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What was the feudal system?
The feudal system was a social, economic and
political system that was found throughout Western
Europe by the 12th century. In an age when it could
take days to travel a few hundred kilometres, the
feudal system enabled kings to keep control of their
lands by contracting others to do the controlling for
them.
At the top of the feudal system was the king.
Chosen by God, the king had a ‘divine right’ to
rule. The king gave his lands and manors (or fiefs –
which is where the word feudal comes from) to
important lords or tenants–in-chief. In return for
the fiefs, the lords or nobles became the king’s
vassals and swore an oath of loyalty (fealty) and
paid homage to him. Homage consisted of the
vassal surrendering himself to the lord, symbolized
by his kneeling and giving his joined hands to the
lord, who clasped them in his own, thus accepting
the surrender.
In practice this meant that the nobles promised never to
go to war against the king and to provide the king with
money, soldiers, accommodation or advice (counsel) when needed. The nobles also included powerful members
of the church such as bishops, because the church was one of the most important medieval landowners.
The lord also had vassals who were called knights. Again in return for fiefs, the vassals made promises, the
most important of which was to serve the lord as a soldier of 40-60 days a year. It was the knights as lords of
the manor or demesne who really controlled medieval Europe. The vast majority of people were peasants who
worked directly for the knights, who paid rents and taxes to him and who fought for him in time of war. The
knights also provided for law and order and justice through the manorial courts.
Most peasants were serfs (villeins) who were ‘owned’ by the knights. It was common for a peasant to have a
small plot of land on which to grow food for himself and his family and to be entitled to gather firewood from
common land. The peasant’s land was often divided into strips, with each household's strips scattered about the
manor. Villeins had to spend time every week working the lord’s land and even had to ask permission to leave
the manor. There was another group of peasants called freemen. They worked for themselves, often in a trade
such as bakers or carpenters, and paid rent to the lord. They were free to leave the manor if they wanted.
Activity - Using the diagram above as a starting point, devise your own, improved diagram to explain how the
feudal system worked. It should include as much information from the text as possible and but should still be
clear and well explained. It should take up one page of A4, should be designed for display purposes and might
include images or be word processed. The best will be included at the www.internationalschoolhistory.net
website.
RJ-N 191009