Feudalism

A detailed Summary of Feudalism


Feudalism is the system of governing whereby semiautonomous nobility have certain responsibilities to the king, in return for the use of grants of land, known as fiefs, in which semi-free peasants, known as serfs, are employed to labor the land.

As the Roman Empire crumbled, emperors granted land to nobles in exchange for their loyalty. These lands eventually developed into manors. A manor is the land owned by a noble and everything on it. A typical manor consisted of a castle, small village, and farmland.

A definite class system existed in these medieval communities. Also, these early feudal states were self-sufficient, trading little with outsiders. Eventually though, smaller villages grew together increasingly. Nobles would combine forces to wage war and acquire larger kingdoms. Often these leaders wo


Feudalism came to be initially a system of local defense against the constant dangers and uncertainties of a rather primitive existence in northern Europe after the relative order of the Roman Empire disappeared. Charles Martel first started granting estates for military service in the eighth century. Europe was being invaded by a large Muslim army which came from Spain and Martel could not have gathered a strong enough fighting force without giving the fighters something substantial in exchange for their service. He had to give them either land or the right to use land for their own purposes.

During the Middle Ages, peasants could no longer count on the Roman army to protect them. German, Viking and Magyar tribes overran homes and farms throughout Europe. The peasants turned to the landowners, often called l

Some common words found in the essay are:
Roman Empire, Spain Martel, Ages Life, Vikings Hungarians, Viking Magyar, , Charles Martel, Middle Ages, fighting force, roman empire, middle ages,

Approximate Word count = 550
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History

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