Assignment

On

Medieval Europe: Feudalism

Course: Social History

Submitted to:

Dr. Md. Mashiur Rahman

Honorable Professor,

Department of Sociology

University of Dhaka

Submitted by:

Name: Md. Kawsar Islam

Roll No: 107

9th Batch, 1

st Semester

Department of Sociology

University of Dhaka

Contents

Introduction

Feudalism

Medieval Europe

Charles The Great

Cultural and Political Changes

Invaders Attack Western Europe

A New Social Order: Feudalism

The Feudal Pyramid

Activities of the various classes

Manor System in Medieval Europe

The Growth of Town

Christianity Grows and Spreads

Feudal Complexity

The Decline of Feudalism

Conclusion

Medieval Europe: Feudalism

Introduction:

The term “feudalism” is used by historians to describe a social-political

system which was a key feature of medieval Europe. Medieval Europe

was dominated by a social and political system which is commonly

called "feudalism". Feudalism was to prove one of the most fruitful

systems of organizing society in world history, for out of it grew one of

the most important features of the modern world - representative

government.

The Early Middle Ages began with the fall of Rome. The Roman

Empire had unified much of Europe for about 500 years. After the

empire collapsed, life was dangerous and difficult in Western Europe.

People worked hard simply to survive and to have enough to eat. They

also needed to protect themselves from conquest by invading barbarians

and neighboring kingdoms.

These challenges gave rise to the economic and political system

historians call feudalism (FEWD-ahl-ism). In the feudal system, people

pledged loyalty to a lord—a ruler or powerful landholder. In return, they

received protection from that lord. Warriors fought on behalf of their

lords. Peasants worked the land. At the bottom of the system were serfs,

peasants who were not free to leave the lord’s land without permission.

Feudalism:

The word “feudal” derives from the word ‘fief’. In brief, a fief was a

piece of property which a person was given on condition that he (almost

never she) performed certain services to the one who gave it.

A person who received a fief was held to be a ‘vassal’ of the one who

had given him the fief, who was his ‘lord’.

Here are some features of Feudalism:

Feudalism was a loosely structure political system in which

powerful lords (nobles) owned large sections of land. They

divided their land into estates called fiefs, which were given to

lesser lords called vassals. Vassals pledged their loyalty and

military support to their lords in return for this land.

Because people in medieval Europe were often at war, many

nobles trained to become knights, or mounted warriors. They

practiced strict discipline and learned how to ride well and handle

weapons skillfully. In addition, knights were bound by a code of

conduct known as chivalry. This code charged them to be brave,

loyal, and true to their word.

Women played an active role in society. A “lady” was in charge of

her husband’s estate while he was away serving his lord in battle.

She was responsible for all household affairs including the raising

of children. In preparation for their adult role, girls received

training in household arts such as spinning, weaving, and the

management of servants. Women had limited inheritance rights,

however, since most possessions went to the eldest son.

Medieval Europe:

For 500 years, much of Europe was part of the Roman Empire. The rest

of the continent was controlled by groups of people the Romans called

“barbarians” because they did not follow Roman ways. When Rome fell

to invading barbarians in 476 C.E., Europe was left with no central

government or system of defense. Many invading groups set up

kingdoms throughout Western Europe. These kingdoms were often at

war with one another. The most powerful rulers were those who

controlled the most land and had the best warriors.

Clovis and the Franks

One powerful group during this time was the Franks (from whom

modern-day France takes its name). The Franks were successful because

they had developed a new style of warfare. It depended on troops of

knights, heavily armed warriors who fought on horseback. To get and

hold power, a ruler needed the services and loyalty of many knights. In

return for their loyalty and service, the ruler rewarded knights with land

and privileges.

One of the early leaders of the Franks was an ambitious young warrior

named Clovis. In 481 C.E., at the age of 15, Clovis became leader of the

Franks. Five years later, he defeated the last great Roman army in Gaul

at Soissons. During his 30-year reign, he led the Franks in wars that

greatly extended the boundaries of the Frankish kingdom.

