Download An Idiot`s Guide to Feudalism

An Idiot’s Guide to Feudalism
Scott Freed
Feudalism is the general term that describes the social, economic, and political
relations of most of Medieval Europe. It slowly developed over a few hundred years so
there can be no date assigned to when it was invented, but it was generally up and
running by about 800 AD. It also died out over a similarly slow process with the change
moving from Western to Eastern Europe but the time period being much longer.
Feudalism in England and Italy was effectively ended during the Renaissance (14501600), but it remained in France until the French Revolution in the late 1700’s and
Eastern Europe into the mid-1800’s. When describing Feudalism and all of the various
relations that went along with it, it is important to say first that Medieval European
society was divided into three classes or estates. The first estate was the clergy or those
who worked in the church (3% of society). The second estate was the nobles or those
with military and political power (7% of society). The third estate was the common
people (90% of the population). Feudalism governed the relations between these estates
and guided the destiny of each and every member of Feudal society. It was, in short,
every bit the defining system of European society in the same way that the caste system
organized India during the same period.
Fealty: The Lord/ Vassal Relationship in the Noble Class
It is easiest way to begin a discussion of Feudalism by looking at the noble class.
There were two ways to become a noble. The easiest and by far most common way was
to pick the right parents and be born noble. The other way, although very difficult and
very rare was to be born a commoner and be of such incredible service to a noble that he
made you a knight—the entry level position in the noble food chain. This was made even
more difficult since there was only one noble in and entire kingdom who could make this
transformation happen—the king.
At the top of the pyramid of noble relations (it’s easiest to think about the nobles
like a pyramid) sat the king. He lived in a very large castle with his queen and ruled over
all of the land in his kingdom. He owned all of the land, but only directly ruled a very
small part of it. The reason that he only ruled a small part of it lies in the need of every
king to raise a military. Every now and then the king would get very mad at one of his
neighboring kings and decide that he wanted to go to war. This required an army. The
king raised an army by giving away parts of his land, called fiefs (rhymes with life), to
some of his subjects. The subjects to whom the king gave his land became known as
vassals. These vassals were bound to him through an oath called fealty. Fealty was not
only the oath, but also the idea and way of life surrounding loyalty to one’s lord. In
return for some of his land the king demanded more than simple loyalty. Each of these
vassals was also required to provide for two months out of the year, a certain number of
knights to serve in the king’s army. These two months were almost always in the
springtime when the weather was nice, the peasants were busy planting crops and there
was nothing better to do than go to war with one’s neighbors.
Now you might ask, where did the king’s vassals get the knights that they
provided to the king? They simply gave out fiefs of their own land to the knights that
were in their own armies. This process repeated itself down the line until all of a
kingdom was given out in a fief and the king’s army became big enough to invade one of
his neighbors. It also follows that everyone in the kingdom was both a lord and vassal
except for the king at the top, who was vassal to no one. Everyone owed fealty not only
to his or her immediate lord, but also to his lord, and on up the line all the way to the
king. The system simply spread through noble society like a pyramid building up the
military and economic power of the king and his vassals.
The Catch: So far it sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? The kings gives out his
land and in return gets an army with which he can conquer more land, with which he can
grant more fiefs, and get a larger army, with which he can conquer even more land. It
sure looks like Mel Brooks was right when he said, “It’s good to be the king.” There is a
catch. When the king gave out his land, particularly to the top layer of vassals, he created
a group of very wealthy, not to mention heavily armed, individuals would loved power as
much as the king did. If one, two, or more of these guys decided to try to become king
himself, there could be big trouble for the king. For this reason it was important that the
king rule with an iron fist on the one hand while keeping his vassals happy at the same
time.
Another question you may have is, “If the king’s army was only together for two
moths, what happened the other ten?” During the rest of the year vassals took care of
their manors, practiced for battle, and served in the armies of their lords. This created the
potential for a civil war between the king’s vassals that could destabilize the kingdom. In
order to allow the knights of the realm to get out their pent up military frustration without
actually creating a war, the king would often put on tournaments. These were festivals
where knights would compete in various tests of knightly skill, such as jousting, ax
throwing, and the like. Sometimes a tournament’s main event would be a mock battle in
which two small armies would fight each other with blunted swords to reduce the chance
of serious injury. All the same, tournaments were very dangerous and deaths were not
uncommon.
Manorialism: Life on the Fief
Nobles represented only 7% of feudal society. For the commoners, who made up
90% of the population, life was totally different. Most commoners were peasants, or
farmers. They worked the land of a noble lord. The land governed directly by a lord was
called a manor. To an outsider a manor would look like a small town that had a huge
house or even a castle on part of the land. The lord would live in this house called the
manor house when he was not out running around killing people for the king. The way
that a feudal lord made money was to divide up his land into small parcels and have
peasants live on and farmer them. He would collect taxes from their production and use
this money to buy the things he needed. In addition to giving out the majority of his land
the lord would keep some of it for himself. This land was also worked by the peasants
who were obligated to work on it for usually two or three days a week. The lord would
take the production from this land and sell it for his own profit. You can see how a
feudal lord could build up a great deal of money this way.
