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
“The key factor in limiting royal power in the years 1399-1509 was the king’s relationship with parliament.”
relation of the ruler to his vassals, it is just as important to take into account
Opposite to the clergy were the lords and nobility who developed their own culture, which was centered on chivalry. According to this ideal, the duty of a knight was to unite Christian virtues with courage and spirit of battle, demonstrated by jousting. The lords attempted to regulate their lands and reduce the influence of the nobility and the Church. Their power, however, was dependent on their subjects in the economic system of feudalism, which defined power relations. A lord would lend a fiefdom to a vassal, which thus created a social relationship in that the vassal owed service and the lord owed protection.
The Age of Feudalism describes the Middle Ages because people needed some organization in their society. The fall of the Roman Empire had left the government in an unstable position, and people needed protection from their lords. The start of feudalism would make it easier for the king because he would not have to rule over a large territory because the area would be under the control of several nobles. This was a political system in which each class on a manor would have to provide something for the society in order to receive assistance in return. A manor consisted of several villages where the lord had overlooked each area. For example the vassal had to provide loyalty and military service, and received protection and land from their lord (Doc. 3). Feudalism not only worked between lords and vassals, but between each class (except merchants). Take for instance, John of Toul is sending his knights to the count and countess of Champagne in order to protect them, and he had received land from them (Doc 2). Another example was the Salisbury oath, wh...
Manorialism and Feudalism were weakened by the rise of merchant guilds, plague epidemics, and nationalism. The rise of merchant guilds facilitated long distance trade during the medieval period [1301 - 1500], and lasted into the 18th century. Guilds were social, political and economic organizations in medieval towns. They cared for social and economic welfare of members. Guilds assisted in the rise of new middle class. They enjoyed a trade monopoly in towns, allowed members to earn a living wage. Guilds bypassed or contravened feudalism and manorialism when they purchased self government charters for towns from nobles or started new towns.
In contrast in Germany, kings seem unable to keep a reign on their crown as well as their nobles and other officials. ("HISTORY OF FEUDALISM." HISTORY OF FEUDALISM. ) The structure seems to fall over due to the nobility’s places as second in the Feudalism structure. But in some cases the nobility actually had more money and power than the king himself. This and as well as the other problems discussed would eventually lead to taxing and ruling from a central place, slowly becoming the norm. But, although the system seems to fall apart its customs seem to be made use to other places.
All throughout history and even in modern day countries have been structured by a social class system, however sometimes terrible disasters can set off this social balance. The Black Death was an appalling pandemic that swept through Europe killing thousands of medieval Europeans. Feudalism was a social system based on each level giving and getting products and services to keep the medieval society and it’s people alive. All classes during the Black Plague were affected, noble or serf, this caused a monumental power shift and the social classes never to be the same again. With feudalism’s tight social structure, the Black Death in the late 1300s demolished the population and feudal ties in medieval Europe.
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...
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.
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.
William I first introduced the Feudal System to England. The Normans from the time they settled there had used this system in France. The Feudal System was a simple system where the King owned all lands. The King would decide who he would lease land to. Therefore, only the men who the King could trust were able to lease land from him. Before they were given any land, they had to swear an oath to remain faithful to the king at all times. These men were known as barons.
The Agreement between Lord and Vassal is an account of a relationship between Hugh of Lusignan and William V of Aquitaine (who was also Count of Poitiers ). This account is seen through the perspective of Hugh, and provides examples of different powers, actions, and decisions of lords and vassals. According to the introduction of the Agreement, this account was "wrote or dictated " between 1020 and 1025 . Through criticism and analysis of this source, I hope to determine what information historians can gather from a first-person document and how/if this document has a place in the milieu of history.
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 ...
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).