Clovis also helped lead the Franks into Christianity. Clovis married a

Christian woman, Clotilda, and eventually was baptized into the Roman

Catholic Church. Many of his followers became Christians, as well.

Charlemagne’s Empire

The most important leader of the Franks was “Charlemagne” (SHAR-

luh-main), which means "Charles the Great." This impressive king ruled

for over 40 years, from 768 to 814. Writings from that period say that he

was six feet four inches tall—extremely tall for his time—and “always

stately and dignified.” Legend has it that he read very little and couldn’t

write, yet he loved to have scholarly works read to him.

He encouraged education and scholarship, making his court a center of

culture. Most important, he unified nearly all the Christian lands of

Europe into a single empire. One of the poets at his court called him the

“King Father of Europe.”

Charlemagne built his empire with the help of a pope—Leo III, the

leader of the Roman Catholic Church. The Church was a central part of

society during this time. For Charlemagne, the blessing of the Church

sent the message, “God is on my side.” For his part, Leo needed the

support of someone with an army. In return for Charlemagne’s help, the

pope crowned him Holy Roman emperor in 800 C.E.

Charlemagne’s empire survived many attacks. After his death in 814,

however, it quickly fell apart. The weak rulers who followed him could

not defend the empire against new waves of invasions. Still, these kings

helped prepare the way for the system of feudalism by following

Charlemagne’s example of rewarding knights with land and privileges in

return for military service.

Here a list of the kings (Franks) and their ruling period-

Kings Period of Rules

Pepin the Short 752-768

Carloman I 768-771

Charlemagne 768-814

Louis the Pious 814-840

The kingdom of the Franks was one of the most important kingdoms in

medieval Europe’s early history. During the 8th and 9th centuries, it was

dominated by the Carolingian kings. They were a powerful military

force in the region. They also had a close relationship with the Western

Church.

Charles The Great:

Charlemagne or Charles the Great, (742–814 CE) was one of the most

important kings in medieval Europe. The son of Pepin the Short, he and

his brother Carloman inherited the Frankish kingdom when their father

died. After Carloman’s death in 771, Charlemagne reigned in his own

right.

He was active in overseeing his kingdom and regularly travelled

throughout it. He also set up a network of messengers to report back to

him on what was happening. Under his rule, his kingdom rose to

dominate Western Europe.

Charlemagne, the conqueror

Charlemagne engaged in many wars. His victories expanded the territory

under his control. He was helped by the armies of his loyal supporters.

Charlemagne had earlier given many of these men grants of land, as was

a common practice of Germanic tribal chiefs.

Some of the major campaigns and victims of Chrlemagne

Year/s Military campaign and/or outcome

772 Begins campaigns against the Saxons

773–774 Defeats the Lombards

788 Defeats the Bavarian kingdoms

789 Campaigns against the Slav kingdoms

790s and beyond Campaigns against the Muslim Moors in Spain

796 Defeats the Avars

804 Defeats the Saxons

811 Draws up a peace treaty with the Danes

Charlemagne, the leader

Charlemagne did not just lead in battle. He was also a leading thinker,

introducing many political and social reforms. For example, he set up a

common system of currency, reintroducing coins as the means of

exchange. He also encouraged the arts and education. So important was

this contribution that the period of Charlemagne’s rule is often described

as the Carolingian Renaissance. His leadership encouraged many new

developments in literature, building and the visual arts.

Charlemagne’s Death

In 813, Charlemagne crowned his son Louis the Pious co-emperor.

Shortly after, according to Einhard, Charlemagne died on 28 January. He

had ruled for 47 years.

Cultural and Political Changes:

The political and cultural landscape of Europe changed greatly after the

fall of Rome. The Romans no longer ruled the region by unifying its

many different groups under one government. Instead, numerous

Germanic kingdoms dominated the lands that had once been ruled by a

mighty empire. The Germanic groups that occupied Europe after the fall

of Rome brought great cultural changes to the continent.

