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Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structuring society around relationships that were derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour. Although it is derived from the Latin word ''feodum'' or ''feudum'' (fief), which was used during the Medieval period, the term ''feudalism'' and the system which it describes were not conceived of as a formal political system by the people who lived during the Middle Ages. The classic definition, by François Louis Ganshof (1944), François Louis Ganshof (1944). ''Qu'est-ce que la féodalité''. Translated into English by Philip Grierson as ''Feudalism'', with a foreword by F. M. Stenton, 1st ed.: New York and London, 1952; 2nd ed: 1961; 3rd ed.: 1976. describes a set of reciprocal legal and military obligations which existed among the warrior nobility and revolved around the three key concepts of lords, vassals, and fiefs. A broader definition of feudalism, as described by Marc Bloch (1939), includes not only the obligations of the warrior nobility but the obligations of all three estates of the realm: the nobility, the
clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
, and the peasantry, all of whom were bound by a system of manorialism; this is sometimes referred to as a "feudal society". Since the publication of
Elizabeth A. R. Brown Elizabeth Atkinson Rash Brown (born February 16, 1932) is a professor emerita of history at Brooklyn College, of the City University of New York, a scholar and published author, known for her writings on feudalism. She received her B.A. from Swar ...
's "The Tyranny of a Construct" (1974) and Susan Reynolds's ''Fiefs and Vassals'' (1994), there has been ongoing inconclusive discussion among medieval historians as to whether feudalism is a useful construct for understanding medieval society.


Definition

There is no commonly accepted modern definition of feudalism, at least among scholars."Feudalism"
by
Elizabeth A. R. Brown Elizabeth Atkinson Rash Brown (born February 16, 1932) is a professor emerita of history at Brooklyn College, of the City University of New York, a scholar and published author, known for her writings on feudalism. She received her B.A. from Swar ...
. '' Encyclopædia Britannica Online''.
"Feudalism?"
by Paul Halsall.
Internet Medieval Sourcebook The Internet History Sourcebooks Project is located at the Fordham University History Department and Center for Medieval Studies. It is a web site with modern, medieval and ancient primary source documents, maps, secondary sources, bibliographies, ...
.
The adjective ''feudal'' was in use by at least 1405, and the noun ''feudalism'', now often employed in a political and propagandist context, was coined by 1771, paralleling the French . According to a classic definition by François Louis Ganshof (1944), feudalism describes a set of reciprocal legal and military obligations which existed among the warrior nobility and revolved around the three key concepts of lords, vassals and fiefs, though Ganshof himself noted that his treatment was only related to the "narrow, technical, legal sense of the word". A broader definition, as described in Marc Bloch's ''Feudal Society'' (1939), includes not only the obligations of the warrior nobility but the obligations of all three estates of the realm: the nobility, the
clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...
, and those who lived off their labour, most directly the peasantry which was bound by a system of manorialism; this order is often referred to as a "feudal society", echoing Bloch's usage. Outside its European context, the concept of feudalism is often used by
analogy Analogy (from Greek ''analogia'', "proportion", from ''ana-'' "upon, according to" lso "against", "anew"+ ''logos'' "ratio" lso "word, speech, reckoning" is a cognitive process of transferring information or meaning from a particular subject ( ...
, most often in discussions of
feudal Japan The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to prehistoric times around 30,000 BC. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC when new inven ...
under the '' shoguns'', and sometimes in discussions of the Zagwe dynasty in
medieval Ethiopia The history of Ethiopia in the Middle Ages roughly spans the period from the decline of the Kingdom of Aksum in the 7th century to the Oromo migrations beginning in the mid-16th century.Kelly, "Introduction", p. 16 Aksum had been a powerful empir ...
, which had some feudal characteristics (sometimes called "semifeudal"). Some have taken the feudalism analogy further, seeing feudalism (or traces of it) in places as diverse as China during the Spring and Autumn period (771-476 BCE), ancient Egypt, the Parthian Empire, feudalism in the Indian subcontinent and the
Antebellum South In the history of the Southern United States, the Antebellum Period (from la, ante bellum, lit= before the war) spanned the end of the War of 1812 to the start of the American Civil War in 1861. The Antebellum South was characterized by the ...
and
Jim Crow laws The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...
in the
American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
. The term ''feudalism'' has also been applied—often pejoratively—to non-Western societies where institutions and attitudes which are similar to those which existed in medieval Europe are perceived to prevail. Some historians and political theorists believe that the term ''feudalism'' has been deprived of specific meaning by the many ways it has been used, leading them to reject it as a useful concept for understanding society. The applicability of the term feudalism has also been questioned in the context of some
Central and Eastern Europe Central and Eastern Europe is a term encompassing the countries in the Baltics, Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Southeast Europe (mostly the Balkans), usually meaning former communist states from the Eastern Bloc and Warsaw Pact in Europe ...
an countries, such as Poland and Lithuania, with scholars observing that the medieval political and economic structure of those countries bears some, but not all, resemblances to the Western European societies commonly described as feudal.


