FEUDALISM
We are all familiar with the term Feudalism. The following is a brief overview
of feudalism. This was a political system in place in Europe, Japan and China
for many centuries. It is useful to reflect on the way this political system works
to maintain social order. In many respects it is similar to the chiefdom political
organization of the Celts or Africa. It is led by great families with political
loyalties and alliances. It is interesting to look at Marvin Harris' writings about
the development of bigmen, chiefs and states in this respect. As well, ponder
the similarity between a chiefdom and feudal state. What are some of the
primary similarities and differences?
Feudalism was a medieval contractual relationship among the upper classes, by
which a lord granted land to his men in return for military service. Feudalism
was further characterized by the localization of political and economic power in
the hands of lords and their vassals and by the exercise of that power from the
base of castles, each of which dominated the district in which it was situated.
This formed a pyramidal form of hierarchy. The term feudalism thus involves a
division of governmental power spreading over various castle-dominated
districts downward through lesser nobles. Feudalism does not infer social and
economic relationships between the peasants and their lords. This is better
defined as manorialism.
In theory, diagrammatic feudalism resembles a pyramid, with the lowest
vassals at its base and the lines of authority flowing up to the peak of the
structure, the king. In practice, however, this scheme varied from nation to
nation. In Germanic Europe, the pyramid ended at the level below king or
emperor, that of the great princes. In other words, the German kings were never
able to impose themselves at the top of a system that had developed out of
royal weakness. They were recognized as feudal suzerains but did not exercise
sovereignty. In western Europe (France), the kings overcame the same
handicap, using their positions to become feudal sovereigns. In England, where
feudalism was imposed by the Normans, the kings were at the top of the
pyramid, ruling by grace of their offices rather than by the grace of their feudal
positions. The extent of feudalism must not be exaggerated, however. Many
portions of Europe were never feudalized.
Feudal institutions varied greatly from region to region, and few feudal
contracts had all the features here described. Common to all, however, was the
process by which one nobleman (the vassal) became the man of another (the
lord) by swearing homage and fealty. This was originally done simply to
establish a mutually protective relationship, but by A.D. 1000 vassalage
brought with it a fief--land held in return for military service. With the vassal's
holding of a fief went rights of governance and of jurisdiction over those who
dwelt on it.
Lord and vassal were interlocked in a web of mutual rights and obligations, to
the advantage of both. Whereas the lord owed his vassal protection, the vassal
owed his lord a specified number of days annually in offensive military service
and in garrisoning his castle. The lord was expected to provide a court for his
vassals, who, in turn, were to provide the lord with counsel before he undertook
any initiative of importance to the feudal community as a whole--for example,
arranging his own or his children's marriages or planning a crusade. In addition,
the lord frequently convened his vassals "to do him honor."
Financial benefits accrued largely to the lord. A vassal owed his lord a fee
known as relief when he succeeded to his fief, was expected to contribute to the
lord's ransom were he captured and to his crusading expenses, and had to share
the financial burden when the lord's eldest son was knighted and his eldest
daughter married. In addition, a vassal had to seek his lord's permission to
marry off his daughter and for himself to take a wife. Should the vassal die
leaving a widow or minor children, they were provided for by the lord, who
saw to their education, support, and marriage. Should the vassal die without
heirs, his fief escheated, or reverted to the lord.
Feudalism had hardly begun before its first important sign of decline appeared.
Problems with inheritance soon became a critical weakness. When a lord was
no longer able to enter into an agreement with his vassal, freely accepted by
both parties, then the personal nature of the feudal contract was seriously
undermined. This transformation occurred before 1100, as did the beginning of
the commutation of personal military service into money payments (called
scutage in England), which further undermined the personal loyalty central to
original feudalism.
A late medieval outgrowth of this commutation was contract service in return
for land or money, embodying loyalty to a lord in return for help and
protection. This form of social bond enabled wealthy lords to field an army
quickly when needed and gave them tangible and effective means to assert their
own private influence in political and social life, to the detriment of orderly
central government.
Something else that appeared early in the history of feudalism was liege
homage, by which a man who was the vassal of more than one lord chose one
as his paramount lord, thus again subverting the original feudal idea of personal
loyalty between lord and vassal.
The centralization of strong lordships, whether as kings (as in England and
France) or territorial rulers (as in the Holy Roman Empire), obviously undercut
the localization of government so essential to feudalism. So too did new forms
of warfare following A.D. 1300. Feudalism's decline was also rooted in ties to
family and for other social changes. Family ties came to be seen as more
important than territorial or protective concerns. The economic and social gulf
between greater and lesser nobles grew wider, and respect for historically based
ties of mutual relationships between lord and vassal steadily weakened. These
circumstances, as well as the increasing division of inheritances, all combined
to destroy feudalism, slowly and inexorably. The process was largely complete
by the end of the 14th century. It should be noted that many of the problems
associated with feudalism in Europe were not as noteworthy in Japan where the
system seemed to have greater stability. However, in Japan the system did
weaken for similar reasons as found in Europe.