The Romans had a highly developed government. They believed that the

state was more important than the individual. The Romans also

emphasized learning. The Germanic peoples, on the other hand, had

little notion of a state. Unlike the Romans, Germanic people lived in

small communities and maintained order through unwritten rules and

traditions. As a result, they did not develop large governments or trade

systems. In addition, they did not emphasize learning scholarly works.

Learning and Trade Decline

The educated middle class all but disappeared during the Middle Ages.

Most schools ceased to exist. Eventually, few people could read or write

Latin. Europeans mostly forgot about the great achievements of the

ancient Greeks and Romans in the arts and learning. As trade throughout

Europe disappeared, so did many cities. Most city dwellers made their

living by trading goods. The lack of trade prompted many of them to

move to the country, where they made their living by farming.

Invaders Attack the Western Europe:

From about 800 to 1000, invasions destroyed the Carolingian Empire.

Muslim invaders from the south seized Sicily and raided Italy. In 846,

they sacked Rome. Magyar invaders struck from the east. Like the

earlier Huns and Avars, they terrorized Germany and Italy. And from the

north came the fearsome Vikings.

The Vikings were fierce warriors who struck fear in the people of

Europe. At times, the Vikings' intent was to set up colonies. But they

were best known for their terrifying raids on towns and religious centers.

When the affect of the Vikings declined, Europe became the target of

new assaults.

The Magyars, a group of nomadic people, attacked from the east, from

what is now Hungary. Superb horsemen, the Magyars swept across the

plains of the Danube River and invaded Western Europe in the late 800s.

They attacked isolated villages and monasteries. They overran northern

Italy and reached as far west as the Rhineland and Burgundy. The

Magyars did not settle conquered land. Instead, they took captives to sell

as slaves.

The Muslims struck from the south. They began their encroachments

from their strongholds in North Africa, invading through what are now

Italy and Spain. In the 600s and 700s, the Muslim plan was to conquer

and settle in Europe. By the 800s and 900s, their goal was also to

plunder. Because the Muslims were expert seafarers, they were able to

attack settlements on the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts. They also

struck as far inland as Switzerland.

The invasions by Vikings, Magyars, and Muslims caused widespread

disorder and suffering. Most western Europeans lived in constant

danger. Kings could not effectively defend their lands from invasion. As

a result, people no longer looked to a central ruler for security. Instead,

many turned to local rulers who had their own armies. Any leader who

could fight the invaders gained followers and political strength.

A New Social Order-Feudalism:

The people of Western Europe needed to figure out new ways to defend

themselves. To protect themselves and their property, they gradually

developed the system we call feudalism. Let’s find out how it worked-

By the High Middle Ages (about 1000 C.E.), Europeans had developed

the system of feudalism. Feudalism provided people with protection and

safety by establishing a stable social order. Under this system, people

were bound to one another by promises of loyalty. In theory, all the land

in the kingdom belonged to the monarch. A great deal of land was also

owned by the Church. The king kept some land for himself and gave

fiefs, or land grants, to his most important lords, who became his

vassals. In return, each lord promised to supply the king with knights in

times of war. A lord then enlisted lesser lords and knights as his vassals.

Often, these arrangements were written down. Many of these contracts

survive to this day in museums.

At the bottom of the social system were peasants. Lords rented some of

their land to the peasants who worked for them. However, some

peasants, called ‘serfs’, were “tied” to the land they worked. They could

not leave the lord’s land without permission, and they had to farm his

fields in exchange for a small plot of their own.

During the middle ages, people were born into a social class for life.

They had the same social position, and often the same job, as their

parents.

The Feudal Pyramid:

Feudal society was highly structured. The structure of feudal society was

much like a pyramid. At the peak reined the king. Next came the most

powerful vassals—wealthy landowners such as nobles and bishops.

Serving beneath these vassals were knights. Knights were mounted

horsemen who pledged to defend their lords’ lands in exchange for fiefs.

At the base of the pyramid were landless peasants who toiled in the

fields.

Feudalism created a new political structure in Europe. Europe became

home to many small kingdoms and estates ruled by kings and powerful

nobles.