Etymology

The root of the term "feudal" originates in the Proto-Indo-European word ''*péḱu'', meaning "cattle", and possesses cognates in many other Indo-European languages: Sanskrit ''pacu'', "cattle"; Latin ''pecus'' (cf. ''pecunia'') "cattle", "money"; Old High German ''fehu, fihu'', "cattle", "property", "money"; Old Frisian ''fia''; Old Saxon ''fehu''; Old English ''feoh, fioh, feo, fee''. The term "féodal" was first used in 17th-century French legal treatises (1614) and translated into English legal treatises as an adjective, such as "feodal government". In the 18th century,
Adam Smith Adam Smith (baptized 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the thinking of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as "The Father of Economics"——� ...
, seeking to describe economic systems, effectively coined the forms "feudal government" and "feudal system" in his book '' The Wealth of Nations'' (1776).Fredric L. Cheyette. "FEUDALISM, EUROPEAN." in ''New Dictionary of the History Of Ideas'', Vol. 2, ed. Maryanne Cline Horowitz, Thomas Gale 2005, . pp. 828–831 The phrase "feudal system" appeared in 1736, in ''Baronia Anglica'', published nine years after the death of its author
Thomas Madox Thomas Madox (1666 – 13 January 1727) was a legal antiquary and historian, known for his publication and discussion of medieval records and charters; and in particular for his ''History of the Exchequer'', tracing the administration and records ...
, in 1727. In 1771, in his book ''The History of Manchester'', John Whitaker first introduced the word "feudalism" and the notion of the feudal pyramid.Elizabeth A. R. Brown
"Reflections on Feudalism: Thomas Madox and the Origins of the Feudal System in England,"
in ''Feud, Violence and Practice: Essays in Medieval Studies in Honor of Stephen D. White'', ed. Belle S. Tuten and Tracey L. Billado (Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 2010), 135-155 at 145-149.
The term "feudal" or "feodal" is derived from the medieval Latin word . The etymology of is complex with multiple theories, some suggesting a Germanic origin (the most widely held view) and others suggesting an
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
origin. Initially in medieval Latin European documents, a land grant in exchange for service was called a (Latin).Meir Lubetski (ed.). ''Boundaries of the ancient Near Eastern world: a tribute to Cyrus H. Gordon''. "Notices on Pe'ah, Fay' and Feudum" by Alauddin Samarrai
Pg. 248–250
Continuum International Publishing Group, 1998.
Later, the term , or , began to replace in the documents. The first attested instance of this is from 984, although more primitive forms were seen up to one-hundred years earlier. The origin of the and why it replaced has not been well established, but there are multiple theories, described below. The most widely held theory was proposed by
Johan Hendrik Caspar Kern Johan Hendrik Caspar Kern (6 April 1833 – 4 July 1917) was a Dutch linguist and Orientalist. In the literature, he is usually referred to as H. Kern or Hendrik Kern; a few other scholars bear the same surname. Life Hendrik Kern was born to ...
in 1870, being supported by, amongst others,
William Stubbs William Stubbs (21 June 182522 April 1901) was an English historian and Anglican bishop. He was Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford between 1866 and 1884. He was Bishop of Chester from 1884 to 1889 and Bishop of ...
and Marc Bloch.Marc Bloch. ''Feudal Society'', Vol. 1, 1964. pp.165–66.Marc Bloch. ''Feudalism'', 1961, pg. 106. Kern derived the word from a putative
Frankish Frankish may refer to: * Franks, a Germanic tribe and their culture ** Frankish language or its modern descendants, Franconian languages * Francia, a post-Roman state in France and Germany * East Francia, the successor state to Francia in Germany ...
term ''*fehu-ôd'', in which ''*fehu'' means "cattle" and ''-ôd'' means "goods", implying "a movable object of value". Bloch explains that by the beginning of the 10th century it was common to value land in monetary terms but to pay for it with objects of equivalent value, such as arms, clothing, horses or food. This was known as ''feos'', a term that took on the general meaning of paying for something in lieu of money. This meaning was then applied to land itself, in which land was used to pay for fealty, such as to a vassal. Thus the old word ''feos'' meaning movable property changed little by little to ''feus'' meaning the exact opposite: landed property. It has also been suggested that word comes from the
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
''faihu'', meaning "property", specifically, "cattle". Another theory was put forward by
Archibald Ross Lewis Archibald Ross Lewis (1914–1990) was a historian, World War II Veteran, professor, and author. He wrote 14 books, and more than 100 articles. As a professor he taught at the University of South Carolina, University of Texas, and University of ...
. Lewis said the origin of 'fief' is not ''feudum'' (or ''feodum''), but rather ''foderum'', the earliest attested use being in ''
Vita Hludovici ''Vita Hludovici'' or ''Vita Hludovici Imperatoris'' (The Life of Louis or the Life of the Emperor Louis) is an anonymous biography of Louis the Pious, Holy Roman Emperor and King of the Franks from AD 814 to 840. Author The work was written ...
'' (840) by Astronomus.
Archibald R. Lewis Archibald Ross Lewis (1914–1990) was a historian, World War II Veteran, professor, and author. He wrote 14 books, and more than 100 articles. As a professor he taught at the University of South Carolina, University of Texas, and University of ...
. ''The Development of Southern French and Catalan Society 718–1050'', 1965, pp. 76–77.
In that text is a passage about
Louis the Pious Louis the Pious (german: Ludwig der Fromme; french: Louis le Pieux; 16 April 778 – 20 June 840), also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was King of the Franks and co-emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. He was also King of Aqui ...
that says , which can be translated as "Louis forbade that military
provender Fodder (), also called provender (), is any agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock, such as cattle, rabbits, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. "Fodder" refers particularly to food given to the animals (includin ...
(which they popularly call "fodder") be furnished." Another theory by
Alauddin Samarrai Alauddin (Arabic: علاء الدين) is a Muslim male given name and, in modern usage, also a surname. This name derives from the Arabic ''“ʻAlāʼ ad-Dīn”'', meaning “servant of Allah, nobility of faith, nobility of religion, nobility of ...
suggests an Arabic origin, from ''fuyū'' (the plural of ''fay'', which literally means "the returned", and was used especially for 'land that has been conquered from enemies that did not fight').
Alauddin Samarrai Alauddin (Arabic: علاء الدين) is a Muslim male given name and, in modern usage, also a surname. This name derives from the Arabic ''“ʻAlāʼ ad-Dīn”'', meaning “servant of Allah, nobility of faith, nobility of religion, nobility of ...
. "The term 'fief': A possible Arabic origin", ''Studies in Medieval Culture'', 4.1 (1973), pp. 78–82.
Samarrai's theory is that early forms of 'fief' include ''feo'', ''feu'', ''feuz'', ''feuum'' and others, the plurality of forms strongly suggesting origins from a loanword. The first use of these terms is in Languedoc, one of the least Germanic areas of Europe and bordering
Al-Andalus Al-Andalus translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label= Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, al-Ándalus () was the Mu ...
(Muslim Spain). Further, the earliest use of ''feuum'' (as a replacement for ''beneficium'') can be dated to 899, the same year a Muslim base at
Fraxinetum Fraxinetum or Fraxinet ( ar, فرخشنيط, translit=Farakhshanīt or , from Latin ''fraxinus'': "ash tree", ''fraxinetum'': "ash forest") was the site of a Muslim fortress in Provence between about 887 and 972. It is identified with moder ...
(
La Garde-Freinet La Garde-Freinet (; Provençal: ''La Gàrdia Frainet'') is a commune in the Var department in the Côte d'Azur area in southeastern France. Location La Garde-Freinet is a medieval French mountain village, located in the Massif des Maures, 15& ...
) in Provence was established. It is possible, Samarrai says, that French scribes, writing in Latin, attempted to
transliterate Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus '' trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or ...
the Arabic word ''fuyū'' (the plural of ''fay''), which was being used by the Muslim invaders and occupiers at the time, resulting in a plurality of forms – ''feo, feu, feuz, feuum'' and others – from which eventually ''feudum'' derived. Samarrai, however, also advises to handle this theory with care, as Medieval and Early Modern Muslim scribes often used etymologically "fanciful roots" in order to claim the most outlandish things to be of Arabian or Muslim origin.


