By far, the largest portion of the population of the people in the Middle Ages were the serfs. Some serfs, such as cobblers, bakers, coopers, or blacksmiths, had relative freedom and even owned their own homes or businesses. Most serfs, however, lived a very hard life that was not that much different than slavery.
In feudalism, the king owned all of the land. The king granted fiefs (portions of land) to nobles (lords or barons) in return for loyalty, protection and service.
Today we know it only as feudalism. Charlemagne, as the creator of this integrated system on which the whole of his society was based, was the Father of Feudalism.
In feudalism, the king owned all of the land. The king granted fiefs (portions of land) to nobles (lords or barons) in return for loyalty, protection and service. Hence, he was the top leader, and Option A is correct.
The lord, in return, would provide the king with soldiers or taxes. Under the feudal system land was granted to people for service. It started at the top with the king granting his land to a baron for soldiers all the way down to a peasant getting land to grow crops.
At the top of the feudal system was the king. He presided over the land he ruled, directing and controlling what happened in his kingdom.
The King: Leader of the Feudal System
The King was in complete control under the feudal system (at least nominally). He owned all the land in the country and decided to whom he would lease land.
People were restricted under the feudal hierarchy. At the top of the chain was the King. After the King, came the nobles. These were the Dukes, the Counts and the Earls.
Feudal society was arranged as a hierarchy—the King or Queen had the most power and the serfs and peasants had the least. Unfortunately, most people were serfs or peasants and had very little control over their own lives.
The feudal system was a way of organising society into different groups based on their roles. It had the king at the top with all of the control, and the peasants at the bottom doing all of the work.
The Lower Class: Peasants (Serfs)
The largest class of the medieval caste system was the lower class, which consisted of peasants or serfs. These serfs were at the bottom of feudal society, working on the manor of whatever king or noble they served.
In this hierarchical system, the peasants were the lowest class, and they answered to the knights. The knights answered to the nobles, and the nobles answered to the king. As for bishops, the clergy existed outside of the hierarchal structure, but yet was a pivotal part of it.
Dukes were the highest rank of nobility and were responsible for the largest territories, known as duchies. The monarch was the ultimate authority and was able to grant and revoke titles as they saw fit. In the 14th century, the peerage began to emerge as a separate entity from the feudal system.
Holdings consist of around 116,000 hectares (287,000 acres) of agricultural land and forests, together with minerals and residential and commercial property.
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.
The fields were further divided into strips; 1/3 for the lord of the manor, less for the church, and the remainder for the peasants and serfs. This land was shared out so that each person had an equal share of good and poor. At least half the work week was spent on the land belonging to the lord and the church.
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.
Knights were given land by a Baron in return for military service and also had to protect the Baron, his family, and the Manor from attack. The Knights kept land for their own personal use and distributed the rest to peasants or serfs. Although not as rich as the Barons, Knights were quite wealthy.
Feudal lords were the noblemen who received lands from the king. These feudal lords had their own hierarchy. Some of the important feudal lords were the dukes, earls, barons, and knights.
Definitions of feudal lord. a man of rank in the ancient regime. synonyms: seigneur, seignior. types: liege, liege lord.
A feudal society has three distinct social classes: a king, a noble class (which could include nobles, priests, and princes) and a peasant class. Historically, the king owned all the available land, and he portioned out that land to his nobles for their use. The nobles, in turn, rented out their land to peasants.
For centuries, feudalism had been the dominant form of the social organisation of much of Europe. But with the population growth and the economic development, the feudal system was eventually replaced by capitalism.
Feudalism in England determined the structure of society around relationships derived from the holding and leasing of land, or fiefs. In England, the feudal pyramid was made up of the king at the top with the nobles, knights, and vassals below him.
The system of feudalism began to flourish in the late 8th century, with Charlemagne being the most prominent early practitioner of the system. The social hierarchy included monarchs, nobles, knights, and peasants and serfs.