Copyright 2009 © Steven Till

http://steventill.com

The word “feudalism” is a 17th century term used by legal historians to explain
the political and social aspects of medieval society. It’s a term most often
applied to the society of medieval Western Europe between the 10th and 13th
centuries — though the basis of feudalism existed well before this period and even
extended beyond the late Middle Ages. The foundation of feudalism (this term being
derived from “fief”) lies in the personal relationship between a king or lord and
his vassals. A lord provided his vassal with land and rights to the land and its
revenues, and in turn, the vassal provided the lord military service and counsel,
among other things. These sets of mutual obligations between lord and vassal
shaped the political and social organizations of the upper class, who depended
heavily on both the Church and the lower classes (villeins, peasants, serfs) to
support them: the Church, politically, and the peasants, economically.

One of the factors that contributed to the rise of feudalism was the dissolution
and weakening of strong, centralized states and public authorities. State
authorities were no longer able to exercise their administrative and military
control as effectively, and as such, power shifted to individuals and aristocratic
families, who formed tight, personal bonds with one another. This shift in climate
produced competition among rival lords, and as these lords acquired more land and
gained more support, they also gained more autonomy and more power.

During the 14th century, kings and lords still exploited the feudal system for
their own personal gain and authority, but by the later Middle Ages, a new state
structure began to emerge. Certainly by the 15th century, feudalism no longer
played as dominant a role in the military, as monarchs built their armies around
mercenary soldiers — though this practice of paying soldiers did exist during
earlier centuries of the medieval period (e.g. - the French employed Genoese
crossbowman at the Battle of Crecy, 1346). While the feudal system of medieval
western Europe began to decline in the late Middle Ages, feudalism still created a
framework for the resurgance of the idea of the state and played an important and
conceptual role in government for the centuries that followed.

Source:

English, Edward D. “feudalism.” Encyclopedia of the Medieval World, vol. 1. New

York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. Ancient and Medieval History Online. Facts On
File, Inc.
http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE49iPin=EMW0511&SingleRecord=True
(accessed November 18, 2008).

Additional Reading:

David Herlihy, ed., The History of Feudalism (New York: Harper & Row, 1970);
Elizabeth A. R. Brown, “The Tyranny of a Concept: Feudalism and Historians of
Medieval Europe.” The American Historical Review 79 (1974): 1063–1088; Marc Bloch,
Feudal Society, 2 vols. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961); Jean-Pierre
Poly and Eric Bournazel, The Feudal Transformation, 900–1200, trans. Caroline
Higgitt (New York: Holmes & Meier, 1991); Susan Reynolds, Feifs and Vassals: The
Medieval Evidence Reinterpreted (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994).

*Wikipedia also has a good entry on feudalism with a list of additional reading
references.
Copyright 2009 © Steven Till
http://steventill.com