What is Feudal Society? Feudal society was a hierarchical system where the powers lay within a few people. The three classes of feudal society were the king, nobles and peasant class. According to the rules of feudal society, the king had absolute authority.
Portugal. Portugal, originally a part of the Kingdom of León, was an example of a feudal society, according to Marc Bloch. Portugal has its roots in a feudal state in northern Iberia, the County of Portugal, established in 868 within the Kingdom of Asturias.
In a feudal system, a peasant or worker known as a vassal received a piece of land in return for serving a lord or king, especially during times of war. Vassals were expected to perform various duties in exchange for their own fiefs, or areas of land.
Feudalism was a political system in which nobles were granted the use of land that legally belonged to the king. In return, the nobles agreed to give their loyalty and military services to the king. Feudalism developed not only in Europe but also in countries like Japan.
Classic feudalism
In broad terms a lord was a noble who held land, a vassal was a person who was granted possession of the land by the lord, and the land was known as a fief. In exchange for the use of the fief and protection by the lord, the vassal would provide some sort of service to the lord.
Specifically, feudalism was a system in which people gave kings and lords money and worked in exchange for protection. Fiefs were lands given out to vassals, and vassals were the people getting the land.
For Marx, feudal society had two basic attributes, unfree labor and homesteads. The former was typified by the Eastern European corvée (labor service). The latter were sites for labor-power reproduction.
Characteristics. Three primary elements characterized feudalism: Lords, vassals, and fiefs; the structure of feudalism can be seen in how these three elements fit together. A lord was a noble who owned land, a vassal was a person who was granted possession of the land by the lord, and the land was known as a fief.
Feudalism in Western Europe was a politico-economic system that created a social fabric with military obligations. It produced a set of manners and norms – chivalry – and spawned an elegant form of literature that helped Europeans capture and develop pride in their histories.
At the very top of the feudal system was the king. He presided over the land he ruled, directing and controlling what happened in his kingdom.
Answer and Explanation: The two groups at the top of the feudal system, lords and churchmen, probably benefited the most from the system. They tended to be the wealthiest, were immune from some forms of taxation, were able to collect dues and tithes from the general public, and were the most likely to be literate.
Feudalism helped protect communities from the violence and warfare that broke out after the fall of Rome and the collapse of strong central government in Western Europe. Feudalism secured Western Europe's society and kept out powerful invaders. Feudalism helped restore trade. Lords repaired bridges and roads.
Feudalism had two enormous effects on medieval society. Feudalism discouraged unified government and it also discouraged trade and economic growth.
The inequality of the feudal system
There was great inequality in medieval society because of the distribution of land and wealth. The nobility was able to raise large amounts of money from payments from peasants living on their land. Peasants were usually villeins .
Interesting Facts about the Feudal System
Around 90 percent of the people worked the land as peasants. Peasants worked hard and died young. Most were dead before they reached 30 years old. The kings believed they were given the right to rule by God.
Feudalism was primarily based on the personal kinship ties and impersonal bureaucratic politics. It was basically a relationship between overlords and vassals or lords in which the overlords grant land to the lords or vassals and in return of which the vassals gave military services to their master.
Some towns in England and Scotland still use feudal-type farming, but these are very small cases. A form of feudalism still exists in the criminal underworld of human trafficking, where people are bound to business owners or criminals after being moved into a new area.
Another disadvantage of feudalism is that Europe could not be united in the presence of rivalry, suspicion and war. The presence of the feudal system made it difficult for Europe to be united. With the absence of unity, no real sovereign states could be created in Europe.
The Black Death left in its wake a period of defiance and turmoil between the upper classes and the peasantry. The dispute regarding wages led to the peasants' triumph over the manorial economic system and ultimately ended in the breakdown of feudalism in England.
At the lowest echelon of society were the peasants, also called "serfs" or "villeins." In exchange for living and working on his land, known as the "demesne," the lord offered his peasants protection.
Nobles were really the most powerful. They got land from the king. Lesser nobles (knights) gave military service in return for land. Serfs were bound to the land.
In the middle ages, girls were typically in their teens when they married, and boys were in their early twenties. The arrangement of the marriage was based on monetary worth. The family of the girl who was to be married would give a dowry, or donation, to the boy she was to marry.
Feudalism is the name given to the system of government William I introduced to England after he defeated Harold at the Battle of Hastings. Feudalism became a way of life in Medieval England and remained so for many centuries. William could not rule every part of the country himself – this was physically impossible.
One of the advantages of feudalism is that it gave protection to the common men in the society. In those days, soldiers went from place to place invading territories. By coming under the protection of the nobles therefore, the vassals were saved from the clutches of such marauding foreign invaders.