TARABA STATE UNIVERSITY

PMB 1167, JALINGO

FACULTY OF ART
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AND DIPLOMATIC
STUDIES

ASSIGNMENT
COURSE CODE: HIS 105
COURSE TITLE: INTRODUCTION TO
ECONOMIC
BY
GROUP (3)
TSU/FART/HS/21/1149 TSU/FART/HS/21/1013
TSU/FART/HS/21/1045 TSU/FART/HS/21/1115
TSU/FART/HS/21/1022 TSU/FART/HS/21/1119
TSU/FART/HS/21/1073 TSU/FART/HS/21/1133
TSU/FART/HS/21/1141 TSU/FART/HS/21/1030
TSU/FART/HS/21/1023 TSU/FART/HS/21/1114
TSU/FART/HS/21/1136 TSU/FART/HS/21/1078
TSU/FART/HS/21/1068

TOPIC:
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 FEUDALISM
INTRODUCTION
Feudalism was a political, economic and social system that flourished in Western Europe
between the 9th and 15th centuries. It had its roots in Germanic and Roman traditions. It was
characterised by a king’s ownership of vast land and the distribution of it to people in
exchange for services. Its two principal institutions were vassalage and the fief. With the rise
of towns and commerce and the decline of local organisation, feudalism gradually broke
down in the continent. However, many of its remnants persist and still influence Western
European institutions.
FEUDALISM
Britannica Dictionary definition of FEUDALISM. [noncount] : a social system that existed in
Europe during the Middle Ages in which people worked and fought for nobles who gave
them protection and the use of land in return.

THE FALL OF THE CARLOLINGIANS

 The Carolingian Empire fell following Charlemagne’s death in 814.

 During the Ninth and tenth centuries Western Europe was beset by a wave of
invasions from different, foreign peoples which added to the disintegration.

THE INVADERS

1. Muslim Saracens attacked the southern coasts of Europe.

2. The Magyars came from western Asia and attacked central Europe.
3. The Vikings came from the north and attacked far and wide, raiding, pillaging,
destroying cities and even defeating small armies.

THE ORIGIN AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF FEUDALISM

 Feudalism was a socio-political and economic system utilised in Western Europe during
the medieval period. It developed as early as the 8th century and flourished between the 9th
and 15th centuries.
 The bond of mutual loyalty between lord and vassal, which formed such an essential part
of medieval feudalism, appears to have derived from the German comitatus described by
Tacitus in 98 CE, the band of free fighting men associated with a prominent leader in an
equal and honourable status.

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 The companions followed their chieftain into battle, having sworn to fight to the death in
support of him. In return, the chieftain looked after their welfare, gave them leadership,
provided food, shelter and entertainment in times of peace.
 The Romans had long known a somewhat similar arrangement, in which clients
commended themselves to a powerful patron, giving personal devotion in return for
subsistence and protection.
 But this involved a definitely inferior status on the part of the client, and it was thus unlike
the honourable relationship of vassalage which became a part of feudalism.
 During the economic and political decay of the later Roman Empire, clientage was often
linked with landholding.
 Small farmers found it impossible to compete with the great estates, and many
commended themselves to powerful landlords, giving up their lands and receiving back the
right of their use under the lords’ protection.
 These relationships probably continued after the use of the Germanic kingdoms on the
ruins of the Roman Empire in the West.
 In a predominantly agrarian economy, rights to land became the basis of wealth and
power.
 The relations of personal dependency between lord and vassal, known as vassalage, was
more and more associated with rights of land, termed the fief.
 An important step towards feudalism was taken by the Frankish king Charles Martel in the
8th century, in creating numerous military fiefs from lands which he took from the Church.


Their holders became his vassals and were thus enabled to support themselves as mounted
and heavily armed fighting men during wars.
 Private jurisdictions developed as the early Frankish rulers gave grants of immunity to
various monasteries and laymen, by which the king’s officials were excluded from their
lands.
 Thus, the lord of the land came to exercise the following public functions:
 Collecting taxes
 Holding court for his tenants and vassals
 Calling out the fighting men
 The processes were accelerated during the break-up of the Carolingian empire in the 9th
century, when men looked in vain to weak central governments for protection and leadership,

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and turned instead to powerful local magnates, becoming their vassals and holding their lands
as fiefs for them.
 The idea of kingship never entirely vanished, but the government and the administration of
justice came to be exercised by various local authorities who had connections with the king.
 The counts and other royal officials took for their own use the lands and authority attached
to their offices, and the great landlords everywhere seized the privileges of immunity.
 The kings acquiesced in this, finding it necessary, in the absence of money to pay salaries,
to give fiefs of lands and revenues, and to try to bind their holders to themselves by homage.
 In turn, the royal vassals and churches with immunities gave part of their lands and
functions to vassals of their own.
 Thus, a process of decentralisation went on by, in which the various powers of the state
were divided among the feudal lords and churches.
 As the central authority became even weaker, the local authorities became practically
independent princes, ruling and dispensing justice, and waging wars with their feudal armies.
 This system extended from France to Spain, Italy, Germany and England. Whilst the
important features of feudalism were similar throughout, there existed definite national
differences.
Features of the feudal system

