France is where a feudal system was utilized. What was once a very “…
weak and fragmented kingdom emerged the decentralized form of government
that historians often call feudalism”(Berger 431). The name feudalism stems
from the word “fiefs”. Fiefs were plots of land run by military men and the
Latin version of the word translates as “feudum”. This feudal society was not
always how things were, Kings used to put land rule in the hands of noble with
loyalty to the King. As time progressed however, maintaining loyalty was not
easy to do thus leading to a lot of conflict. The state of “constant warfare
(albeit warfare that was usually local in scope), power came to rest in control of
fiefs and the ability to extract surplus from their occupants and to use this
surplus to outfit armed men”(Berger 431). Warlords were able to take control,
housing themselves in fortresses with armed forces. Over time the fortresses
improved in stature, from wood to stone.
These castles had “two roles: it would
protect a land from attackers (such as Viking raiders), but it would also serve as
a base for the control and extortion of a land’s people” (Berger 431). As these
castles improved so did other means for warfare such as the dress that knights
would wear. For example, “ronworking was improving so that iron was
cheaper (although still very expensive) and more readily available, allowing for
knights to wear more armor than their predecessors”(432). By implementing
better protection with iron it allowed a leg up for the warlords. The
combination of a stronger fortress for protection and better suited knights for
defense led to less destruction for the castle. These knights rose in power,
taking freedom from those who they oversaw, the peasants. As “many peasants
lost their freedom, becoming serfs, unfree peasants who, although not property
that could be bought and sold like slaves, were nevertheless bound to their land
and subordinate to those who controlled it”(Berger 432). Although these fiefs
rises in power over specific lands they still owed their allegiance to the Lord if
they were ever called upon for war. Over all this led to little coherence over the
lands due to the difference from one to another in power.
Work Cited
Berger, Eugene; Israel, George; Miller, Charlotte; Parkinson, Brian;
Reeves, Andrew; and Williams, Nadejda, "World History: Cultures, States, and
Societies to 1500" (2016). History Open Textbooks. 2. University of North
Georgia Press Dahlonega, Georgia.