Activities of the various classes:

Here we found that, in feudal Europe, the structure of the society was so

much furnished and that was like a pyramid. Here is an illustration-

Now we are going to describe the activities of the classes of this feudal

society-

Monarchs During Feudal Times

At the very top of feudal society were the monarchs, or kings and

queens. As we have learned, medieval monarchs were also feudal lords.

They were expected to keep order and to provide protection for their

vassals.

Most medieval monarchs believed in the divine right of kings, the idea

that God had given them the right to rule. In reality, the power of

monarchs varied greatly. Some had to work hard to maintain control of

their kingdoms. Few had enough wealth to keep their own armies. They

had to rely on their vassals, especially nobles, to provide enough knights

and soldiers. In some places, especially during the Early Middle Ages,

great lords grew very powerful and governed their fiefs as independent

states. In these cases, the monarch was little more than a figurehead, a

symbolic ruler who had little real power.

In England, monarchs became quite strong during the Middle Ages.

Since the Roman period, a number of groups from the continent,

including Vikings, had invaded and settled England. By the mid-11th

century, it was ruled by a Germanic tribe called the Saxons. The king at

that time was descended from both Saxon and Norman (French)

families. When he died without an adult heir, there was confusion over

who should become king.

William, the powerful Duke of Normandy (a part of present-day

France), believed he had the right to the English throne. However, the

English crowned his cousin, Harold. In 1066, William and his army

invaded England. William defeated Harold at the Battle of Hastings and

established a line of Norman kings in England. His triumph earned him

the nickname “William the Conqueror.”

When William of Normandy conquered England, he brought feudal

institutions from Europe with him. Supported by feudalism, strong rulers

brought order to England. In fact, by the start of the High Middle Ages,

around 1000 C.E., the feudal system had brought stability to much of

Europe.

Lords and Ladies During Feudal Times

Like monarchs, lords and ladies were members of the nobility, the

highest-ranking class in medieval society. Most of them lived on

manors. Some lords had one manor, while others had several. Those

who had more than one manor usually lived in one for a few months and

then traveled with their families to another.

Manor Houses and Castles Many of the people on a manor lived with the

lord’s family in the manor house. Built of wood or stone, manor houses

were surrounded by gardens and outbuildings, such as kitchens and

stables. They were protected by high walls.

The manor house was the center of the community. In times of trouble,

villagers entered its walls for protection. Its great hall served as the

lord’s court. It was also a place for special celebrations and feasts, such

as those given at Christmas or after a harvest.

Kings and queens, high-ranking nobles, and wealthy lords lived in even

grander structures: castles. Castles were built for many purposes. One of

a castle’s main functions was to serve as a home. Castles were also one

of the most important forms of military technology. With their moats,

strong walls, and gates, they were built for defense. Finally, their large

size and central locations made castles visual reminders of the social

hierarchy and the power of the ruling classes.

The earliest medieval castles were built of wood and surrounded by high

wooden fences. The strongest part, the motte, was built on a hilltop. A

walled path linked the motte to a lower enclosed court, the bailey, where

most people lived. After about 1100 C.E., most castles were built of

stone to resist attacks by more powerful siege weapons.

Castles gradually became more elaborate. Many had tall towers for

looking out across the land. The main castle building had a variety of

rooms, including storerooms, kitchens, a library, a dining hall, sleeping

quarters for distinguished guests, and the lord and lady’s quarters.

Knights During Feudal Times

Knights were the mounted soldiers of the medieval world. In general,

knights had to have a good deal of wealth, since a full suite of armor and

a horse cost a small fortune. Knights were usually vassals of more

powerful lords.

Becoming a Knight:

The path to becoming a knight involved many years of training. A

boy started as a page, or servant. At the age of seven, he left home and

went to live at the castle of a lord, who was often a relative. Nearly all

wealthy lords had several pages living in their castles and manors. A

page learned how to ride a horse and received religious instruction from

the local priest or friar.

During this first stage of training, pages spent much of their time with

the ladies of the castle. They were expected to help the ladies in every

way possible. During this period, the ladies taught pages how to sing,

dance, compose music, and play the harp. These skills were valued in

knights.