 Feudalism was characterised by a king’s ownership of vast land and the distribution of it to
people in exchange for services. It was intricately connected with the manorial system but it
proved distinct from the latter. The feudal hierarchy encompassed all social class levels.
 The two principal institutions of feudalism were vassalage and the fief.
 Vassalage was a contractual arrangement between lord and vassal, established by a
ceremony of homage in which the vassal kneeled and placed his hands between the hands of
his lord, and swore to serve him faithfully.
 What did the vassal owe to his lord?
 The vassal owed to his lord loyalty, obedience, aid, counsel and court service.
 The pecuniary aids were due on special occasions, later restricted to the knighting of the
lord’s eldest son, the marriage of his eldest daughter, and the payment of his ransom if he
were taken prisoner.
 The vassal owed military service to his lord, eventually fixed at forty days in the year. He
might have to supply several knights beside himself, according to the amount of land he held.
 This relationship lasted only during the lifetime of both parties.

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 When one of them died, the acts of homage and investiture and the oaths of fealty had to
be renewed.
 When the hereditary principle was supplemented, the son normally succeeded his father as
a vassal of the lord, and received the fief on the same terms, although he was required to pay
a sum of money called relief, in recognition of the fact that the fief belonged to the lord.
 If the new vassal was minor, he became a ward of his lord, who administrated the fief in
his own interests until the boy came of age.
 Heiresses were also wards of the lord until they married, and the lords asserted the right to
choose the husband, who would become their vassals.
 When a vassal died without heirs, the fief reverted to the lord as owner.
 Forfeiture to the lord resulted when the vassal failed to live up to his obligations if the lord
were powerful enough to enforce it.
 Subinfeudation came about as vassals regranted part of their fiefs to men who then owed
allegiance to them rather than to the original lord of the land.
 The consent of the overlord was theoretically required, but in practice, it was difficult to
withhold it.
 This process might go on several times, as the sub-vassals granted fiefs to their men.
 Thus, a chain of landed dependency grew, from the king, who was theoretically lord of all
the land, through the nobles, who were both overlords and vassals at the same time, down to
the simple knight who had a fief and overlord but no vassals of his own.
 However, this development complicated the chain of personal dependence.
 As fiefs became alienable and heritable, it was not long before several were held by one
vassal, who might thus have obligations to several lords.
 In France, an attempt was made to overcome this difficulty by the principle of liege
homage to one lord, which was more binding than homage given to others.
 Even this became confused as vassals came to owe more than one liege homage through
the process of inheritance or otherwise.
 Since there was no real definition of what constituted a breach of the sacred bond between
lord and vassal, it was easy for either to find an excuse to declare it broken.
 Appeal to force was the only remedy, and private war was regarded as a privilege of the
feudal nobles.
 Vassals began to regard their fiefs as hereditary possessions burdened with services and
dues that they continually tried to restrict or evade altogether.

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 As a result, the personal bond of vassalage was weakened. Feudalism, which had served to
hold society together when the central authority almost disappeared, tended to be a system of
organised anarchy.
 Despite efforts of the Church to restrict feudal warfare, little was accomplished until the
royal power had grown strong and the king had become a national sovereign able to enforce
justice, rather than the apex of a contractual system to whom only the great tenants-in-chief
who held their lands for him owed direct allegiance.
 Impact of feudalism
 The feudal system became the basis of the medieval class system.
 Localised groups of communities which owed loyalty to a local lord were created.
 The feudal system enabled medieval kings to become more powerful with an army to raise
in case of war.
Decline of feudalism

 Feudalism declined with the rise of towns and a money economy when land ceased to be
the only important form of wealth. Money enabled feudal lords to pay their sovereign instead
of performing military service. At the same time, with the development of new weaponries
and methods of fighting, the nobles began to lose their position as an exclusive and privileged
military class.
 Battles such as Courtrai, Crécy and Agincourt showed that the day of heavily armed
knights fighting on horseback had passed.
 The feudal system became an anachronism in an age of gunpowder and capitalism.
 The weaknesses of European feudalism became evident by the 13th century, however, the
system of interconnecting feudal obligations remained to be dominant in the continent until at
least the 15th century.
 In England, France and Spain, the royal power advanced at the expense of the nobility.
 England was saved from the absolutism of the other two countries by the cooperation of
the nobles and the other classes, and the development of Parliament for the limitation of the
monarchy.
 But it was first necessary for the Crown to break down local powers and become strong,
by the extension of its law and its machinery of administration, before a limited but efficient
monarchy could evolve.
 Feudalism was abolished in England in 1662.