History

Feudalism, in its various forms, usually emerged as a result of the decentralization of an empire: especially in the
Carolingian Empire The Carolingian Empire (800–888) was a large Frankish-dominated empire in western and central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as kings of the Franks since 751 and as kings of the ...
in 9th century AD, which lacked the bureaucratic infrastructure necessary to support
cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry in ...
without allocating land to these mounted troops. Mounted soldiers began to secure a system of hereditary rule over their allocated land and their power over the territory came to encompass the social, political, judicial, and economic spheres.Gat, Azar. ''War in Human Civilization'', New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. pp. 332–343 These acquired powers significantly diminished unitary power in these empires. However, once the infrastructure to maintain unitary power was re-established—as with the European monarchies—feudalism began to yield to this new power structure and eventually disappeared.


Classic feudalism

The classic François Louis Ganshof version of feudalism describes a set of reciprocal legal and military obligations which existed among the warrior nobility, revolving around the three key concepts of lords, vassals and fiefs. In broad terms a lord was a noble who held land, a vassal was a person who was granted possession of the land by the lord, and the land was known as a fief. In exchange for the use of the fief and protection by the lord, the vassal would provide some sort of service to the lord. There were many varieties of feudal land tenure, consisting of military and non-military service. The obligations and corresponding rights between lord and vassal concerning the fief form the basis of the feudal relationship.


