Feudal Europe

In western Europe, land was distributed by the king to his subjects in return for service. This arrangement, known as feudalism, lasted from the 700s to the 1300s.

In the feudal ‘system’, the king was at the top of the chain and the poor were at the bottom. In the middle were lords, churchmen, merchants and craftworkers in towns. The king and the noblemen (lords and barons) granted land to people lower down the feudal chain who, in turn, worked and fought for them. The people who worked and fought for their lord were called vassals. In return, the lord protected his vassals against attack from other countries or lords from another region.

Vassals had to supply soldiers to their lord or king on a certain number of days. This was usually for 40 days each year. The vassals also had to pay taxes, which could be in the form of money, farm produce or goods. Any vassal who refused to pay these taxes would have his land taken from him.

Feudalism first developed among the Franks. It was based on the traditional idea that a strong leader should protect and reward followers for their loyalty. Alongside this military arrangement was the farming system based around the manor.

Poor peasant farmers worked on manors, which were large areas of land held by a lord or knight. Peasants could own a small plot of land, but in return for this, they also had to work the lord’s land.

During the early part of the Middle Ages, feudalism strengthened as kings granted more land to their knights, the warriors on whose loyalty and fighting skills they depended. However, the system began to fall apart in the 1200s, when people began using money more, and preferred to pay rent for land rather than be bound by service. The importance of knights and their castles began to lessen in the 1300s, when gunpowder changed the nature of warfare. New cannons could destroy a castle’s defences easily. In the meantime, other new weapons, such as the crossbow, could pierce a knight’s armour, diminishing his importance on the battlefield.

The disaster of the Black Death further weakened the system. The loss of so many peasant workers to the disease meant that those who survived were in great demand for their work. They could bargain for better conditions, knowing that the lords could not afford to lose their service.

DOMESDAY BOOK

The Domesday (Doomsday) Book was a survey of England made on the orders of William the Conqueror in 1085. Commissioners took details of who owned what land and how many people lived in each village. Most old English villages and towns are listed.