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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, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structuring society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.
A key distinction between Anglo-Saxon and Norman feudalism was that the former relied on traditional Germanic ties between the king and his nobles, rather than the structured, hierarchical model influenced by the Franks and employed by the Normans. By 1066, England consisted of a patchwork of lands owned by thegns and ealdormen.
It was total relinquishment and transfer of all rights of ownership of an estate in land from one individual to another. [ citation needed ] In feudal England a feoffment could only be made of a fee (or "fief"), which is an estate in land , that is to say an ownership of rights over land, rather than ownership of the land itself, the only true ...
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.
Under feudalism the king, through his vassals, provided land to knights for their support. The knights owed the king military service in return. The knights owed the king military service in return. The knights were allowed to "buy out" of the military service by paying scutage (a term derived from Latin scutum , " shield ").
The Normans introduced feudalism, which created stronger and multi-generational ties between lords and vassals and became the basis of English land law. William the Conqueror claimed ownership of all land in England, [note 1] making all Englishmen directly or indirectly tenants of the Crown.
In post-classical history, an affinity was a collective name for the group of (usually) men whom a lord gathered around himself in his service; it has been described by one modern historian as "the servants, retainers, and other followers of a lord", [1] and as "part of the normal fabric of society". [2]