Vassalage

Before a lord could grant land (a fief) to someone, he had to make that person a vassal. This was done at a formal and symbolic ceremony called a
commendation ceremony A commendation ceremony (''commendatio'') is a formal ceremony that evolved during the Early Medieval period to create a bond between a lord and his fighting man, called his vassal. The first recorded ceremony of ''commendatio'' was in 7th cent ...
, which was composed of the two-part act of
homage Homage (Old English) or Hommage (French) may refer to: History *Homage (feudal) /ˈhɒmɪdʒ/, the medieval oath of allegiance *Commendation ceremony, medieval homage ceremony Arts *Homage (arts) /oʊˈmɑʒ/, an allusion or imitation by one arti ...
and oath of fealty. During homage, the lord and vassal entered into a contract in which the vassal promised to fight for the lord at his command, whilst the lord agreed to protect the vassal from external forces. ''Fealty'' comes from the Latin ''fidelitas'' and denotes the
fidelity Fidelity is the quality of faithfulness or loyalty. Its original meaning regarded duty in a broader sense than the related concept of ''fealty''. Both derive from the Latin word ''fidēlis'', meaning "faithful or loyal". In the City of London fin ...
owed by a vassal to his feudal lord. "Fealty" also refers to an oath that more explicitly reinforces the commitments of the vassal made during homage. Such an oath follows homage.''Medieval Feudalism''
, by Carl Stephenson. Cornell University Press, 1942. Classic introduction to Feudalism.
Once the commendation ceremony was complete, the lord and vassal were in a feudal relationship with agreed obligations to one another. The vassal's principal obligation to the lord was to "aid", or military service. Using whatever equipment the vassal could obtain by virtue of the revenues from the fief, the vassal was responsible to answer calls to military service on behalf of the lord. This security of military help was the primary reason the lord entered into the feudal relationship. In addition, the vassal could have other obligations to his lord, such as attendance at his court, whether manorial, baronial, both termed
court baron The manorial courts were the lowest courts of law in England during the feudal period. They had a civil jurisdiction limited both in subject matter and geography. They dealt with matters over which the lord of the manor had jurisdiction, primaril ...
, or at the king's court. It could also involve the vassal providing "counsel", so that if the lord faced a major decision he would summon all his vassals and hold a council. At the level of the manor this might be a fairly mundane matter of agricultural policy, but also included sentencing by the lord for criminal offences, including capital punishment in some cases. Concerning the king's feudal court, such deliberation could include the question of declaring war. These are
examples of feudalism Examples of feudalism are helpful to fully understand feudalism and feudal society. Feudalism was practiced in many different ways, depending on location and time period, thus a high-level encompassing conceptual definition does not always provid ...
; depending on the period of time and location in Europe, feudal customs and practices varied.


The feudal revolution in France

In its origin, the feudal grant of land had been seen in terms of a personal bond between lord and vassal, but with time and the transformation of fiefs into hereditary holdings, the nature of the system came to be seen as a form of "politics of land" (an expression used by the historian Marc Bloch). The 11th century in France saw what has been called by historians a " feudal revolution" or "mutation" and a "fragmentation of powers" (Bloch) that was unlike the development of feudalism in England or Italy or in Germany in the same period or later: Counties and duchies began to break down into smaller holdings as
castellan A castellan is the title used in Medieval Europe for an appointed official, a governor of a castle and its surrounding territory referred to as the castellany. The title of ''governor'' is retained in the English prison system, as a remnant ...
s and lesser '' seigneurs'' took control of local lands, and (as
comital Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York ...
families had done before them) lesser lords usurped/privatized a wide range of prerogatives and rights of the state, including travel dues, market dues, fees for using woodlands, obligations, use the lord's mill and, most importantly, the highly profitable rights of justice, etc.Wickham, ''The Inheritance of Rome'', p. 518. (what Georges Duby called collectively the "''seigneurie banale''"). Power in this period became more personal. This "fragmentation of powers" was not, however, systematic throughout France, and in certain counties (such as Flanders, Normandy, Anjou, Toulouse), counts were able to maintain control of their lands into the 12th century or later. Thus, in some regions (like Normandy and Flanders), the vassal/feudal system was an effective tool for
ducal Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranke ...
and comital control, linking vassals to their lords; but in other regions, the system led to significant confusion, all the more so as vassals could and frequently did pledge themselves to two or more lords. In response to this, the idea of a "liege lord" was developed (where the obligations to one lord are regarded as superior) in the 12th century.


End of European feudalism (1500–1850s)

