Feudalism was
a combination of legal and military customs in medieval
Europe that
flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it
was a way of structuring society around relationships derived from
the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.
Although
derived from the Latin word feodum or feudum (fief),[1] then
in use, the term feudalism and
the system it describes were not conceived of as a formal political
system by
the people living in the Middle Ages. In its classic definition,
by François-Louis
Ganshof (1944),[2] feudalism describes
a set of reciprocal legal and military obligations among the warrior
nobility, revolving around the three key concepts
of lords, vassals and fiefs.
In
support of the fighting man
At
the heart of feudalism is a basic idea common to any society with a
warrior caste. Such men need to be provided for. In a simple economy
this means that the produce of an appropriate number of peasants or
serfs must underwrite the expenses of the fighting man. In
ancient Sparta,
where all free men are warriors, the support comes from the defeated
and enslaved peasants of Messenia, known as the helots.
In
medieval Europe the system is more complex. The central economic
feature is the manorial
system.
Transcending that, and dependent upon it, is the interconnecting
network of loyalties and obligations which make up feudalism.
Lord
and vassal: 8th - 12th century
The
feudal system comes into focus during the 8th century, when the
Carolingian dynasty is expanding its territory. Charles Martel grants
his nobles rights over tracts of land, to yield the income with which
they can provide fighting men for his army. This act of generosity,
ultimately for his own benefit, requires an oath of loyalty in
return.
Thus there develops the relationship between
lord and vassal which is at the heart of feudalism. The lord gives
the vassal an income-yielding fief (fehu-od in
Frankish, the basis of the word 'feudal'). The vassal does homage to
the lord, formalizing the relationship.
The
largest fiefs are those given directly by monarchs to noblemen or
barons, who then subcontract parts of these fiefs to vassals of their
own. Only in this way, sharing out both the benefit and the
obligation, can the king's vassals be sure of bringing their promised
contingent of armed men into the field.
A pyramid of
loyalty is thus created, in which each man - except at the very top
and bottom - is a vassal to one lord and a lord to several vassals.
At the very peak of European feudal society is the pope. By the end
of the 12th century the papacy has
more feudal vassals than any temporal ruler.
Feudal
Europe: 10th - 15th century
Although feudalismdevelops
as early as the 8th century, under the Carolingian dynasty, it does
not prevail widely in Europe until the 10th century - by which time
virtually the entire continent is Christian.
For the
next 500 years, great accumulations of power and landed wealth pass
between a few favoured players as if in a vast board game. The rules
are complex, and to an outside eye deeply mysterious. But certain
actions and qualifications bring a distinct advantage.
The
top players in feudal Europe come from a small group of people - an
aristocracy, based on skill in battle, with a shared commitment to a
form of Christianity (at once power-hungry and idealistic) in which
the pope in Rome has special powers as God's representative on earth.
As a great feudal lord with moral pretensions, holding the ring
between secular sovereigns, the pope can be seen as Europe's
headmaster.
Bishops and abbots are part of the small
feudal aristocracy, for they are mostly recruited from the noble
families holding the great fiefs. Indeed bishops can often be found
on the battlefield, fighting it out with with the best.
But feudalism also provides many varieties of
justification for force. And the possession of a good justification
is almost as reassuring to a knight as a good suit of armour.
One
excellent excuse for warfare is the approval of the church. In 1059
the pope virtually commands the Normans to attack Sicily,
by giving them feudal rights over territory not as yet theirs.
Similarly Rome lets it be known that the Holy See is on the side of
William when he invades England in
1066.
Another important form of justification is a
dynastic claim to a territory. Generations of marriages, carefully
arranged for material gain, result in an immensely complex web of
relationships - reflected often in kingdoms of very surprising shape
on the map of Europe.
A simple example is the vast
swathe of land ruled over in the 12th century by Henry
II.
Stretching from Northumberland to the south of France, it has been
brought together by a process of inheritance and dynastic
marriage.
More complex, but equally typical of Christian
feudalism, is the case of Sicily.
In the 11th century the Normans seize it by invitation of the pope.
In the 12th century the island is joined to distant Germany because
the German king marries a Sicilian princess. And in the 13th century
it is linked with France because the pope, intervening again, is now
opposed to the Germans.
With
the passage of time the feudal system becomes more complex, more
rigid, more open to abuse. Fiefs tend to become hereditary, reducing
the personal link between vassal and lord. Payments of money begin to
replace the original simple obligation of armed service. Religious
institutions - monasteries, abbeys, bishoprics - take their place in
the hierarchy, providing administrative and sometimes even military
support for their feudal lords, while growing prosperous through the
efficient administration of their manors.
The original
feudalism, a structure of personal relationships, tends in one
direction towards centralized monarchy - and in another towards
anarchy.
