Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The classic François Louis Ganshof version of feudalism [4] [1] describes a set of reciprocal legal and military obligations of the warrior nobility based on the key concepts of lords, vassals, and fiefs. In broad terms a lord was a noble who held land, a vassal was a person granted possession of the land by the lord, and the land was known as ...
Feudalism as practiced in the Kingdoms of England during the medieval period was a state of human society that organized political and military leadership and force around a stratified formal structure based on land tenure.
Feudalism in Europe emerged in the Early Middle Ages, based on Roman clientship and the Germanic social hierarchy of lords and retainers. It obliged the feudatory to render personal services to the lord. These included e.g. holding his stirrup, joining him on festive occasions and service as a cupbearer at the banquet table.
A fief (/ f iː f /; Latin: feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal allegiance, services or payments.
Feudalism in the 12th century Norman England was among the better structured and established in Europe at the time. However, it could be structurally complex, which is illustrated by the example of the feudal barony of Stafford as described in a survey of knight's fees made in 1166 and recorded in The Black Book of the Exchequer.
Feudalism in Italy was influenced by classical traditions and urban communes. The rise of city-states led to conflicts between merchants, nobles, and guilds, resulting in a fragmented political landscape. Feudalism was less prevalent in Italy compared to northern Europe. Feudalism in Spain was shaped by the Reconquista against Muslim rule.
Feudal duties were the set of reciprocal financial, military and legal obligations among the warrior nobility in a feudal system. [1] These duties developed in both Europe and Japan with the decentralisation of empire and due to lack of monetary liquidity, as groups of warriors took over the social, political, judicial, and economic spheres of the territory they controlled. [2]
Over the ages and depending on the region a broad variety of customs did develop based on the same legal principle. [5] [6] The famous Magna Carta for instance was a legal contract based on the medieval system of land tenure. The concept of tenure has since evolved into other forms, such as leases and estates.