Most of the military aspects of feudalism effectively ended by about 1500. This was partly since the military shifted from armies consisting of the nobility to professional fighters thus reducing the nobility's claim on power, but also because the
Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causing ...
reduced the nobility's hold over the lower classes. Vestiges of the feudal system hung on in France until the French Revolution of the 1790s. Even when the original feudal relationships had disappeared, there were many institutional remnants of feudalism left in place. Historian
Georges Lefebvre Georges Lefebvre (; 6 August 1874 – 28 August 1959) was a French historian, best known for his work on the French Revolution and peasant life. He is considered one of the pioneers of " history from below". He coined the phrase the ...
explains how at an early stage of the French Revolution, on just one night of August 4, 1789, France abolished the long-lasting remnants of the feudal order. It announced, "The National Assembly abolishes the feudal system entirely." Lefebvre explains: Originally the peasants were supposed to pay for the release of seigneurial dues; these dues affected more than a quarter of the farmland in France and provided most of the income of the large landowners. The majority refused to pay and in 1793 the obligation was cancelled. Thus the peasants got their land free, and also no longer paid the
tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more r ...
to the church. In the Kingdom of France, following the French Revolution, feudalism was abolished with a decree of August 11, 1789 by the
Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...
, a provision that was later extended to various parts of Italian kingdom following the invasion by French troops. In the
Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...
, Joachim Murat abolished feudalism with the law of August 2, 1806, then implemented with a law of September 1, 1806 and a royal decree of December 3, 1808. In the Kingdom of Sicily the abolishing law was issued by the
Sicilian Parliament The Sicilian Parliament was the legislature of the Kingdom of Sicily. History The Sicilian Parliament is arguably one of the oldest parliaments in the world and the first legislature in the modern sense. In 1097 came the first conference in ...
on August 10, 1812. In Piedmont feudalism ceased by virtue of the edicts of March 7, and July 19, 1797 issued by
Charles Emmanuel IV Charles Emmanuel IV (Carlo Emanuele Ferdinando Maria; 24 May 1751 – 6 October 1819) was King of Sardinia from 1796 to 1802. He abdicated in favour of his brother Victor Emmanuel I. Biography Carlo Emanuele Ferdinando Maria di Savoia was ...
, although in the Kingdom of Sardinia, specifically on the island of Sardinia, feudalism was abolished only with an edict of August 5, 1848. In the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, feudalism was abolished with the law of December 5, 1861 n.º 342 were all feudal bonds abolished. The system lingered on in parts of Central and Eastern Europe as late as the 1850s. Slavery in Romania was abolished in 1856. Russia finally abolished serfdom in 1861. More recently in Scotland, on November 28, 2004, the
Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 The Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 was a land reform enforced by an Act of the Scottish Parliament that was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 3 May 2000, and received Royal Assent on 9 June 2000. Provisions The Act off ...
entered into full force putting an end to what was left of the Scottish feudal system. The last feudal regime, that of the island of Sark, was abolished in December 2008, when the first democratic elections were held for the election of a local parliament and the appointment of a government. The "revolution" is a consequence of the juridical intervention of the European Parliament, which declared the local constitutional system as contrary to human rights, and, following a series of legal battles, imposed
parliamentary democracy A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of t ...
.


Feudal society

The phrase "feudal society" as defined by Marc BlochBloch, Marc, ''Feudal Society.'' Tr. L.A. Manyon. Two volume. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961 offers a wider definition than Ganshof's and includes within the feudal structure not only the warrior aristocracy bound by vassalage, but also the peasantry bound by manorialism, and the estates of the Church. Thus the feudal order embraces society from top to bottom, though the "powerful and well-differentiated social group of the urban classes" came to occupy a distinct position to some extent outside the classic feudal hierarchy.


Historiography

The idea of ''feudalism'' was unknown and the system it describes was not conceived of as a formal political system by the people living in the medieval period. This section describes the history of the idea of feudalism, how the concept originated among scholars and thinkers, how it changed over time, and modern debates about its use.


Evolution of the concept

The concept of a feudal state or period, in the sense of either a regime or a period dominated by lords who possess financial or social power and prestige, became widely held in the middle of the 18th century, as a result of works such as
Montesquieu Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (; ; 18 January 168910 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher. He is the principa ...
's ''De L'Esprit des Lois'' (1748; published in English as ''
The Spirit of Law ''The Spirit of Law'' (French: ''De l'esprit des lois'', originally spelled ''De l'esprit des loix''), also known in English as ''The Spirit of the Laws'', is a treatise on political theory, as well as a pioneering work in comparative law, publis ...
''), and
Henri de Boulainvilliers Henri de Boulainvilliers (; 21 October 1658, Saint-Saire, Normandy – 23 January 1722, Paris) was a French nobleman, writer and historian. He was educated at the College of Juilly; he served in the army until 1697. Primarily remembered as an ea ...
's ''Histoire des anciens Parlements de France'' (1737; published in English as ''An Historical Account of the Ancient Parliaments of France or States-General of the Kingdom'', 1739). In the 18th century, writers of the Enlightenment wrote about feudalism to denigrate the antiquated system of the ''
Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for " ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien A ''virelai'' is a form of medieval French verse used often in poetry and music. It is ...
'', or French monarchy. This was the
Age of Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment or the Enlightenment; german: Aufklärung, "Enlightenment"; it, L'Illuminismo, "Enlightenment"; pl, Oświecenie, "Enlightenment"; pt, Iluminismo, "Enlightenment"; es, La Ilustración, "Enlightenment" was an intel ...
, when writers valued reason and the Middle Ages were viewed as the " Dark Ages". Enlightenment authors generally mocked and ridiculed anything from the "Dark Ages" including feudalism, projecting its negative characteristics on the current French monarchy as a means of political gain. Robert Bartlett. "Perspectives on the Medieval World" in ''Medieval Panorama'', 2001, For them "feudalism" meant seigneurial privileges and prerogatives. When the French Constituent Assembly abolished the "feudal regime" in August 1789, this is what was meant.
Adam Smith Adam Smith (baptized 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the thinking of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as "The Father of Economics"——� ...
used the term "feudal system" to describe a social and economic system defined by inherited social ranks, each of which possessed inherent social and economic privileges and obligations. In such a system, wealth derived from agriculture, which was arranged not according to market forces but on the basis of customary labour services owed by serfs to landowning nobles.


