Feudalism
At its very base, feudal system was a bond in which people are linked in chain of the mutual obligations to each other. The forms and conditions of the bond were always different regarding time and place, but the object of the bond in feudalism was always the same – exchange land for military service. The first usage of land-military service exchange, which became a foundation for feudalism, was made by Charles Martel (Frankish military and political leader, who defeated Muslims at the Battle of Tours; Charlemagne’s grandfather) in the 8th century. He was the first who came up with an idea to give away land (what he had in abundance) for exchange to his followers for their military service, instead of trying to raise money for the army support. During feudalism, flourishing of communities called manors took place. Manors were usually consisted from lord’s home with barns, mills, churches, and villages for peasants with pastures, and woodlands. Everything was under lord’s security and control. Although in manor everybody was connected in ties of obligations from the lowest title (peasants) to the highest (lord, king), and everyone had explicit commitments to someone else, not everybody had equal obligations. Lord was the superior title in the manor (the only person above the lord was king). The lowest title was peasant, also known as serf. Serfs had obligations to everyone above them, but didn’t have anybody under them. They were semi-free, meaning that they weren’t slaves, but were bounded to the land. In other words, when somebody received that land, he also gained services from the serfs who worked in that land. Serfs’ obligations could be divided on goods and labor. For example they had to give to lord some percentage of goods that they made or received, like milk, eggs, cheese, crops, grain (some kind of taxes). As for labor, peasants had to work some particular amount of time at lord’s own fields. They had to do basically everything that lord would order: plant his crops, build roads, dig ditches, erect walls or buildings, etc. (everything but military service because that was a privilege of the nobility). Serf women had to work as hard as men. They managed all domestic operations, fed animals, and tended vegetable gardens. Also they had to produce clothing and as well as men had to give to lord some part of made material or cloth. Children had some obligations too: as young as 6, they had to take care of younger ones; older children were working with parents in the fields. In exchange for all those services, lord provided mills, churches, large draft animals; also provided protection during war time. The main object that was in the base of feudalism was exchange of land for military services. That exchange was made between lord and nobleman. Nobleman had to swear a solemn oath of fealty (his loyalty to lord). After that nobleman became lord’s vassal and was bounded to him for life without right to withdraw from him. In return for fealty, vassal would receive his fief – sort of payment; usually it was some amount of the land with serfs, which supposed to be enough for vassal to support himself. Vassal could also be a lord for his serfs. Under vassal there were actual soldiers who were loyal only to him and who performed military services – knights. Sometimes vassal was a knight by himself. It was very expensive to maintain a knight. It took around 10 serfs’ families to support one unit. Knights had their own code of performance and ethics called chivalry. Feudalism in total lasted very long time, almost for the whole millennium, varying from place to place and throughout the time. Main reasons for feudalism to fade away were the rise of powerful monarchs, increase of the communication between manors, development of the towns. The strongest forms of feudalism were at France, Germany, and Russia, where they lasted until 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.