Peasants fell into two classes: Serfs and Freemen. Serfs made up about 60% of
all peasants. What made a serf a serf, was his lack of freedom in several ways. Serfs
were what is known as bound to the land, meaning they could not leave the manor
without the lord’s permission. On the one hand this was bad because the lord wasn’t
around very much. On the other hand feudal peasants had very little need to leave their
manor. Everything they needed and everyone they knew usually lived there. Also
peasants were bound to grow whatever crop the lord wanted on their land. They also
paid their taxes as a share of their crop instead of money since they usually had none.
Life for a serf was very hard since they had to work not only their own land and pay taxes
for the privilege of living there, but also the land of their lord to make him even wealthier
than he already was. Both of these obligations had to be kept up or the lord would get
angry, and no one wanted that to happen. Failure to pay taxes usually resulted in an
increase in taxes or more time spent on the lord’s land, which meant that it became harder
to feed your own family.
Freemen were different from serfs in a few ways, most notably in their freedom
as the word suggests. Freemen were not bound to the land as serfs were and they could
grow whatever crop they wanted. They also worked less time on the lord’s land if any at
all. Sounds good doesn’t it. Like all things there was a catch. Freemen had to pay rent
on their land instead of taxes. Rent was paid however often the lord wanted and at
whatever rate he wanted. From the lord’s perspective this was a more reliable source of
income since rent had to be paid whether the crops grew or not. A bad year for serfs
would reduce not only the crop that they got to keep, but also the amount that they gave
to their lord. For a freeman, rent did not change. It was an agreed upon sum of money,
due to the lord whether the crops were good or bad. From the freeman’s perspective, it
was a good deal as long as you could keep paying the rent. You had more freedom to
grow what you wanted and could make a decent amount of money after the rent was paid
if you had a good year. Some freemen would decide to give up farming altogether and
move into the town. Here they could set up a shop and produce goods that the farmers
needed. These craftsmen were a very small group on every manor, but they were
essential.
The Clergy and Church State Relations
The last and by far smallest group was the clergy. These were the officers of the
church. The church also had a hierarchy of its own. At the top of this chain of command
was the Pope, who lived in Rome and was responsible for the spiritual well being of
everyone in Christendom (any land where Christians live anywhere in the world; it’s big).
Below him were the cardinals and archbishops. Archbishops were in charge of all of the
church activity in a fairly large area called an archdiocese (maybe half a dozen or so per
kingdom depending on its size). Cardinals are simply archbishops who get to vote on
who becomes the next Pope when the job opens up. Beneath archbishops are bishops, in
charge of all the churches in a group of towns called a diocese. They oversee all of the
priests in the various churches in their diocese. The priests of course run a single church
and take care of the spiritual needs of a single community or parish.
Because of the incredible role that religion played in the everyday lives of people
(it can truly be said that there was no part of life where religion was not the top concern)
the church had a great deal of moral authority over what happened in a given area.
Churches also collected tithes, money paid to the church, from the parishioners. This
was always one tenth of the income of everyone and was not seen as optional. People
could be excommunicated—kicked out of the church, denied its spiritual services such as
communion, and therefore on the express train to hell in the afterlife—if they did not pay
their tithes.
Because of this huge power that the church had, nobles often wanted to gain
influence over the church. The best way to do this was to get a member of the family to
become a priest. Usually the youngest son in a family would become a member of the
clergy. The older sons got all of the money and land anyway, so the best use of a
youngest son to his noble father was to become a priest. This way a lord could control
his subjects politically, economically, and spiritually. Youngest sons had no choice in the
matter, they were simply taken down to the nearest church and it was off to a life of
chastity, poverty, and obedience for them. This less than willing career choice often led
to members of the clergy not taking their spiritual jobs as seriously as they should have.
They were very often corrupt and broke their vows. Members of the clergy became
wealthy and parents. Pope Alexander VI most famously had six children that are
recognized and several more that aren’t.
Problems arose when nobles tried to name the higher-ranking church officers in
their kingdoms, such as bishops and archbishops. This was known as lay investiture. It
was very attractive to the secular nobles in that they could have total control over every
aspect of life in their kingdom. The church however did not see it this way. The church
felt that lay investiture created conflicts of interest and would ultimately weaken the
church. It became an increasingly large source of conflict as the Renaissance came into
fashion in the mid 1400’s. Other issues such as the Black Death, the Renaissance, and
the Reformation would also come about that would bring the entire feudal system to its
knees by the end of the 1600’s.
Define the Following Terms: estate, fief, vassal, lord, tournament, manor,
peasants, serf, freemen, tithe, lay investiture.
Identify the Following Terms: Feudalism, nobles, commoners, clergy, fealty,
manorialism.