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 Feudal customs and rights continued to be enshrined in the land laws of many nations
including France, Germany, Austria and Italy until eliminated following the French
Revolution. However, many remnants of feudalism still persist and influence Western
European institutions.
o Invaders posted a threat to the safety of the people, especially in the absence of a strong
central government.
o People began to turn to local landed aristocrats or nobles to protect them.
o This change led to the new political and social system called FEUDALISM.
o At the heart of this system was the idea of vassalage.
o It came from Germanic Society, where warriors swore an oath to their leader.
o Landowners would give pieces of their land to others in exchange for military service.
o Therefore, a man who served a lord militarily was known as a vassal.

FEUDALISM

 The relationship between lord and vassal was made official by a public act of homage of
vassal to the lord.
 Loyalty to one’s lord was feudalism’s chief virtue.
 Feudalism came to be characterized by a set of unwritten rules known as the feudal
contract.
 These rules determined the relationship between lord and vassal.
 The major obligation of a vassal was military service, about 40 days a year.
 The land the lord granted to a vassal was known as a fief.
 Kings had vassals who themselves had vassals who also had vassals.
 Feudalism became extremely complicated.
 Medieval feudal system classifies people into three social groups.
 Those who fight: nobles and knights.
 Those who pray: Monks, nuns, leaders of the church.
 Those who work: peasants.
 Social class is usually inherited; majority of people are peasants.

KNIGHTS

 Almost all nobles were knights. In fact, you had to be a noble just to be a knight.
 Training began at age 7, as a page, under the guidance of the lady of the manor.
 Became squires at age 14-15 and were trained by other knights.
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 Knights were equipped head to toe with reinforced armor.
 Knights were notable for fighting atop a horse but also fought on foot.
 Leather saddle and stirrups enable knights to handle heavy weapons.
- Lance
- Mace
- Broadsword
- Morningstar

In the 700s, mounted knights became the most important part of an army.

As blacksmiths and armorers improved their metalworking skills, they developed plate armor.
The plates provided protection and ease of movement. Each plate covered a different area and
had a specific name, as shown in the drawing. The idea of feudalism worked and for a brief
period of time, the invasions of foreign people ceased.

Trained as warriors but with no adult responsibilities, young knights began to hold
tournaments (mock battles) in the twelfth century. These were contests for knights to show
their fighting skiils. The joust became the main attraction. In the eleventh and twelfth
centuries, under the influence of the Church, an ideal of civilized behavior among the nobility
evolved. It was called chivalry. Knights were to defend the Church and defenseless people,
treat captives as honored guests, and fight for glory and not material rewards.

ECONOMIC DURING FEUDALISM

The number of people almost doubled in Europe between 1000 and 1300, from 38 to 75
million people. One reason is that increased stability and peace enabled food production to
rise dramatically. Food production increased also because a climate change improved
growing conditions and more land was cleared for cultivation.

THE NEW AGRICULTURE

Technological changes also aided farming. Water and wind power began to do jobs once done
by humans or animals. Also, iron was used to make cythes, axes, hoes, saws, hammers, and
nails. Advances such as the carruca, a heavy, wheeled plow with an iron plowshare pulled by
animal teams made farming much easier.

THE MANORIAL SYSTEM

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Medieval landholding nobles were a military elite who needed the time to pursue the arts of
war. Peasants worked the lord’s landed estates on the fiefs of the vassals. The estates provided
the needed economic support for the nobles. These agricultural estates were called manors.
Increasing numbers of free peasants became serfs-peasants legally bound to the land. Serfs
worked the lord’s land, helped maintain the states, paid taxes and rent, and were under the
lord’s control. By 800, probably 60 percent of western Europeans were serfs. Lords had a
variety of legal rights over their serfs. Serfs needed the lord’s permission to marry anyone
outside of the manor and to leave the manor. Often lords had the right to try peasants in their
own courts. Serfs, however, were not slaves. Usually, a serf’s land could not be taken away,
and serfs’ responsibilities were fixed.

LIFE OF THE PEASANT

European peasant life was simple the peasants’ one or two room cottages were built with
wood frames surrounded by sticks with a thatched roof. They were very cramped and there
was little privacy. The seasons largely determined peasant life and work. Harvest time,
August and September, was especially hectic. In October, peasants prepared the ground for
winter planting. November, brought the slaughtering of excess animals because usually there
was not enough food to keep them alive all winter. February and March brought plowing for
spring planting. Summer was a time for lighter work on the estates.

CONCLUSION

Feudalism is an automated economy, society, and government system in which peasants are
subjects of their lords. They have to provide food, clothing, services, and labour in return for
military protection and the right to cultivate their land. Feudalism removes the freedom of
common people. It was a very inefficient way of government because it did not allow
common people to work individually to improve their situation. They were not rewarded for
their hard work. The only change seen in their situation is that they got a little more land to
cultivate.

REFERENCES

1. https://cdn.britannica.com/02/115002-050-C91498DA/Peasants-work-gates-
town-painting-Breviarium-Grimani.jpg

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2. https://cdn.britannica.com/52/130352-050-8B473B8D/Charles-Martel-
armour.jpg
3. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e5/
Hommage_au_Moyen_Age_-_miniature.jpg/800px-
Hommage_au_Moyen_Age_-_miniature.jpg

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