Karl Marx

Karl Marx also used the term in the 19th century in his analysis of society's economic and political development, describing feudalism (or more usually feudal society or the feudal
mode of production In the Marxist theory of historical materialism, a mode of production (German: ''Produktionsweise'', "the way of producing") is a specific combination of the: * Productive forces: these include human labour power and means of production (tool ...
) as the order coming before
capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, private pr ...
. For Marx, what defined feudalism was the power of the ruling class (the
aristocracy Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At the time of the word's ...
) in their control of arable land, leading to a
class society A social class is a grouping of people into a set of hierarchical social categories, the most common being the upper, middle and lower classes. Membership in a social class can for example be dependent on education, wealth, occupation, incom ...
based upon the exploitation of the peasants who farm these lands, typically under serfdom and principally by means of labour, produce and money rents. Marx thus defined feudalism primarily by its economic characteristics. He also took it as a paradigm for understanding the power-relationships between capitalists and wage-labourers in his own time: "in pre-capitalist systems it was obvious that most people did not control their own destiny—under feudalism, for instance, serfs had to work for their lords. Capitalism seems different because people are in theory free to work for themselves or for others as they choose. Yet most workers have as little control over their lives as feudal serfs." Some later Marxist theorists (e.g. Eric Wolf) have applied this label to include non-European societies, grouping feudalism together with imperial China and the Inca Empire, in the pre-Columbian era, as 'tributary' societies .


Later studies

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries,
J. Horace Round (John) Horace Round (22 February 1854 – 24 June 1928) was an historian and genealogist of the English medieval period. He translated the portion of Domesday Book (1086) covering Essex into English. As an expert in the history of the British p ...
and
Frederic William Maitland Frederic William Maitland (28 May 1850 – ) was an English historian and lawyer who is regarded as the modern father of English legal history. Early life and education, 1850–72 Frederic William Maitland was born at 53 Guilford Street, L ...
, both historians of medieval Britain, arrived at different conclusions as to the character of Anglo-Saxon English society before the Norman Conquest in 1066. Round argued that the Normans had brought feudalism with them to England, while Maitland contended that its fundamentals were already in place in Britain before 1066. The debate continues today, but a consensus viewpoint is that England before the Conquest had commendation (which embodied some of the personal elements in feudalism) while William the Conqueror introduced a modified and stricter northern French feudalism to England incorporating (1086) oaths of loyalty to the king by all who held by feudal tenure, even the vassals of his principal vassals (holding by feudal tenure meant that vassals must provide the quota of knights required by the king or a money payment in substitution). In the 20th century, two outstanding historians offered still more widely differing perspectives. The French historian Marc Bloch, arguably the most influential 20th-century medieval historian, approached feudalism not so much from a legal and military point of view but from a sociological one, presenting in ''Feudal Society'' (1939; English 1961) a feudal order not limited solely to the nobility. It is his radical notion that peasants were part of the feudal relationship that sets Bloch apart from his peers: while the vassal performed military service in exchange for the fief, the peasant performed physical labour in return for protection – both are a form of feudal relationship. According to Bloch, other elements of society can be seen in feudal terms; all the aspects of life were centred on "lordship", and so we can speak usefully of a feudal church structure, a feudal courtly (and anti-courtly) literature, and a feudal economy. In contradistinction to Bloch, the Belgian historian François Louis Ganshof defined feudalism from a narrow legal and military perspective, arguing that feudal relationships existed only within the medieval nobility itself. Ganshof articulated this concept in ''Qu'est-ce que la féodalité?'' ("What is feudalism?", 1944; translated in English as ''Feudalism''). His classic definition of feudalism is widely accepted today among medieval scholars,
Philip Daileader Philip Daileader is a professor of history at The College of William & Mary in Virginia. He was born in Queens, New York, on October 25, 1968, and grew up in Central Islip, New York. He attended St. Anthony's High School in Smithtown and then S ...
, "Feudalism", ''The High Middle Ages'', Course No. 869, The Teaching Company,
though questioned both by those who view the concept in wider terms and by those who find insufficient uniformity in noble exchanges to support such a model. Although he was never formally a student in the circle of scholars around Marc Bloch and
Lucien Febvre Lucien Paul Victor Febvre (, ; 22 July 1878 – 11 September 1956) was a French historian best known for the role he played in establishing the Annales School of history. He was the initial editor of the ''Encyclopédie française'' together wit ...
that came to be known as the Annales school, Georges Duby was an exponent of the ''Annaliste'' tradition. In a published version of his 1952 doctoral thesis entitled ''La société aux XIe et XIIe siècles dans la région mâconnaise'' (''Society in the 11th and 12th centuries in the
Mâconnais The Mâconnais district is located in the south of the Burgundy wine region in France, west of the Saône river. It takes its name from the town of Mâcon. It is best known as a source of good value white wines made from the Chardonnay grape; the ...
region''), and working from the extensive documentary sources surviving from the Burgundian monastery of Cluny, as well as the dioceses of
Mâcon Mâcon (), historically anglicised as Mascon, is a city in east-central France. It is the prefecture of the department of Saône-et-Loire in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Mâcon is home to near 34,000 residents, who are referred to in French as M ...
and
Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlie ...
, Duby excavated the complex social and economic relationships among the individuals and institutions of the Mâconnais region and charted a profound shift in the social structures of medieval society around the year 1000. He argued that in early 11th century, governing institutions—particularly comital courts established under the
Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippin ...
monarchy—that had represented public justice and order in
Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former Regions of France, administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Duke of Burgundy, Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11 ...
during the 9th and 10th centuries receded and gave way to a new feudal order wherein independent aristocratic knights wielded power over peasant communities through strong-arm tactics and threats of violence. In 1939, the Austrian historian subordinated the feudal state as secondary to his concept of a '' Personenverbandsstaat'' (personal interdependency state), understanding it in contrast to the
territorial state The term territorial state is used to refer to a state, typical of the High Middle Ages, since around 1000 AD, and "other large-scale complex organizations that attained size, stability, capacity, efficiency, and territorial reach not seen since ant ...
. This form of statehood, identified with the Holy Roman Empire, is described as the most complete form of medieval rule, completing conventional feudal structure of lordship and vassalage with the personal association between the nobility. But the applicability of this concept to cases outside of the Holy Roman Empire has been questioned, as by Susan Reynolds. The concept has also been questioned and superseded in German historiography because of its bias and reductionism towards legitimating the Führerprinzip.