After about seven years as a page, a young boy became a squire. During

this part of his training, he spent most of his time with the knight who

was his lord. He polished the knight’s armor, sword, shield, and lance.

He helped care for his horse. He even waited on him at mealtime,

carrying water for hand washing, carving meat, and filling his cup when

it was empty.

Most importantly, squires trained to become warriors. They learned how

to fight with a sword and a lance, a kind of spear that measured up to 15

feet long. They also learned how to use a battle-axe and a mace (a club

with a heavy metal head). They practiced by fighting in make-believe

battles. But squires also went into real battles. A squire was expected to

help dress his lord in armor, care for his weapons and horses, follow him

into battle, and look after him if he was wounded.

In his early 20s, if deserving of the honor, a squire became a knight.

Becoming a knight could be a complex religious event. A squire often

spent the night before his knighting ceremony in prayer. The next

morning, he bathed and put on a white tunic, or long shirt, to show his

purity.

During the ceremony, he knelt before his lord and said his vows. The

lord drew his sword, touched the knight-to-be lightly on each shoulder

with the flat side of the blade, and knighted him. Sometimes, if a squire

did particularly well in battle, he was knighted on the spot.

The Responsibilities and Daily Life of Knights:

Being a knight was more than a profession. It was a way of life.

Knights lived by a strong code of behavior called chivalry. (‘Chivalry’

comes from the French word ‘cheval’, meaning “horse.”) Knights were

expected to be loyal to the Church and to their lord, to be just and fair,

and to protect the helpless. They performed acts of gallantry, or respect

paid to women. From these acts, we get the modern idea of chivalry as

traditional forms of courtesy and kindness toward women.

Jousts and tournaments were a major part of a knight’s life. In a joust,

two armed knights on horseback galloped at each other with their lances

extended. The idea was to unseat the opponent from his horse. Jousts

were held as sporting events, for exercise, or as serious battles between

rival knights. A tournament involved a team of knights in one-on-one

battle.

Knights fought wearing heavy suits of armor. In the 11th century, armor

was made of linked metal rings, called chain mail. By the 14th century,

plate armor was more common and offered better protection.

The medieval style of knighthood lasted until about the 17th century,

when warfare changed with the growing use of gunpowder and cannons.

Knights, who fought one-to-one on horseback, were no longer effective

against such weapons.

But knights were only a small group in medieval society. Next, let’s turn

to daily life for the vast majority of the population: the peasants.

Peasants During Feudal Times

Most people during the Middle Ages were peasants. They were not part

of the feudal relationship of vassal and lord, but they supported the

entire feudal structure by working the land. Their labor freed lords and

knights to spend their time preparing for war or fighting.

During medieval times, peasants were legally classified as free or

unfree. These categories had to do with the amount of service owed to

the lord. Free peasants rented land to farm and owed only their rent to

the lord. Unfree peasants, or serfs, farmed the lord’s fields and could not

leave the lord’s manor. In return for their labor, they received their own

small plot of land to farm. The daily life of peasants revolved around

work. Most peasants raised crops and tended livestock (farm animals).

But every manor also had carpenters, shoemakers, smiths

(metalworkers), and other skilled workers. Peasant women worked in the

fields when they were needed. They also cared for their children, their

homes, and livestock.

Along with the work they performed, peasants and serfs might owe the

lord numerous taxes. There was a yearly payment called “head money,”

at a fixed amount per person. The lord could demand a tax, known as

‘tallage’, whenever he needed money. When a woman married, she, her

father, or her husband had to pay a fee called a ‘merchet’.

Peasants were also required to grind their grain at the lord’s mill (the

only mill on the manor). As payment, the miller kept portions of the

grain for the lord and for himself. Lords could keep any amount they

wanted. Peasants found this practice so hateful that some of them hid

small hand mills in their houses.

Most peasants lived in small, simple houses of one or two rooms. A

typical house was made of woven strips of wood covered with straw or

mud. Peasants had little furniture or other possessions. There was a

hearth fire in the middle of the main room, but often there was no

chimney, so it was dark and smoky inside. An entire family might eat

and sleep in one room that sometimes also housed their farm animals.

