FEUDALISM Feudalism is a vague term invented by modern historians to describe a complicated pattern of social, military, and political arrangements that.

FEUDALISM

• Feudalism is a vague term invented by modern historians to describe a complicated pattern of social, military, and political arrangements that developed during the early Middle Ages– Term is derived from the medieval Latin word

feudum• Meant fief (an estate of land given by a lord to

a supporter in return for military service)• A feudal society is therefore one in which nearly

all land is held in the form of fiefs

IMPLICATIONS

• Feudalism had broad implications for all of society– Since all wealth consisted of land and agricultural products,

feudalism determined the distribution of wealth within society

– Person who held fief was the vassal of the lord who gave it to him

• ie., he was bound to the lord by special oath of loyalty• Feudalism therefore determined social relations within

society– Vassal also governed his fief so feudalism also determined

the structure of local government in society• Feudalism, in short, dominated the economic, social, and

political structures of medieval Europe after the year 1000

ORIGINS• Origins of various aspects of

feudalism can be traced back to barbarian invasions of Western Roman Empire during 5th century AD– Swearing oath of loyalty was an

old German practice– Receiving land in return for

service came from Late Roman Empire land law

• But for a long time these elements existed independently from one another and did not come together to form a complete system

WHAT CAUSED FUSION?• During time of Charles Martel, Franks

began to fight on horseback– Due to invention of stirrup– Protected by armor and a shield

and armed with sword and lance– Very expensive and required lots

of practice• Soldiers had to be rich enough

to own a horse, necessary equipment, and have the free time to train

• Solution was to give warriors land and the labor to work the land and thereby give them the economic base and free time to serve him

MARTEL’S SYSTEM• Martel devised a system based on

customs and conditions of the time– Enlisted able-bodied warriors into

his cavalry and had them swear absolute loyalty to him

• They became his vassals– Then he granted them an estate

large enough to support the warrior as long as he loyally served Martel

• Fief returned to Martel when warrior died or proved to be disloyal

– Tied together vassalage and fief-holding in one system

THE KNIGHT

• Savage civil wars and Magyar, Arab, and Viking invasions produced terrible anarchy in which armed force was only effective law– Heyday of the warrior

• And the warrior that was in most demand was the armored horseman

– Chevalier in French– Knight in English

SPREAD OF FEUDALISM• To get the most, and best, knights, rulers continued Martel’s

practice of giving them land in exchange for their loyalty and military service– Some warriors given thousands of acres in exchange for

promising to provide 50 knights• Provided for these knights by dividing his fief into subunits

and giving them to his vassals in exchange for loyalty and military service

• Feudalism spread during chaos of 9th and 10th centuries– An increasingly complex system in which vassals of a ruler

had their own vassals – And these vassals had their vassals and so on down the line

• Everyone in this expanding system was both someone’s vassal and someone’s lord– Except those at the very bottom and the king at the top

LOCAL DEFENSE• Frankish traditional warfare consisted of

the king calling his warriors together in the spring and then the army would go off and fight– Didn’t work against the Vikings

• They struck so fast that by the time the king got an army together, they were gone

• Defense had to be improvised against them

• Situation increased the prestige and power of local lords at the expense of royal power

– People stopped looking to the king for protection and turned to their local nobleman

TRENDS

• Although vassal of the king, the local nobleman often acquired independent political control of his fief– Simply because he was there and the king was not

• Nobles did not provide protection to local people for nothing– In exchange, free peasants had to give him their land and smaller

knights had to become his vassals• Feudalism, which had been originally designed to aid the king,

encouraged political decentralization which weakened the king

TRANSFORMATION OF FIEFS

• Fiefs were gradually transformed from being a revocable grant to a hereditary estate– Fiefs were originally only granted for the lifetime of a vassal and Martel

had reserved the power to revoke a fief at any time– Situation began to change during reign of Charles the Bald

• By the year 1000 most fiefs had become hereditary– Passed from father to son through primogeniture

RAMIFICATIONS• When fiefs became hereditary, obligations

between lord and vassal became governed by a mutual contract that neither side could alter– Lord could now only revoke a fief if the

vassal had violated a specific provision of the contract

• Power of vassal increased– Lords could no longer act in arbitrary

manner• Had to call vassals together and ask their

advice and consent before making a major decision

• Could no longer interfere in the way vassals ran their fiefs

• As long as a vassal upheld their end of the contract, he could do what he wanted within his fief