Challenges to the feudal model

In 1974, the American historian
Elizabeth A. R. Brown Elizabeth Atkinson Rash Brown (born February 16, 1932) is a professor emerita of history at Brooklyn College, of the City University of New York, a scholar and published author, known for her writings on feudalism. She received her B.A. from Swar ...
rejected the label ''feudalism'' as an anachronism that imparts a false sense of uniformity to the concept. Having noted the current use of many, often contradictory, definitions of ''feudalism'', she argued that the word is only a construct with no basis in medieval reality, an invention of modern historians read back "tyrannically" into the historical record. Supporters of Brown have suggested that the term should be expunged from history textbooks and lectures on medieval history entirely. In ''Fiefs and Vassals: The Medieval Evidence Reinterpreted'' (1994),Reynolds, Susan, ''Fiefs and Vassals: The Medieval Evidence Reinterpreted.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994 Susan Reynolds expanded upon Brown's original thesis. Although some contemporaries questioned Reynolds's methodology, other historians have supported it and her argument. Reynolds argues:
Too many models of feudalism used for comparisons, even by Marxists, are still either constructed on the 16th-century basis or incorporate what, in a Marxist view, must surely be superficial or irrelevant features from it. Even when one restricts oneself to Europe and to feudalism in its narrow sense it is extremely doubtful whether feudo-vassalic institutions formed a coherent bundle of institutions or concepts that were structurally separate from other institutions and concepts of the time.
The term ''feudal'' has also been applied to non-Western societies, in which institutions and attitudes similar to those of medieval Europe are perceived to have prevailed (see:
examples of feudalism Examples of feudalism are helpful to fully understand feudalism and feudal society. Feudalism was practiced in many different ways, depending on location and time period, thus a high-level encompassing conceptual definition does not always provid ...
). Japan has been extensively studied in this regard.
Karl Friday Karl F. Friday (born 1957) is an American Japanologist. Friday earned a bachelor's degree in Japanese at the University of Kansas in 1979, followed by a master's degree in East Asian languages and culture from the same institution in 1983. He th ...
notes that in the 21st century historians of Japan rarely invoke feudalism; instead of looking at similarities, specialists attempting comparative analysis concentrate on fundamental differences. Ultimately, critics say, the many ways the term ''feudalism'' has been used have deprived it of specific meaning, leading some historians and political theorists to reject it as a useful concept for understanding society. Richard Abels notes that "Western Civilization and World Civilization textbooks now shy away from the term 'feudalism'."Richard Abels, "The Historiography of a Construct: 'Feudalism' and the Medieval Historian." ''History Compass'' (2009) 7#3 pp: 1008–1031.


See also


General

*
Barons in Scotland In Scotland, a baron or baroness is the head of a feudal barony, also known as a prescriptive barony. This used to be attached to a particular piece of land on which was situated the ''caput'' ( Latin for "head") or essence of the barony, nor ...
*
Bastard feudalism "Bastard feudalism" is a somewhat controversial term invented by 19th century historians to characterise the form feudalism took in the Late Middle Ages, primarily in England in the Late Middle Ages. Its distinctive feature is that middle-rankin ...
* Cestui que * English feudal barony * Feudal baron * Feudal duties * List of feudal wars 12th–14th century * Investiture *
Lehnsmann A ''Lehnsmann'' (plural: ''Lehnsleute'' or ''Lehnsmänner'') or ''Lehnsnehmer'' (also spelt ''Lehens-'') was a nobleman in the Middle Ages in German-speaking countries, who, as a liegeman was obliged to render service, goods in kind and loyalty to ...
* Majorat *
Neo-feudalism Neo-feudalism or new feudalism is the contemporary rebirth of policies of governance, economy, and public life, reminiscent of those which were present in many feudal societies. Such aspects include, but are not limited to: Unequal rights and lega ...
* ''
Nulle terre sans seigneur In feudal law, nulle terre sans seigneur ( French for "no land without (a) lord", ) is the principle that one provides services to the sovereign (usually serving in his army) for the right to receive land from the sovereign. Originally a maxim of ...
'' *
Protofeudalism Protofeudalism ( es, protofeudalismo / feudalismo prematuro) is a concept in medieval history, especially the history of Spain, according to which the direct precursors of feudalism can be found in Late Antiquity. Historiographical context Spanish ...
* Quia Emptores *
Statutes of Mortmain The Statutes of Mortmain were two enactments, in 1279 and 1290, passed in the reign of Edward I of England, aimed at preserving the kingdom's revenues by preventing land from passing into the possession of the Church. Possession of property by a ...
* Suzerainty *
Vassal state A vassal state is any state that has a mutual obligation to a superior state or empire, in a status similar to that of a vassal in the feudal system in medieval Europe. Vassal states were common among the empires of the Near East, dating back to ...


