Feudalism is a lord-vassal relation with a fief or as called land. During this time there were many rulers with violent conflicts. The kind of relationship the two men worked out in practice depended on power, wealth, and personal qualities such as ingenuity, daring, and ruthlessness. To avoid discord and violence, lord and his dependant had to constantly negotiate new agreements to deal with each crisis as it arose. There were three points of evidence that supported the relations on security and violent conflicts. The three points are loyalty, land/fief, and power. By the eighth century, the Germanic society of warriors led by chiefs had been formalized into relationships between lords and vassals (The West, pg. 166). Vassals swore loyalty and obedience to their lord, and in return the lord promised to protect his vassal and sometimes granted him land (The West, pg 166). In the disorder of the ninth and tenth centuries, lords gained extensive political and legal rights over the communities in their lands (The West, pg 166). Although in theory feudalism created a hierarchy of authority, in actuality the situation was more complex (The West, pg 166). The lords only called on their vassals to resist invaders. The fief was part of the oath between the lords and the vassals. In my opinion, I believe the relations of lords and vassals fell apart, because of their wealth and power.
The loyalty used between the lords and their subjects were based on dependence. Feudalism transformed kings into the lords of other lords, in which maintaining royal authority was difficult. Kings sought to ensure loyalty by granting favors to loyal vassals and by emphasizing the sacred character of kingship, in the process enhancing the idea of kings...
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...iminate the competition. Since the lords were higher on power they put limits on the violent conflicts and the vassals provided security for the lords. The reason of this is so the vassals would get rewards for helping their superiors. If the vassals did not provide security for the lords, then they would be put to death. Count William was very loyal to his word for giving rewards. So many of his vassals did what he asked them to do to receive their just rewards. This goes to show a person how power works during feudal times.
In conclusion, with all the conflicts and chaos going on in the Carolingian Dynasty, it mainly fell apart because of their greed for fiefs. The vassals became to overconfident with greed that they tried to take over one another. Most of the fortress were destroyed because of unresolved conflicts.
Works Cited
The West, page 166
Imagine having to keep a promise to support a lord for exchange for land. Or having to work on land in transaction for protection and a bit of the harvest for your family. This is one effect of the rules of feudalism and the manor system (OI). For Europeans in the Middle Ages, the social, political and economic lives were influenced by the feudal system.
The feudal system began to decline after the Black Death struck Europe in the late 1340’s. The feudal system joined politics and grouped together the social classes of that period. It began with the “relationship between two freemen (men who are not serfs), a lord and his vassal. Vassal derived from a Celtic word for servant, but in feudal terms vassal meant a free person who put himself under the protection of a lord and for whom he rendered loyal military aid.” This relationship was mutually beneficial at first, but throughout the development of the system, great restrictions were endured.
Although scholars dispute its roots, Feudalism was mostly seen in Frankish lands around the 9th and 10th century. ("Feudalism: History of Feudalism in Europe." Infoplease.) The system was first introduced as a means of protection for the king. However, as time grew the opportunity to use it as means of exchange for services between the king and vassal was found. Instead of just forcing people into the king’s army the idea of giving fiefs to those who would pledge their life to service the king was decided on. Likewise, vassal, or the knights saw the advantages they had that could be used to their advantage.
Everyone had a place in a feudal society. Below the Monarchs were the most powerful lords-Dukes and Counts- who held the largest fiefs. Each of these lords had vassals in turn they had their own vassals. Sometimes a lord was also a vassal to a more powerful lord but had less powerful ones below him. Because vassals often held fiefs from more than one lord feudal relationships grew very complex. A vassal who pledged loyalty to several lords could have serious problems if his lords quarreled with one and other.
Life during the middle ages (1066-1485) was dictated by how much money you had. Were you a noble? Or were you a peasant. Your quality of life was in direct proportion to your status. Lords of the Noble class ruled territories, also known as villages. These villages mainly consisted of one room houses, with maybe a church and a blacksmith shop. Peasants or serfs lived in these villages and worked under said Lord. Daily life was all about survival. The days were spent planting and growing food, harvesting the crop, sewing clothes, and making any supplies that were needed to survive. Trading between different villages was something that was only done as a last resort. People in each village worked together to make their own village successful. Life also depended on what kind of Lord you had. If he was a fair Lord, they were treated reasonably well, and didn’t suffer. As long as the crop was good, they would have plenty to eat, and work was shared equally. If he was an unjust Lord the villagers were subject to his whims. If he demanded money or product from them they must give it, whether it would hurt their own survival or not. Likewise, if he was a Lord that liked to pick fights with neighboring Lords, the villagers would be subject to pillage and plunder by the other Lords that were trying to get back at their particular Lord. Any revenge sought out against a Lord by another Lord would mean that the people of said Lord’s village paid the price. Crops would be destroyed, houses burned and sometimes the villagers were killed. This was known as the Feudal System. The Feudal System was based on the rights of the Nobles, not the serfs. Nobles had preferred seating in the churches, and special hunting privileges. They h...
