Throughout the history of humans, we have created numerous ways of governing one another and creating order in a society; one method, called feudalism, caused more harm than good during its course in time, most well known to have occurred in England. Feudalistic governing lasted far longer than was necessary for England, and as an effect, many citizens experienced suffering and unfair treatment. While some may believe that this time period was necessary in furthering the growth of England, the negative effects far outweigh the benefits.
Feudalism was first brought to England by an invading duke called William I, who defeated King Harold in the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and took England's throne for himself. Upon seizing control of the country,
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He chose to divide the land into smaller counties, which he then gave control over to noblemen who had honored him in some fashion. These noblemen then broke their land into even smaller pieces, which were given to knights who had performed well in battle. Through this web of shared leadership, William I kept control over the country of England. However, this form of leadership put great pressure on lower-tier barons, and on peasants, who had no say in their well-beings. Any baron noble who did not perform their task well enough could easily be replaced, and completely lose their way of living and noble class. Many barons of single counties would fall to selfish ways of …show more content…
While this period did fall away to the growth of money-based governments, this time period caused the sufferings of many lower class English people. During this form of government, the only members who truly benefited were those at the top of the social class; the King and his closest noblemen. These noblemen had control over large swatches of land, maintained standing armies, and were sustained on the taxes of peasants and surfs, whose hard-earned resources and food were channeled upwards through the ranks to the King. This left a brutal toll on lower-classes while upper-class nobles lived in luxury. This form of government first began to decline in the 1340's, after the event of the Black Death had left England with only 1/3 of its original population still living. This sudden and violent disruption to the order of England caused a scramble to fill positions left by those who passed away, and the governing structure began to crumble. By 1660, feudalism had been formally abolished with the Tenures Abolition
So the peasants were extremely poor at that time. After the Black Death, population decreased, serfs and peasants were able to move around and they had much more freedom than before. They were no longer belong to the lord, and had choices of who they would work for. Most peasants chose to work for high paid jobs. The landowners, in order to attract people to work for them, provided the workers tools, housing and land. “The worker farmed all he could and paid only the rent.” The better treatment of serfs weakened the manorialism, as well as the decline of nobles.The plague killed so many people, and even nobles could not escape. The wealthy families were incapable of continuing growing, because their descendants died. So their position could not be passed on. Many families extinct. To fix this problem, the government setted up a new inheritance law which allowed both sons and daughter inherited property.
There was a hierarchy of people with feudalism. At the top were powerful lords who split their lands amongst lesser lords. These lords were called vassals If someone was a vassal to a powerful lord, that meant they would pledge his service and loyalty to the more powerful lord. Once this pledge was completed, the powerful lord would grant an estate to the vassal. These estates were called fiefs. .
The Feudal System was introduced to England following the invasion and conquest of the country. The system had been used in France by the Normans from the time they first settled there in about 900AD. It was a simple, but effective system, where all land was owned by the King. One quarter was kept by the King as his personal property, some was given to the church and the rest was leased out under strict controls.
The rise of feudalism in Europe has also been debated about by historians. A feudal society may have formed in the later Merovingian dynasty where a variety of capitularies slowly made the peasant more reliant, and subservient to his lord. Tho...
October 14th 1066 he and William fought at the famous battle of Hastings. William and his army of Normans came, saw, and conquered. True to his promise to his fellow warriors, William systematically replaced the English nobility with Norman barons and noblemen who took control of the land, the people, and the government.
Feudalism helped large land owners protect their land from Germanic invaders and Vikings. In Feudalism the Nobles promised to help fight the kings enemies. The King gave land to nobles under him. The Nobles were called Vassals of the King and the Vassals fought for their King and other Nobles who were Knights. A serf was someone who farmed the lands and serfs had to pay rent and taxes to nobles. The King gave fiefs that were large land grants to Vassals. Vassals also gave fiefs to Knights and Knights gave protection to serfs. Knights were heavily armed soldiers who rode horsebacks. The manor was isolated. Mostly all of the people in the Feudal system lived on the manor which included the castle, church, village, and the surrounding farm land
All throughout history and even in modern day countries have been structured by a social class system, however sometimes terrible disasters can set off this social balance. The Black Death was an appalling pandemic that swept through Europe killing thousands of medieval Europeans. Feudalism was a social system based on each level giving and getting products and services to keep the medieval society and it’s people alive. All classes during the Black Plague were affected, noble or serf, this caused a monumental power shift and the social classes never to be the same again. With feudalism’s tight social structure, the Black Death in the late 1300s demolished the population and feudal ties in medieval Europe.
