The term „feudal society”, as defined by Marc Bloch,[10] offers a broader definition than that of Ganshof and includes, within the feudal structure, not only the warrior aristocracy, bound by vassalism, but also the peasantry bound by landed property and church property. Thus, the feudal order embraced society from top to bottom, although the „powerful and well-differentiated social group of the urban classes” occupied an independent position outside the classical feudal hierarchy. A feudal system (also known as feudalism) is a type of social and political system in which landowners provide land to tenants in exchange for loyalty and service. As part of the feudal contract, the lord promised to protect the vassal and provided him with a plot of land. This land could be passed on to the vassal`s heirs, with the vassal owning the land. The vassal was also endowed with the power to rent land profitably to others, a practice known as sub-infeudation. The whole agreement was called a fief, and a lord`s collection of fiefs was called a fief. Too many models of feudalism used for comparisons, even by Marxists, are still built on the basis of the 16th century or contain what must certainly be superficial or irrelevant features from a Marxist point of view. Even if one limits oneself to Europe and feudalism in the strict sense, it is highly doubtful whether feudal-vassal institutions formed a coherent bundle of institutions or concepts structurally separate from the other institutions and concepts of the time. [48] At the end of the praise ceremony, the lord and vassal were in a feudal relationship with agreed obligations to each other. The vassal`s main obligation to the Lord was „help” or military service. With whatever equipment the vassal could obtain from the revenues of the fief, the vassal was responsible for answering calls for military service in the name of the Lord. This security of military aid was the main reason the Lord entered into the feudal relationship.

In addition, the vassal could have other obligations to his master, such as being present at his court, whether majestic, baronic, both called court barons, or at the king`s court. [29] Adam Smith used the term „feudal system” to describe a social and economic system defined by inherited social ranks, each possessing inherent social and economic privileges and duties. In such a system, wealth came from agriculture, which was not ordered according to market forces, but on the basis of the usual labor services, which serfs owed to noble landowners. [42] Other circumstances also contributed to the decline of feudalism. Over time, the power of organized religion increased and religious leaders pushed to be freed from their service to lords and kings. At the same time, the development of economic wealth above ground has led to the rise of a bourgeoisie or middle class. The middle class founded independent cities in Europe that financed their militaries with taxes, not land-based feudal loans. Royal rulers and cities began to form parliamentary governments that made laws to replace the various rules associated with feudal bonding, and feudal courts lost jurisdiction to royal or municipal courts. By the fourteenth century, the particular arrangement known as feudalism was obsolete.

The feudal system developed in Europe when the decline of the Roman Empire led to a fragmentation of power, which allowed wealthy landowners to strengthen their control over the people living on their land. But they didn`t call it a feudal system at the time. The term feudal system was introduced much later, in the 1700s, by scholars studying the complex legal and political relationships of the Middle Ages. August 4, 1789 – The French National Assembly „completely abolishes the feudal system”. The term feudalism has also been applied – often inappropriately or pejoratively – to non-Western societies in which institutions and attitudes similar to those that existed in medieval Europe are perceived to be predominant. [14] Some historians and political theorists believe that the term feudalism has been stripped of its specific meaning by the many ways in which it has been used, prompting them to dismiss it as a useful concept for understanding society. [4] [5] Feudalism in its various forms was mainly born out of the decentralization of an empire: especially in the Carolingian Empire in the 8th century AD, which lacked the bureaucratic infrastructure to support the cavalry without allocating land to these mounted troops. Mounted soldiers began to secure a system of hereditary domination over the lands assigned to them, and their power over the territory included the social, political, judicial, and economic spheres. [27] Before feudalism, the European population consisted only of rich nobles and poor peasants. There was little incentive for personal loyalty to sovereign rulers. The land belonged directly to the nobility, and those who considered the land as lords kept it pure according to the will of the lords. Nevertheless, similar systems preceded the feudal framework, so its exact origin is disputed by scholars.

The ancient Romans and Germanic tribes in the eighth century gave land to warriors, but unlike land grants under feudalism, these were not hereditary. François-Louis Ganshof`s classical version of feudalism[4][3] describes a series of mutual legal and military obligations that existed under the warrior nobility and revolved around the three key concepts of lords, vassals, and fiefdoms. Basically, a lord was a nobleman who owned land, a vassal was a person to whom the lord granted possession of the land, and the land was called a fief. In exchange for the use of the fief and the protection of the lord, the vassal would render a kind of service to the lord. There were many types of feudal land ownership, including military and non-military service. The corresponding duties and rights between lord and vassal in relation to the fief form the basis of the feudal relationship. [3] The term feudal system is often used much more generally in political rhetoric to refer to an obsolete and exploitative system of government. This usage may or may not refer to relationships that do not resemble historical feudal systems. What is the central characteristic of a feudal system? In the seventeenth century, more than three centuries after the death of this particular social practice, English scholars began to use the term feudalism to describe it.

The word was derived by English scholars from foedum, the Latin form of fief. The meaning of feudalism has expanded since the seventeenth century and today generally describes servitude and hierarchical oppression. Feudalism, however, is best understood as a first step in social progress leading to private ownership of land and the creation of various property or land interests. The relationships that made up the feudal system can be represented in a pyramidal hierarchy, as this chart shows. Even when the original feudal relations had disappeared, there were many institutional remnants of feudalism.