Peasants ate vegetables, meat such as pork, and dark, coarse bread made

of wheat mixed with rye or oatmeal. Almost no one ate beef or chicken.

During the winter, they ate pork, mutton, or fish that had been preserved

in salt. Herbs were used widely, to improve flavor and reduce saltiness,

or to disguise the taste of meat that was no longer fresh.

Manor System in Medieval Europe:

Under feudalism in Europe, land not belonging to the ruler or the Church

was mostly divided into manor lands. Each manor was owned by a noble

or knight who might have been given it by his lord as a fief. Manor lands

were made up of the demesne (the lord’s land) and the land serfs farmed

to meet their own needs.

The Role of the Manor

The main part of a noble’s land was called a manor. The center of a

manor was the house where the lord and his family lived. Often the

manor house was a fortified building or castle. Surrounding the manor

house was the lord’s estate. Much of the estate consisted of farmland.

Manor Life and the Economy

We found formerly peasants called serfs lived and worked on the manor.

The serfs farmed the land, which formed the economic basis of the

manor system. Serfs were said to be “bound to the soil.” This meant that

they were considered part of the property. They remained on the land if

a new lord acquired it. Feudalism and manor life had a powerful effect

on the medieval European economy. The land on a manor supplied

residents with most of the things they needed. As a result, most

activity—from farming to woodworking to wine making—took place on

the manor. Manors became worlds unto themselves, and few people ever

left the property.

The manor was largely a self-sufficient community. The serfs and

peasants raised or produced nearly everything that they and their lord

needed for daily life— crops, milk and cheese, fuel, cloth, leather goods,

and lumber. The only outside purchases were salt, iron, and a few

unusual objects such as millstones. These were huge stones used to grind

flour. Crops grown on the manor usually included grains, such as wheat,

rye, barley, and oats, and vegetables, such as peas, beans, onions, and

beets.

The Harshness of Manor Life

For the privilege of living on the lord’s land, peasants paid a high price.

They paid a tax on all grain ground in the lord’s mill. Any attempt to

avoid taxes by baking bread elsewhere was treated as a crime. Peasants

also paid a tax on marriage. Weddings could take place only with the

lord’s consent. After all these payments to the lord, peasant families

owed the village priest a tithe, or church tax. A tithe represented one-

tenth of their income.

The Growth of Towns:

Around A.D. 1000, town life began to return to Europe. This was due in

large part to the fact that a number of lords became increasingly

powerful. They brought peace and stability to numerous regions. As a

result, people felt more safe and secure. Merchants began to travel more

freely and trade their goods. Wherever merchants settled builders and

other trades people gathered around them.

Town Life

Most medieval towns were dirty, cramped, and busy places. In the center

of town were the market square and a cathedral. The streets were

narrow, filthy, and usually not paved. After a rain, a street turned to mud

that was often knee-deep. Most of the houses were made out of wood

and easily caught fire. As a result, entire towns often burned down. In

France, between 1200 and 1225, the city of Rouen burned down six

times!

The Guilds

In towns, people with the same occupation formed groups called guilds.

Many guilds were formed by trades people, such as goldsmiths, bakers,

weavers, and dyers. Guilds made rules that controlled the quantity and

quality of production. The guilds watched out for their members and

worked to make sure everyone found employment. The formation of the

guilds was one of the many unique aspects of life in Medieval Europe.

However, a feudal society developed thousands of miles away in Japan

that showed both similarities and differences to the way of life in

Europe.

Christianity Grows and Spreads

One institution that survived the fall of Rome was the Christian Church.

Many German rulers and their subjects converted to Christianity. These

conversions helped to spread Christianity throughout Europe. As you

recall from Chapter 2, a group of Germanic people called the Franks

established one of the more powerful kingdoms in Europe during the

Middle Ages. The Franks and their powerful leaders played a significant

role in strengthening Christianity north of the Alps in the lands of

northern and western Europe.

Christianity became ancient Rome’s official religion in the 4th century

CE. Most people in Europe then (and certainly later) were Christians.

