Feudalism, otherwise also referred to as the feudal system was a systemic establishment that combined cultural, economic, military and legal machinations in Europe between the 9 th and 15 th centuries. Societies were anchored on relationships derived from landholding in exchange for service and labour. A political system then emerged complete with reciprocal legal and military duties from a warrior class. This system of government was primarily necessitated by the need for Western Europe to coalesce and defend itself from the threat of growing attacks from the Vikings. Protection from the top lords was available to the poor lower classes in exchange for their loyalty.
The feudal system comprised of lords, vassals and fiefs. All these three cadres of persons in a feudal system had a degree of accompanying responsibly. The four distinct classes of a feudal system were the monarchs, lords/ladies, knights and the serfs. Without one of its levels, a feudal system disintegrates and crumbles as each level depended on the other for their everyday life.
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By definition, a lord was a noble who possessed vast lands. A vassal was a person who was given possession of a parcel of land by a lord while the land itself was referred to as a fief. The serfs were peasants who worked on the farms. In this exchange of land and protection from the Lord, a vassal was required to provide service to their Lord. The service could be military or non-military.
However, before a lord grants land to anyone, the person had to be converted into a vassal through a unique and symbolic ceremony called a commendation which composed of an act of homage and an actual oath of fealty. During the act of homage, the lord and the vassal entered into a contractual agreement where a vassal promises to fight for the Lord on his command viciously. The vow partly read, “I promise on my faith that I will in future be faithful to so, and will observe my homage to him completely against all persons in good faith and without deceit." the Lord promises to protect the vassal from any form of external forces and aggression. The vassal would even be required to finance equipment purchase from proceeds of land usage.
A vassal was forbidden from leaving their Lord unless under anyone such conditions mentioned below; if the lord subjects the vassal unjustly into servitude if the Lord partakes in scheming against a vassals life if a lord commits an act of adultery with a companion/wife of their vassal if a lord draws a sword willfully and attacks their vassal and lastly if the Lord fails to come to the defence of the vassal after the vassal requests for their involvement to protect the vassal from external aggression. A lord who committed any of the above vile acts would violate the oath of fealty; hence the contract would no longer be binding.
Feudalism had its fair share of advantages and disadvantages. One of its main advantages is the fact that it played a critical role in instilling social order in the middle ages by drawing lines of correspondence between the haves and the have-nots in society. Social order ensured that both economic interests of the poor and the rich were taken care of.
Feudalism also ensured that every member of society contributed meaningfully to the existence of a progressive society. While the monarchs performed administrative and decision making roles, the vassals took control of the lands and the available natural resources there-in, hence ensured maximum exploitation and utilization of a country’s natural resources for advancement of the society at large. The vassals also employed peasants who worked on the farms for an income.
The feudal form of government also ensured that the society had enough means both financially and human resources necessary to protect itself militarily from external attacks and aggression from enemies. Without this system, the stability of society would not be guaranteed as enemies waged wars for conquest and plunder of other nation's resources.
Despite its several advantages, feudalism had its inherent disadvantages as well. These glaring effects of feudalism were mostly born by the poor and peasants of the society as hardships made them more vulnerable. One such drawback was the division of society between the rich and the poor hence the propagation of social strife and income inequalities. The monarchs and lords waged absolute power and ownership of a country's natural resources and the means to production while the peasant farmers only engaged their labour for small pay.
Over taxation was the other undoing of a feudal system. The ruling aristocrats had to be supported to finance their administrative duties through taxation. Vassals and peasants had to pay hefty taxes to the government from their production activities to cater for road and bridge construction, construction of churches, forts and temples as well as to finance wars. Peasant farmers were required to pay tithe to churches religiously. The tithe was 10% of the peasants earning from the farm. They also had to pay land rates to their lords.
To add on the above disadvantage, feudalism propagated injustice and unfairness among the poor in society. The vassals looked down upon the peasants with little regard to their human rights and freedoms. Peasants forfeited their privileges and comforts to keep their homes and bring up their families. Administrative and legal justice became elusive. The lords and churches became the decision-makers in legal disputes and often favoured their respective classes.
With the advent of globalization and industrialization, feudalism became less relevant to peasants as individuals from the lower caste migrated to emerging towns and villages in England where they could provide labour in industries and other urban establishments and receive decent wages. Besides, the peasants were allowed to buy their freedom and own resources such as land and houses, generally granting them a better lifestyle than what the feudal system offered.
Constant wars also orchestrated the collapse of the eventual collapse of the feudal system of governance. The taxes collected were channelled towards sustaining prolonged wars financially as the cost of equipment and keeping soldiers at war soared. This led to dwindling welfare of feudal societies as the taxes were diverted from optimizing their welfare through better services.
In conclusion, the feudal system was socially balanced but economically and legally imbalanced. Socially, the system recognized every cadre of individual in society and granted them some form of social protection by laying down the structure of engagement between lords and peasants and accompanying fines in times of violations of contract. However, the system was economically imbalanced as it gave greater economic power to monarchs and lords who collected rent from poor peasants without guaranteeing the peasants optimal utilization of their tax money. In essence, power lied with the monarchs as they held onto immense resources, had final say on expenditure of finances and made final and binding decisions that committed everyone to war or peace. The upper classes also dispensed judgments with inclination towards their clout. The unfairness and lack of good and fair land tenure system coupled with an agricultural based economy favoring the aristocrats majorly contributed to the decline and eventual death of feudalism.