FEUDAL OBLIGATIONS I• Basic purpose was cooperation in war

– Lord had to protect vassals and their land

– Vassals had to serve in lord’s army• Originally, vassals had to serve for as

long as the lord needed them– Vassals later distinguished

between two types of war• If lord was attacked, vassals

immediately came to his aid and stayed for as long as they were needed

• But it the war was not defensive, vassals limited their military service to 40 days a year

FEUDAL OBLIGATIONS II• Vassals was obligated to act as

member of garrison in lord’s castle• Castles were crude at this time

– Made by digging a circular ditch about ten feet deep and 30 feet wide

• Excavated dirt piled into large mound in center

• Edge of ditch surrounded by wooden wall and another wall built around center mound

• Wooden tower built in top of mound

• Length of service in castle evolved with time from unlimited service to a 30 day a year limit

FEUDAL OBLIGATIONS III• Vassal had to attend lord’s court when

he was summoned– Important because lord and vassal

saw themselves as partners and neither would make an important decision without consulting the other

• It was customary for a lord to consult his vassals before he made a decision that might directly or indirectly affect them– This was especially crucial if he

wanted to embark on a project that required their assistance

• Vassal obligated to give honest advice to his lord

FEUDAL OBLIGATIONS IV

• Chief officers of lord’s household sometimes given fiefs as compensation for their services– Constables, marshals,

chamberlains, and sometimes head servants and even cooks

– These individuals had the obligation to perform their specified functions at the lord’s court

FEUDAL OBLIGATIONS V• Vassals had two economic obligations

– Relief• Paid to a lord whenever a vassal died and his

son inherited the fief• Amount was usually about one year’s

revenue from the fief– Aid

• Supplementary revenue in emergency situations

– Knighting, marriage, new projects, etc.• By 1000, aid had become divided into two

groups– Demands that had to be met without

question– Demands which required approval of

assembled vassals before they would pay anything

THE RIGHTS OF LORDS

• All vassals had to get their lord’s approval of their future son-in-laws before marriage could take place

• When a vassal died and left behind a minor as heir, lord or his agent would manage fief until heir was old enough to run it himself

• When vassal died with no heirs at all, the fief reverted back to lord

THE DUTIES OF LORDS

• Had to protect vassals from all enemies

• Also bound to “do justice” to vassal

– If vassal believed he was being mistreated he could demand hearing before court of fellow vassals

• Very common for a vassal to renounce a lord for failing to protect him or because he was denied “justice”

FIDELITY AND HOMMAGE

• Relationship between lord and vassal inaugurated in solemn ceremony known as swearing fidelity and doing hommage– Vassal would kneel

before lord and swear to be a faithful vassal and perform all services due from his fief

– Two men would then kiss and lord would give vassal clod of earth

• Symbolized his fief

LIEGE HOMMAGE

• As time went on, vassals began to have multiple lords– Held different fiefs from

different lords and owed each customary service and obligations

– Caused a great deal of confusion

• Practice of liege hommage developed in response to this situation– Vassal owed personal

military service only to liege lord—and only to him

PROBLEM AT THE TOP

• King was at top of feudal pyramid– Weak position– Since he had no independent

army, he needed cooperation of his vassals to do anything

• Difficult to get all of them to cooperate on anything

• Vassals hesitated to side with king against disobedient vassal because they might be in same position themselves some day

• Made king a figurehead and a prisoner of his vassals

REAL POWER

• Real power rested with man who had a manageable number of vassals (concentrated in a specific geographic area) and who had resources to build and maintain a castle– Put him a near

invulnerable position– Called barons by the 11th

century• Began to develop

independent states, ignoring their obligations to the king

LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENTS

• Political decentralization, represented by the rise of barons, would be a major characteristic of the Middle Ages– Would cause continual, and often bloody, struggle between

king, who wanted to bring all the territories in his theoretical kingdom under his direct control, and barons, who fought to maintain their local power and independence

• Barons had a lot in their favor– Hereditary fiefs– Loyalty of local knights– Other vassals of the king hesitated to fight one of their own– Castle was hard to capture

• Kings would ultimately win this struggle but it would take almost 600 years to do so and would destroy the feudal system they had invented in the process