Christian beliefs and values had many positive effects on daily life,

architecture, the arts and the justice system. However, they also provided

motivations for war, and justifications for some people’s prejudices and

fears. Social change in Europe was helped by a number of significant

events and trends. These included the rapid growth of towns and trade,

the Christian–Muslim wars known as the Crusades and the devastating

Black Death. The discoveries of explorers, together with new ways of

thinking and new inventions contributed greatly too. By 1500 CE,

Europeans saw themselves and their place in the world differently.

Feudal complexity

It is common for feudalism to be depicted as a pyramid - and we indeed

have suggested the same, above. However, it should be nor in one that

feudalism could give rise to fiendish complexity; spaghetti might

represent it better.

We have seen how the original manors covered singe villages, but often

came later to be scattered over several. As in this case, most

complexities arose after fief-holding had become hereditary.

For example, a vassal of one lord might marry the heiress of the vassal

of another lord, thus acquiring obligations to different lords. What

happened if these lords became enemies? This was not an unusual

situation. The most famous case is probably that of the dukes of

Burgundy, who in the 15th century held lands from both the king of

France and the emperor of Germany, who were hereditary rivals.

Things could get more complicated still. The counts of Anjou, vassals of

the king of France, acquired by marriage, inheritance and a good bit of

skullduggery several surrounding fiefs including of Aquitaine and

Normandy. He thus ruled more of France than his normal superior, the

king - and this was before he inherited the throne of England as King

Henry II (reigned 1153-89).

The Decline of Feudalism

In the centuries after 1000, the economy of Western Europe expanded

vastly, along with its population. Coinage increasingly came in to

circulation, and a money economy gained ground.

In these circumstances, the shortcomings of feudalism as a way of

raising troops became glaringly obvious. The expanding economies of

their kingdoms enabled kings (often in consultation with representative

assemblies) to raise taxes and pay for armies of full-time professional

soldiers. This development of coursed increased the importance of

representative assemblies; it also struck at the very heart of feudalism,

with nobles and knights becoming primarily landed gentry rather than

serving warriors.

Above all, these developments put much more power into the hands of

monarchs and their officials. Gradually, these were able to wrest control

of justice and administration from fief-holders, so that centralized states

were able to emerge.

In some places, such as England and Holland, the later Middle Ages saw

the manorial economy replaced by something new. The Black Death of

the mid-14th century, along with subsequent local outbreaks of plague

which kept the population of Western Europe in check, caused a

shortage of labor, which naturally increased its value. The labor services

which serfs owed thus became less profitable to the lords, who came

therefore to prefer money rents instead. Manors were increasingly

divided up into individual private farms, each under its own tenant

farmer. In these areas, serfdom had more or less vanished by the end of

the Middle Ages.

In these ways, while elements of feudalism continued in many parts of

Western Europe up to the 18th and 19th centuries, the feudal system as a

whole, with its hierarchy of fiefs and lords and vassals, had died out by

the 16th century. In some places, where this process was most advanced,

fiefs, whose lords enjoyed political, military, judicial and economic

power over them, had become simply landed estates, which were

economic units only. In other places they remained units of localized

power. Nowhere, however, were they the centre of military and lordly

power they had been in the high Middle Ages.

Conclusion:

Medieval Europe once made up the bulk of the Western Empire of

ancient Rome. The barbarian raids that helped to end the former empire

continued on and off until about 1000 CE. With Rome’s army gone,

people had to find other ways to protect and sustain themselves during

this uncertain time. Feudalism and manorialism provided solutions.

Feudalism was necessary in medieval times because of several factors.

During a time of great instability, a system of mutual obligations

ensured that everyone was taken care of and that society was stable and

safe. Feudalism was a way of organizing a society through a hierarchy.

A hierarchy is any system that classifies members of that system from

top to bottom. In a feudal society, everyone from the king to the poorest

peasant had specific duties and obligations. Every relationship was

between a lord and a vassal: a person socially above another was lord to

the vassals beneath him, and each vassal served the lord above.

End