Feudalism

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Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, and cultural customs that flourished in Middle Ages between the 7th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structuring society around relationships that were derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labor. Although it is derived from the Latin word feodum or feudum (fief),[1] which was used during the Medieval period, the term feudalism and the system which it describe were not conceived of as a formal political system by the people who lived during the Middle Ages.[2] The classic definition, by François Louis Ganshof (1944),[3] describes a set of reciprocal legal and Medieval warfare and military obligations which existed among the warrior nobility and revolved around the three key concepts of lords, vassals, and fiefs.[3]

A broader definition of feudalism, as described by Marc Bloch, includes not only the obligations of the warrior nobility but the obligations of all three estates of the realm: the nobility, the clergy, and the peasantry, all of whom were bound by a system of manorialism; this is sometimes referred to as a "Feudal society". Since the publication of Elizabeth A. R. Brown's "The Tyranny of a Construct" (1974) and Susan Reynolds's Fiefs and Vassals (1994), there has been ongoing inconclusive discussion among medieval historians as to whether feudalism is a useful construct for understanding medieval society.[4][5][6][7]

Definition

There is no commonly accepted modern definition of feudalism, at least among scholars. But like art, we know it when we see it.[4][5] The adjective feudal was in use by at least 1405, and the noun feudalism, now often employed in a political and propagandist context, was coined by 1771,[4] paralleling the French.

Outside its European context,[4] the concept of feudalism is often used by analogy, most often in discussions of Japan under the shoguns,[8] which had some feudal characteristics (sometimes called "semifeudal").[9][10] Some have taken the feudalism analogy further, seeing feudalism (or traces of it) in places as diverse as China during the Spring and Autumn period (771-476 BC), ancient Egypt, the Parthian Empire[8]

The term feudalism has also been applied, often pejoratively, to non-Western societies where institutions and attitudes which are similar to those which existed in medieval Europe are perceived to prevail.[11] Some historians and political theorists believe that the term feudalism, like the word 'fascism", has been deprived of specific meaning by the many ways it has been used, leading them to reject it as a useful concept for understanding society.[4]

The applicability of the term feudalism has also been questioned in the context of some Central and Eastern European countries, such as Poland and Lithuania, with scholars observing that the medieval political and economic structure of those countries bears some, but not all, resemblances to the Western European societies commonly described as feudal.[12][13][14][15]

Etymology

The root of the term "feudal" originates in Latin. The term "féodal" was first used in 17th-century French legal treatises (1614)[16][17] and translated into English legal treatises as an adjective, such as "feodal government".


The term "feudal" or "feodal" is derived from the Latin word "feodum". The etymology of "feodum" is complex with multiple theories, some suggesting a Germanic origin (the most widely held view) and others suggesting an Arabic origin. Initially in medieval Latin European documents, a land grant in exchange for service was called a beneficium (Latin).[18]

External links

References

  1. ↑ feodum – see The Cyclopedic Dictionary of Law, by Walter A. Shumaker, George Foster Longsdorf, pg. 365, 1901.
  2. ↑ Noble, Thomas (2002). The Foundations of Western Civilization. Chantilly, VA: The Teaching Company. ISBN 978-1565856370
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 François Louis Ganshof (1944). Qu'est-ce que la féodalité. Translated into English by Philip Grierson as Feudalism, with a foreword by F. M. Stenton, 1st ed.: New York and London, 1952; 2nd ed: 1961; 3rd ed.: 1976.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 "Feudalism", by Elizabeth A. R. Brown. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Feudalism?", by Paul Halsall. Internet Medieval Sourcebook.
  6. ↑ "The Problem of Feudalism: An Historiographical Essay", by Robert Harbison, 1996, Western Kentucky University.
  7. ↑ Charles West, Reframing the Feudal Revolution: Political and Social Transformation Between Marne and Moselle, c. 800–c. 1100 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013).
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Jessee, W. Scott. Feudalism. Houghton Mifflin Company.
  9. ↑ Semifedual. Webster's Dictionary. “"having some characteristics of feudalism"”
  10. ↑ L. SHelton Woods (2002). Vietnam: A Global Studies Handbook. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781576074169
  11. ↑ http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/feudal-government-alive-and-well-in-tonga/2007/10/16/1192300767418.html
  12. ↑ Dygo, Marian (2013). "Czy istniał feudalizm w Europie Środkowo-Wschodniej w średniowieczu?" (in PL). Kwartalnik Historyczny 120 (4): 667. doi:10.12775/KH.2013.120.4.01. ISSN 0023-5903. http://yadda.icm.edu.pl/yadda/element/bwmeta1.element.ojs-doi-10_12775_KH_2013_120_4_01. 
  13. ↑ Skwarczyński, P. (1956). "The Problem of Feudalism in Poland up to the Beginning of the 16th Century". The Slavonic and East European Review 34 (83): 292–310. ISSN 0037-6795. JSTOR 4204744. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4204744. 
  14. ↑ Backus, Oswald P. (1962). "The Problem of Feudalism in Lithuania, 1506-1548". Slavic Review 21 (4): 639–659. doi:10.2307/3000579. ISSN 0037-6779. JSTOR 3000579. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3000579. 
  15. ↑ Davies, Norman (2005). God's Playground A History of Poland: Volume 1: The Origins to 1795 (en) pp. 165–166 OUP Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-925339-5
  16. ↑ {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=encyclopaedia }}
  17. ↑ Cantor, Norman F. (1994). The Civilization of the Middle Ages. ISBN 9780060170332
  18. ↑ Meir Lubetski (ed.). Boundaries of the ancient Near Eastern world: a tribute to Cyrus H. Gordon. "Notices on Pe'ah, Fay' and Feudum" by Alauddin Samarrai. Pg. 248–250, Continuum International Publishing Group, 1998.
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