Non-European

* Fengjian (Chinese) * Hacienda * Feudalism in Pakistan * Mandala (political model) *
Samanta Samanta was a title and position used in the history of the Indian subcontinent between 4th and 12th centuryThe Journal of the Bihar Research Society, Volumes 69-70, p.77 to denote a vassal or tributary chief. The term roughly translates to ''nei ...
Indian Feudal System *
Small castes Small Castes are not Castes, they are Professions. After the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British occupied the whole Indian subcontinent. They introduced a new policy of divide and rule to sustain their occupation in this region{{Citation needed ...
*
Ziamet Ziamet was a form of land tenure in the Ottoman Empire, consisting in grant of lands or revenues by the Ottoman Sultan to an individual in compensation for their services, especially military services. The ziamet system was introduced by Osman I, wh ...
*
Zemene Mesafint The Zemene Mesafint ( gez, ዘመነ መሳፍንት ''zamana masāfint'', modern: ''zemene mesāfint'', variously translated "Era of Judges," "Era of the Princes," "Age of Princes," etc.; named after the Book of Judges) was a period in Ethio ...
*
Sakdina ''Sakdina'' ( th, ศักดินา) was a system of social hierarchy in use from the Ayutthaya to early Rattanakosin periods of Thai history. It assigned a numerical rank to each person depending on their status, and served to determine thei ...
Thai feudal system


References


Further reading

* Bloch, Marc, ''Feudal Society.'' Tr. L.A. Manyon. Two volumes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961 * * Guerreau, Alain, ''L'avenir d'un passé incertain.'' Paris: Le Seuil, 2001. (Complete history of the meaning of the term.) * Poly, Jean-Pierre and Bournazel, Eric, ''The Feudal Transformation, 900–1200.'', Tr. Caroline Higgitt. New York and London: Holmes and Meier, 1991. * Reynolds, Susan, ''Fiefs and Vassals: The Medieval Evidence Reinterpreted.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994


Historiographical works

* * Brown, Elizabeth, 'The Tyranny of a Construct: Feudalism and Historians of Medieval Europe', ''American Historical Review'', 79 (1974), pp. 1063–8. * Cantor, Norman F., ''Inventing the Middle Ages: The Lives, Works, and Ideas of the Great Medievalists of the Twentieth century.'' Quill, 1991. * * Harbison, Robert. "The Problem of Feudalism: An Historiographical Essay", 1996, Western Kentucky University
online


End of feudalism

* Bean, J.M.W. ''Decline of English Feudalism, 1215–1540'' (1968) * Davitt, Michael. ''The fall of feudalism in Ireland: Or, The story of the land league revolution'' (1904) * ; compares Europe and Japan * Nell, Edward J. "Economic Relationships in the Decline of Feudalism: An Examination of Economic Interdependence and Social Change." ''History and Theory'' (1967): 313–350. in JSTOR * Okey, Robin. ''Eastern Europe 1740–1985: feudalism to communism'' (Routledge, 1986)


France

* Herbert, Sydney. ''The Fall of Feudalism in France'' (1921
full text online free
* Mackrell, John Quentin Colborne
''The Attack on Feudalism in Eighteenth-century France''
(Routledge, 2013) * Markoff, John. ''Abolition of Feudalism: Peasants, Lords, and Legislators in the French Revolution'' (Penn State Press, 2010) * Global Health * Keshri VR, Bhaumik S (2022) . The feudal structure of global health and its implications for decolonisation . BMJ Global Health Available online https://gh.bmj.com/content/7/9/e010603


External links


"Feudalism"
by
Elizabeth A. R. Brown Elizabeth Atkinson Rash Brown (born February 16, 1932) is a professor emerita of history at Brooklyn College, of the City University of New York, a scholar and published author, known for her writings on feudalism. She received her B.A. from Swar ...
. '' Encyclopædia Britannica Online''.
"Feudalism?"
by Paul Halsall.
Internet Medieval Sourcebook The Internet History Sourcebooks Project is located at the Fordham University History Department and Center for Medieval Studies. It is a web site with modern, medieval and ancient primary source documents, maps, secondary sources, bibliographies, ...
.
"Feudalism: the history of an idea"
by Fredric Cheyette (Amherst), excerpted from ''New Dictionary of the History of Ideas'' (2004)
''Medieval Feudalism''
by Carl Stephenson. Cornell University Press, 1942. Classic introduction to Feudalism. * , by Robert Harbison, 1996,
Western Kentucky University Western Kentucky University is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It was founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a quarter-century earlier. It operates regional campuses in Glasgow, Elizabethtow ...
. {{DEFAULTSORT:Feudalism 9th-century establishments in Europe 1861 disestablishments in Europe Economic systems Political systems Social systems