Definition Of Feudalism
Feudalism is not an easy term to define. The use of the word feudalism was
not a term that is created by scholars in the seventeenth century, well after
the medieval age. Thus the term is filled with confusion and inaccuracy. In a
way, the term feudalism tries to condense all the aspects of a complex society
into one term. By creating the term, scholars tried to condense the society into
connections to the feud, or estate granted to “vassus” by lords. The terms
vassus and lord meant different things to different groups of peoples in
different areas and during different times. Thus it is hard define precisely
what feudalism is. Scholars however have two differing descriptions about how to
view feudalism. In one view, that of Marc Bloch, viewed feudalism as the
complete society, political, military, social, and economic. He saw all of these
issues centering around lordship. Karl Marx also took this perspective with one
major difference; he centered on peasants. Marxism’s main emphasis is that of
the plight of the worker thus in his view of feudalism only the peasants
contributed to society. In another major view, feudalism is largely a political
term. The political power in feudalism, these individuals claim, was treated as
an individual possession and held by those who owned the land. Thus the
government was ruled by the lords and royal officials who ruled over their land.
Under the lords were their “bodyguards” or knights. Below these knights were the
retainers or vassals. Just as there is confusion over the precise definition of
feudalism, there is confusion over its origins. Some scholars claim that with
the invention of the stirrup, the bodyguards or retainers became more important.
Those that were trained in using the stirrup to spear his enemy became valuable
to the lords, who made these men take oaths of allegiance to them. This started
the dependency of the lower class on the aristocratic lords. In the more widely
held, modern view, Martel purchased the loyalty of subjects with land or other
wealth. These retainers became the vassals. These vassals were not members of
the nobility and thus could not rule. The ruling counts were below kings in
early feudalism, however when the kings failed to protect, the counts stepped in
and protected their people for a price, that of subservience. In this sense
feudalism takes on a form of government, the vassals and retainers making up the
lower class and the counts making up the aristocracy. In analyzing the reading,
it appears the feudalism was a source of order in Europe. In a time of civil war
and danger from barbarian invaders, feudalism provided protection and a way of
life to the peasants of Europe. While peasants were, from a modern view, owned
by the lords, in the sense that they were indebted to the lords, the peasants
were willing to sacrifice complete freedom for the protection. The direct
influence of this way of life on the peasants was that they were protected by
and indebted to the lords. The lords became their rulers as opposed to the
kings.
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