Feudalism: A System of Contracts and Power

Feudalism is the political structure that rose after the fall of the Carolingian empire. The political structure is largely based on the personal contracts between individuals and not between individuals and the government. The system is based on the fact that the premise of land is the basis of all wealth. In return for land, a person owes personal service, which is usually military or financial. The one in charge, the lord, offers protection and land. Contracts are between the lords and their vassals. The feudal system and the way it was structured only worked within the upper classes. For example, you could either be a king or a lord, but also be a vassal to those in higher power than you while also being a suzerain to a knight. The land

that a vassal received was known a fief and it usually contained a few small farming villages. A person could be a vassal to many lords, and it turn, this caused constant war, however, the battles remained small.
Manorialism was considered the economic system at the time and it helped support the feudal system. It was based largely on agriculture. The vast majority of the population were involved in the economic system whereas the vast majority of the population were not involved in the political system. The population was made up of peasantry who farmed either manors or estates as serfs for their lords. A serf is a semi-free person. They aren’t a slave, but they still work for their lords. Every lord owns at least one manor, but some own hundreds. A standard manor consisted of a manor, a church, a mill, service shops, a bakery, peasant homes, pastures, woodlands, wastelands, fields, one fallow, and a common land shared by serfs. The land lord doesn’t always administer his own estates, but he hires a steward or bailiff who oversees the fief. A reeve or shire is also hired to represent the peasants before the lord officials. The manor is a way of income for the lords while it’s the means of life for everyone who works on the manor.
Chivalry refers to both the code of ethics and it also serves as a course of training for fighters.

The word chivalry comes from the French word “chival,” which means horses and “chevalier,” which means horsemen. This means that chivalry refers to the class that owns horses; the nobility. It does not extend to the masses. Some of the rules that the knights had to follow were: a knight was to be faithful to his lord and honor his vows, he was to be champion of the church, be generous, courteous, and reverent toward women. At the age of seven, a boy became a page during which time he learned manners and the basic use of weapons. In the boys early teens, he would become known as a squire, a knight’s assistant, who after proving himself in battle, would then become a knight. The ceremony of becoming a knight included the accolade, which is a stroke on the shoulder or back with the flat of the blade. Hospitality was considered a virtue and banquets played a major part in their lives. The people also overindulged in food. Homes were not seen as comfortable places. They were usually cold, damp, sparcely furnished, dark, and dirty. There was little romance in the marriages. Wives were seen as a way of money. They were supposed to either bring in inherited money of a dowry and they were to bear a son. Men liked to hunt or have mock battles, which we use the term jousting. Another way of life was the feudal justice system. It was like a law. The accuser doesn’t have to state why he

accused said person, but said person is supposed to prove their own innocence by trial by battle, an oath, or an ordeal. They believed that God would protect the innocent party. Life was seen as rough in this time period.