What in the world is the Feudal System in the Middle Ages????????????????????
Feudalism refers to a general set of reciprocal legal and military obligations among the warrior nobility of Europe during the Middle Ages, revolving around the three key concepts of lords, vassals, and fiefs. Defining feudalism requires many qualifiers because there is no broadly accepted agreement of what it means. For one to begin to understand feudalism, a working definition is desirable. The definition described in this article is the most senior and classic definition and is still subscribed to by many historians. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feudal_Syst... In Medieval Europe, life was very organized. There were four main classes of people. This was called the Feudal System. The four classes were: Kings, Nobles, Knights, and Peasants. Each had their own rights and responsibilities. http://www.thevine.net/~ddefig/feudal.ht...
How did the feudal monarchy work during the Middle Ages?
Middle ages , that is referred to the period of 5th- 15th century, had the prevalence of feudal monarchy. Feudalism , in German , means , a piece land. As it's meaning suggests, it was a system that centred around the principles of land related matters.The governance was carried by an integrated system called as Vassalage system. Under this system , the nobles(ruling class) had mutual obligation to the lord or monarch. The nobles were given large tracts of land and protection and in return had to pay loyalty to the monarch or king. The noble is the lord of his estate, given by king , called as manorial estate , which was governed by the noble itself with his own system. The same mutual obligation was between the nobles (as lords of his own estate) and knights. The knights paid military service and they also were given large tracts of land. The peasants worked as free peasants or serfs ,under the lord. They were also given some lands and had to work on lords land also. Earlier , before the knights , they also had to work as foot soldiers.This is how the feudal monarchy worked during middle ages by the integrated system called Vassalage system(kings- nobles- knights and peasants).
What was the Feudal System in the middle ages?
Without hard currency to exchange for goods and services, the only thing of value most people had was their time. Lower levels of society were required to donate their time and effort to the nobles and king in exchange for a living. Peasants worked on their lords land for a piece of their own. Knights provided military service for the same. Nobles provided the king with knights. When money became more available, the feudal system fell apart.
What is the Feudal System?
The term Feudalism, first used in the early modern period (17th century), refers in its most classic sense to a set of reciprocal legal and military obligations among the warrior nobility of Europe during the Middle Ages, revolving around the three key political concepts of lords, vassals, and fiefs. Although derived from the Latin word feodum (fief), then in use, the term "feudalism" and the "system" it purports to describe was unknown to people living in the Medieval Period. Defining feudalism requires qualifiers because there is no broadly accepted agreement of what it means. For one to begin to understand feudalism, a working definition is desirable and the definition described in this article is the most senior and classic definition still subscribed to by many historians. However, other definitions of feudalism exist. Since at least the 1960s, many medieval historians have included a broader social aspect, adding the peasantry bonds of manorialism, referred to as a "feudal society". Still others, since the 1970s, have re-examined the evidence and concluded that feudalism is an unworkable term and should be removed entirely from scholarly and educational discussion (see Revolt against the term feudalism), or at least only used with severe qualification and warning. Outside of a European context, the concept of feudalism is normally only used by analogy (called semi-feudal), most often in discussions of Japan under the shoguns, and, sometimes, medieval and Gondarine Ethiopia. However, some have taken the feudalism analogy further, seeing it in places as diverse as Ancient Egypt, Parthian empire, India, to the American South of the nineteenth century.[1] The term "feudal" has also been applied—often inappropriately or pejoratively—to non-Western societies where institutions and attitudes similar to those of medieval Europe are perceived to prevail. Ultimately, the many ways the term "feudalism" has been used has deprived it of specific meaning, leading many historians and political theorists to reject it as a useful concept for understanding society.
What were the benefits of the feudal system in Europe in the middle ages?
It's a kind of distributed government that works without money.There were of course many reasons why the Roman Empire in western europe collapsed, but one of the major causes was a collapse in available currency. Without money you can't collect taxes and you also can't pay a standing army. This makes a strong central government impossible.In the late Roman empire the army split up into two forces. One large mobile force traveled with the emperor and the rest became border guards. These border guards were not paid, but were granted land to support themselves. They were not allowed to leave their posts. That's starting to sound a lot like feudalism already if you ask me.As the European economy devolved into a barter economy the one thing that could be exchanged was land for service. I grant you use of land for a promise of military service for a certain period of time each year. This was one solution to governance without money. Over time these grants became hereditary and that's how you get feudalism.As currency started to come back, central governments gained power until they were eventually able to wrest control from the feudal lords. That took a while though.It's not a great system, especially if you are a serf, but even bad government is preferable to anarchy.
How did the feudal system work in medieval europe simple?
Pretty much the feudal system worked along these lines: A King has several Nobles who are each loyal to him and give him taxes that they have collected from the Vassals who are pretty much Knights and have sworn loyalty to their certain noble, who then go and collect taxes from the peasants who are bound to their noble and his land, this class makes up a vast majority of the population. So here's the breakdown: King- On top, Collects taxes from Nobles Noble- Collects taxes from Vassals Vassal- Collects taxes from peasants, protect the peasants, have sworn loyalty to a Noble Peasants- Give taxes to Vassals, are bound to the land of a Noble in large estates called "Manors", make up a majority of the population.
How did European feudal society operate? How was this a mutually supportive system?
To answer in a really short and dumb way: All the land in a kingdom belonged to the king. All of it. The king chose some blokes and gave them parts of his land to rule. Those men were called vassals and the lands serfs. The king was still the owner, but the vassal governed it and the people who lived there. They provided them with the income, from which some went to the treasury as taxes. In return, the vassal promised to ride out when the king went to war, to rise a certain amount of troops and spend some time each year directly at the kings service. He would maintain a small force and his own training, as he was expected to be a warrior. Owners of biggers serfs would also share out their lands and get vassals of their own, but still remain loyal to the king. The system was a bit different in every European kingdom, and changed rather drastically as the centuries went by, with the jobs of the vassals changing as well. Sometimes, cities were different and more independent.