then grant it to another person as he wished. If the dead vassal’s heir was a young child, the lord had the right of wardship and became the protector of the ward (child). The lord could grant the wardship to another vassal, who then held the fief and its profits until the young heir came of age. In many cases, the lord also had a right to choose marriage partners for his wards and for the daughters or widows of his vassal. If a woman inherited a fief, her husband performed homage and became the lord’s vassal. Such rights of the lord were called feudal incidents. They were sources of power and profit for the lord.
The lord had other rights called aids. All vassals had to make a special payment when the lord’s oldest son was knighted and when his oldest daughter married. If the lord was captured and held for ransom, the vassals had to pay the ransom.
Historians now recognize that the granting of fiefs to fighting men and others was a part of medieval society, but not the basis for all power and authority. They also understand that fiefs were just one form of compensation for service. Historians now describe medieval Europe as a balance between the “public” authority of the government and the “private” authority of landlords, whom the government used to enforce its laws.
Justice.
The feudal model that historians once used to describe medieval Europe also had a legal side. Because historians used to think that effective government had come to an end after the end of the Roman Empire, they argued that landlords—that is, the owners of great estates—settled quarrels among their vassals and their tenants.
It is now known that such “feudal” courts existed only if the king permitted a landlord to hold the court. In many parts of Europe, the king or ruling prince continued to maintain “public” courts where disputes were settled. The rules governing court practices usually were based on long precedent, or tradition, in many cases dating back to the Roman Empire. In fact, it was Roman imperial law that provided the basis for most medieval law codes.
When historians viewed feudalism as the political system of medieval Europe, they thought its decline occurred around 1200 and resulted from the growth of stronger governments in such places as England, France, and Spain. Because it is now understood that government never disappeared, historians now see the era around 1200 as part of a long period of continuity, with only gradual changes in practices, stretching back to the end of the Roman Empire.
