<b>The Decline of Feudalism<b>

<i>Political Changes<i>
By the beginning of the late Middle Ages, western Europe had been divided into f
eudal holdings of various sizes. Kings atop feudal hierarchies did not exercise
a strong central authority and nations existed as cultural groups, not political
entities. By the end of the late Middle Ages, strong central authority controll
ed England, Spain, Portugal, and France. Political power in those areas had been
wrested away from the local feudal lords.
William the Conqueror established the first of the strong European monarchies af
ter winning the throne of England in 1066. Following his victory at Hastings and
five more years of fighting to break remaining resistance, he began taking step
s to consolidate his power. He kept one-sixth of England as royal land. Half of
the rest was given as fiefs to Norman barons who were his direct vassals. He gav
e one-quarter of the land to the Church and the remainder was divided among the
Anglo-Saxons. The entire feudal hierarchy was forced to swear fealty to him as l
iege lord. He claimed ownership of all castles, prohibited wars between lords, a
nd made royal coinage the only legal money. These were important first steps in
the decline of feudalism, although they could not always be enforced, especially
by later kings of lesser ability than William.
In the twelfth century, England's King Henry II created the chancery and exchequ
er, the beginnings of a civil service. The chancery kept records of laws and roy
al transactions; the exchequer was the treasury. Both offices were not hereditar
y, making it easy to remove unwanted officials. The staffs of the new civil serv
ice were paid a salary rather than given a fief, making them dependent only on t
he king.
In 1215 the unpopular King John of England was forced to sign the Magna Carta, a
feudal document that made the king subject to the laws of the land and required
that the barons have a voice in the king's decision through a Great Council. Wo
rding of the Magna Carta led to important interpretations in later centuries, in
cluding the concept of "no taxation without representation." When a later Englis
h king ignored the Magna Carta, the barons seized power in 1264 and ruled tempor
arily through an expanded Great Council called the Parliament. The new Parliamen
t included not only the barons and high-ranking churchmen but also representativ
es from the large towns.
Although this parliamentary government was short-lived (15 months), Parliament i
tself could not be suppressed or ignored. From this period on, only Parliament c
ould repeal laws it had passed. No taxes could be imposed without its approval.
When kings needed money in the short term (during the Hundred Years War, for exa
mple) they were often forced by Parliament to concede more power in exchange. Pa
rliament and the civil service continued to grow in importance, and they proved
capable of running the country, regardless of the current king's ability or any
temporary rebellion by the nobility.
While the king, civil service, and Parliament were pushing down on the power of
barons from above, pressure was also rising from the bottom of the feudal hierar
chy. Several factors worked toward freeing the serfs from their contracts with t
he lords, including increasing town populations, cessation of barbarian raids, a
nd a fearful plague that struck Europe in the fourteenth century.
<i>The Black Death<i>
The plague that became known as the Black Death struck Europe suddenly and with
devastating effect in the middle fourteenth century. It moved west from Central
Asia, appearing in the Black Sea area in 1346. It spread southwest into the Medi
terranean and then up and around the North Atlantic Coast and into the Baltic. B
y 1348 it was in Spain and Portugal, by 1349 in England and Ireland, by 1351 in
Sweden, and by 1353 in the Baltic States and Russia. Only remote and sparsely po
pulated areas were spared. Between a third and a half of the population of Europ
e, the Middle East, North Africa, and India died, based on modern estimates of t
he loss.
The Black Plague was probably a variety of the bubonic plague, a bacterial infec
tion still encountered today and still dangerous. The bacteria were carried in t
he saliva of fleas that had sucked the blood of infected rats. The fleas jumped
to human hosts when infected rats died and the bacteria spread rapidly in the hu
man blood stream. The plague took its name from its most hideous symptom-large b
lack and painful swellings that oozed blood and pus. Victims developed a high fe
ver and became delirious. Most died within 48 hours, but a small minority were a
ble to fight off the infection and survive.
Entire towns were depopulated and the social relation between serf and lord fell
apart. People who could farm or make things were valuable. The move to cities a
ccelerated once the plague had passed.