Feudal Europe

"Feudal Europe", "European feudalism" or "feudalism"

European feudalism overview

• largely from the 9th to 15th centuries
  • not a uniform system across place and time
  • for example, feudalism arose in England after the Norman invasion of 1066, but it existed in France since the AD 800s
• generally, a system of shared power between and among a hierarchy of authorities
  • as in, knights, lords, vassals
  • can be thought of as "chains" of allegiances and duties and obligations
• feudal systems are an important contributing origin to today's parliamentary governments in Europe

Etymology & vocabulary of feudalism

Etymology

• the noun "feudalism" is a modern invention (18th century)
  • Adam Smith discusses the "feudal system" in his "Wealth of Nations"
• during the "feudal" period, people did not refer to themselves as living under feudalism
  • the word "feudal" may have been used, but as an adjective not a noun
• "feudalism" is unrelated to the word, "feud"
  • "feud" is from Old English, "gefea" or "gefa" which means "enemy" or "foe"
  • however, "feud" is easy for students to remember "feudalism" in terms of a system of allies and enemies
• "feudalism" is directly derived from the Latin feodum for "fief"
  • "fief" = a grant (something given), usually land, in exchange for service
• Proto-Indo-European word origin = "peku" for cattle
  • Latin "pecus",
  • Old German, "fehu", Old English "feoh"
    • these languages shifted "P" to "F", as in the Latin "pater" > to English "father"
  • see Indo-European word origins
• the Roman term "beneficium" (for a grant of land or rights; see "Origins" section below)
  • starting in AD 984, Medieval writers began to use Latin "feudum" instead of "beneficium" in reference to grants
• in the Medieval system, property could be used as a form of exchange instead of money or gold
  • thus the ancient word for cattle, "pecu", which became in Frankish, "fehu", was used with "od" which meant "goods"
  • fehu-od" = an exchange or payment with property instead of money
    • cattle, horses, clothing, arms, etc.
    • which became "feos"
• so "feudalism" is derived from the exchange of goods and services

Vocabulary

• the primary words of feudalism are "fief," "lord" and "vassal"
  • fief = land or rights granted to a "vassal" by an overlord (higher rank), generally heritable (passed on by hereditary birth)
  • lord = a person holding authority over certain people and places
    • in England, the word "lord" became the title "Lord" (as in the House of Lords in Parliament)
• vassal = a person who owes allegiance, duty, taxes, and homage (an oath of submission and/or a public respect) to another person of higher rank
  • vassals were generally knights, who acquired their own fiefs with peasants to work the land for them
  • "vassal" comes from Celtic for "young boy" or "servant"
    • the Romans adopted the word from Celtic and called it vassal, which became valet in French
• other related terms
  • chivalry
    • the code of conduct of knights and their sense of honor
    • from the French, "cheval" for "horse, giving us the words chivalry and chevalier
  • clergy
  • court/ courtly manners
  • fealty
    • for "in fee" which means what is due to the lord in exchange for a grant (usually of land but also of offices, trade rights, etc.) to a vassal
  • knight
    • English term for a person granted a title, in the feudal context, for warfare
    • from Old English, "cniht" which originally meant "boy" or "servant" (the "hard c" was pronounces, thus "k-n-icht"
    • "knight" and its present meaning and pronunciation was introduced into English after the Norman Invasion of 1066 AD
    • so the importance of a knight is not just the military ability but the title and fealty
  • manor
  • serf/ serfdom

Origins

Ancient Roman "beneficium"

• in exchange for some service, the Romans would grant a beneficium, which was a property, title or privilege
  • the words "benefit" and "beneficial" a derived from beneficium
• a precaria was a temporary land grant that had few obligations
  • for example, to give someone land that needed to be cleared for farming
  • ownership of the precaria would revert to the landlord upon death of the tenant
  • since the obligations were loose, the precaria was not a secure grant, thus the word "precarious", which means "uncertain" or "dangerous"
  • tenant = someone who lives on land owned by someone else

Frankish kingdoms of France, 481-843 AD

• also known as "Francia," "Kingdom of the Franks", or "Frankish Empire"
  • Frankish kingdoms were the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties
    • Franks were Germanic tribes which ruled much of Europe, centered around modern France, following the collapse of the Roman Empire
• under Charles Martel ("Charles the Hammer") land grants became a dominant form of alliance building
• the practice developed into feudalism under the subsequent Frankish kingdoms starting in the AD 800s
  • as result of extensive conquests that required hierarchical control
• however, with the collapse of the Frankish Empire in 843,following Charlemagne's death
  • the empire was divided into three main kingdoms
  • the Capetian Dynasty arose in 987 (by Hugh Capet)
  • maintained control over France by sharing power with local lords

From stirrups to knights

• prior to the 800s AD, Frankish elites and rulers rode to battle by horseback, but fought on the ground
  • Charles Martel is often depicted fighting on horseback, but his army was infantry with tactics specifically designed to defeat the lightly armored Umayyad calvary at the Battle of Tours in 732
• into the 700s, the Franks adopted the stirrup, which enabled development of "heavy calvary" capable of fighting on horseback
  • the stirrup enabled the rider to wield swords and other weapons (lances were enabled by advances in saddles but their development followed skills and tactics developed using stirrups)
• early armor was chain mail (linked wires to protect against slashes and punctures)
• into the late 1300s, knights added "plate armor" over their chain mail and, later, for their horses, for additional protection and power
  • development of the crossbow and lances made chain mail alone ineffective
  • thus the prototypical horse-mounted, "armored knight," which was the equivalent of a modern tank, did not arise until the late feudal period

From knights to feudalism

• equipment and horses of the knights were very expensive and required extensive training, thus created an elite status for knights
• knights began to take on not just military but social, economic and political power
• local lords began the practice of granting land to knights in exchange for military service and allegiance
• as knights gained power, wealth, and property, they employed peasants to manage their lands and farms
  • these properties were known as "fiefs"
• knights were especially useful to kings because, due to their effectiveness, they negated the need for a "standing" (permanent, professional) army
  • until the 1400s, French armies were made up of off-season farmers who could only fight outside of their agricultural duties
    • farmers made up 80+% of Medieval European populations
  • the first professional army in England was organized under Oliver Cromwell in 1645 during the English Civil War with the "New Model Army" (see US History outline#Charles Cromwell)

Agricultural Revolution

• several technologies and agricultural practices led to a tremendous increase in crop yields in Europe starting around AD 900
  • which led to population increases
  • which led to growth of feudal manors
• "three field" system (see Manor system for more) yielded more crops
• iron technologies
  • iron horse collars and shoes made them more effective
  • iron plows
• these skills all contributed to efficient and expert development of weapons of war for knights

Summary Questions

• How was feudalism a response to social, economic, and political collapse?
• How does the "manor system" relate to feudalism?
• Why was there no major plague under feudalism?
• How is it that feudalism is orderly but does not bring unity?
• How did the feudal system bring order to medieval Europe?
• How did Europe come out of feudalism and develop trade?
• What is the lasting impact of feudalism on modern Europe?