Feudalism is a system of land ownership and duties that were used in the Middle Ages. Under feudalism, all the land in a kingdom was the king's. However, the king would give some of his land to the lords or nobles who fought for him. Rulers in all society wanted to create law and order and ensure that people make good use of the society’s resources. That is why feudalism was created. Monarchs had to accept limits on their own personal power. They also needed to respond to expectations that other groups in society have a say in decision-making. People began to use medieval courts for problems that had previously been solved by trial by combat.
Powell wrote, “…the feudal age is most important for the development of Western Europe: this importance lies chiefly in the process of state-building which had its origins here” (Powell 1). The monarch of this feudal society was responsible for state-building, centralization, and maintaining unity. Therefore, the throne was heredity, so that a single family maintained political power throughou...
When you hear of historical figures that “conquered” a certain time period, you think of barbarians, spartans, or other gruesome, battle-tested men. While William I, the King of England and Duke of Normandy, was also nicknamed the “Conqueror”, he achieved success reigning over his time period in very different ways than that of Genghis Khan or Alexander the Great. Regardless of his path to success, William I played a huge part in the religious evolution of England. Using his advantageous leadership position, William I was able to be prosperous for many decades. His illustrious career is historical proof that a country does not need to be overtaken by brute force alone. William the Conqueror was a very commendable leader, and he used his knowledge, leadership, and military prowess to conquer multiple countries for almost the entirety of his life.
The emergence of capitalism in Western Europe was considered as a majority change in human history. As prior to the emergence of capitalism conditions are mainly agriculture and there was no sustained monotonic income per capita. Also prior to the emergence of capitalism there was a feudal system of organising the economy emerged in the 15th century of medieval Europe.
William I first introduced the Feudal System to England. The Normans from the time they settled there had used this system in France. The Feudal System was a simple system where the King owned all lands. The King would decide who he would lease land to. Therefore, only the men who the King could trust were able to lease land from him. Before they were given any land, they had to swear an oath to remain faithful to the king at all times. These men were known as barons.
The feudal system was a political, military, and economic system based on the holding of land. The system was developed since the whole entire basis of rule from all the civilizations before the Middle Ages was lost. Early Europe was in desperate need of such a system since they were constantly being raided by the Vikings and other outsiders.
Feudalism was a set of political and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries (“Feudalism”). “The feudal system was not planned but, rather grew and developed in response to the social chaos that followed the fall of the Western Roman Empire. It provided order where there no longer was any, and it created new chains of command to replace those that were gone” ( James 58). Feudalism was introduced by King William I to England; this system organized power, land, and divided people into classes. The king, who owned all the land, gave some land to the church and to the barons in return for large blocks of land, the barons promised to fight for the king. Lent land to the knights and also common people (Susie 5). Feudalism test was also to defend against invaders (John 32). In the absence of centralized government authority, people look to personal relationships to bind society together. An individual with military power to offer gave his services to a feudal lord (Hay 170). Feudalism was created to put society, land, and power into order. In the economic system, landlords would force laborers to work on the lord’s manor to the lord’s profit (Medieval 65).
Although scholars dispute its roots, Feudalism was mostly seen in Frankish lands around the 9th and 10th century. ("Feudalism: History of Feudalism in Europe." Infoplease.) The system was first introduced as a means of protection for the king. However, as time grew the opportunity to use it as means of exchange for services between the king and vassal was found. Instead of just forcing people into the king’s army the idea of giving fiefs to those who would pledge their life to service the king was decided on. Likewise, vassal, or the knights saw the advantages they had that could be used to their advantage.