Feudalism In The Middle Ages

Land is Money is Power is History

One hundred years from now, historians will look back at the 2000s and try to make sense of what happened today. The good historians will quickly find what happened and move on to why it did. History should be more than a list of events and dates. History is made up of patterns, and more importantly, people making choices. Understanding history is understanding why people make the choices they do. Those choices often are made to try to gain or keep power, often through economic means. The job description of a feudal lord was to control all they could. The American Revolution, a symbol of patriotism and freedom, was begun for economic reasons. As soon as it seemed they might lose it, whites fought ruthlessly

Under feudalism, a small group of elites had control over the majority of the population. The serfs, or peasants were tied to both the land they were born on and their position in life as a way of ensuring that society was kept immobile and divided. Feudalism in Europe was a land based system, and since the serfs did not technically own their own land, they had no power. In fact, the word “serf” comes from the Latin “servus” which translates as “slave”. Feudalism demonstrates the Marxist idea of two socioeconomic classes, one with power, and one without it. The struggle for power began with the introduction of trade. As trade became more essential, people began to move out of their lord’s control into merchant run towns. In addition to these subtle changes came the more violent Peasants’ Revolt in 14th century England. Serfs began to try to seize power from their erstwhile lords to even the playing field. Powerless members of society attempting to seize power from the elite is a marker of Marxism. By viewing feudalism with the Marxist theory of history, a historian can track both the balance of power and speculate more accurately as to why groups of people made the choices they

In 1767, the English Parliament passed the Townshend Acts. These were a series of taxes on indispensable items like paper, glass and tea. American colonists were outraged. This outrage had been stewing for some time, beginning with the Navigation Acts which restricted trade for British colonists. These acts reflected the principle of mercantilism and allowed Britain to prosper at the expense of her American colonies. The sentiment in the colonies, however, was that all this was supremely unfair. Britain held economic power, and the Americans wanted it. Although the Revolution may have become a struggle for general liberty, it was first and foremost about economic liberty. The colonists had no economic power so they fought to gain it. Marxism dictates that classes without money constantly try to get it. The Marxist theory explains why colonists only were angry about being under the thumb of Great Britain once they realized that they could prosper much more without her pesky taxes and