Medieval feudalism had occurred because of the political disorder that the end of the Roman Empire left behind as well as the invasions and rise of barbarian empires like The Carolingians . These changes in western Europe had created a scrambled political system and a new system had to grow out of it. When the roman empire disappeared, the way it governed and reformed the places it ruled, had gone with it. So without a political system to follow there is no order whatsoever. As the roman empire disintegrated invasions and civil wars had become greater . All these invasions from barbarians had caused kingdoms to grow for these invaders. One out of the many barbaric kingdoms are The Carolingians. This empire had tried many tactics to create stable system within the land but civil wars didn’t allow it to create political stability. So like the roman empire , the Carolingian Empire had to be divided and that didn’t make anything better. Feudalism was the only political stability that can be used because all the factors had built up to it.
Feudalism is a system of land ownership and duties that were used in the Middle Ages. Under feudalism, all the land in a kingdom was the king's. However, the king would give some of his land to the lords or nobles who fought for him. Rulers in all society wanted to create law and order and ensure that people make good use of the society’s resources. That is why feudalism was created. Monarchs had to accept limits on their own personal power. They also needed to respond to expectations that other groups in society have a say in decision-making. People began to use medieval courts for problems that had previously been solved by trial by combat.
Powell wrote, “…the feudal age is most important for the development of Western Europe: this importance lies chiefly in the process of state-building which had its origins here” (Powell 1). The monarch of this feudal society was responsible for state-building, centralization, and maintaining unity. Therefore, the throne was heredity, so that a single family maintained political power throughou...
Western Europe suffered numerous hardships through the ninth and tenth centuries and this was the ultimate reason they established a new political organization which was known as feudalism. By providing honor, protection, and a sense of control, this new social system revived peace and order in Western Europe after the fall of the Carolingian Empire. Feudalism was a necessary ingredient to yield stability in during these times of calamity.
During the eighth century the roman empire in Europe collapsed because the centralized government under the rule of Charlemagne also known as Charles the Great failed to control the obscure provinces mostly because of the deadlock of transportation and communication; being that the empire was vast and news of invasions, rebellions, outbreaks, and natural disasters was not transmitted easily. After the downfall of the centralized government a system called feudalism, where each part of the kingdom had a ruler who was subordinate to the king, emerged and lasted for about six centuries.
Before the Magna Carta, England was rooted in the ideas of feudalism. Feudalism was introduced by William the Conqueror after he victoriously beat Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. William needed a way to control England so he established the feudal system. The feudal system allowed William to keep the people of England loyal to him while he was off at war with neighbouring countries. The feudal system was a pyramid of powers and everyone had a rank and role. The top of the pyramid was the King and below him were different ranking that all gave loyalty to the king while he gave them land. This system lasted for two hundred years, until the tyrannical rule of King John who had ultimate control over England and infuriated his people. For example, King John angered the Roman Catholic Church and consequently the pope banned all church services in England. Unlike most English kings, John was not only a terrible government leader, but a military one too. He experienced loss and defeat in 1204 as he attempted to gain back his territory in northern France. As he suffered loss, John had to accumulate more money so he re...
During the Middle Ages, feudalism served as the “governing political, social, and economic system of late medieval Europe.” Feudalism consisted of feudal liege lords giving land and protection to vassals, common men, in exchange for their allegiance and military service. Although this principle may at first sound like a fair trade, it in actuality restricted the entire society and took away every bit of their independence. In essence, this system could even be compared to a “mini-dictatorship” because the common people relied on ...
As time progressed the feudal system was created. It was designed to divide the lands and protect from attack. The king first gave a fief or a piece of land to a royal vassal. As proof for this exchange in land a vassal would swear to the lord to be his man all the days of his life and protect him against "all men who may live or die." Next came investiture. Investiture was a symbolic gesture when a King or a lord presented a royal vassal or a vassal a stick, a small rod, or a clod of earth to show that he has given him a fief. Now this royal vassal was in charge of a huge piece of land. In order to defend it he would then divide his land into smaller pieces. He would take these smaller pieces and give them to warriors or who agreed to be his own vassals. Thus, the royal vassal became a lord to other vassals. The vassals now under this lord would now divide their lands and grant fiefs to warriors of their own. Last in the dividing of land was the knight whose parcel of land was too small to be divided.
Feudalism was a set of political and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries (“Feudalism”). “The feudal system was not planned but, rather grew and developed in response to the social chaos that followed the fall of the Western Roman Empire. It provided order where there no longer was any, and it created new chains of command to replace those that were gone” ( James 58). Feudalism was introduced by King William I to England; this system organized power, land, and divided people into classes. The king, who owned all the land, gave some land to the church and to the barons in return for large blocks of land, the barons promised to fight for the king. Lent land to the knights and also common people (Susie 5). Feudalism test was also to defend against invaders (John 32). In the absence of centralized government authority, people look to personal relationships to bind society together. An individual with military power to offer gave his services to a feudal lord (Hay 170). Feudalism was created to put society, land, and power into order. In the economic system, landlords would force laborers to work on the lord’s manor to the lord’s profit (Medieval 65).
Feudalism is a social arrangement of rights and obligations in light of area, residency and individual connections in which land is held in fief by the king to the feudal lords. Feudal lords in return have to display their fielty and perform some administrative services.