Feudalism

Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for structuring society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour. It is a decentralized sociopolitical structure in which a wea monarchy attempts to control the lands of the realm through reciprocal agreements with regional leaders. !he social and economic system which characterized most European societies in the "iddle #ges goes by the name of feudalism. In its most classic sense, feudalism refers to the "edieval European political system composed of a set of reciprocal legal and military obligations among the warrior nobility, revolving around the three ey concepts of lords, vassals, and fiefs. # lord was a noble who owned land, a vassal was a person who was granted possession of the land by the lord, the land was nown as a fief and the peasant performed physical labour. In exchange for the fief, the vassal would provide military service to the lord and while the vassal performed military service in exchange for the fief, the peasant performed physical labour in return for protection. $oth are a form of feudal relationship. %hile the vassal performed military service in exchange for the fief, !he obligations and relations between lord, vassal and fief are form the basis of feudalism. #dam &mith used the term 'feudal system' to describe a social and economic system defined by inherited social ran s, each of which possessed inherent social and economic privileges and obligations. In such a system wealth derived from agriculture, which was organized not according to mar et forces but on the basis of labor services owed by pesants to landowning nobles. (eudalism, developing in disordered eighth)century (rance, offered aristocratic landowners potential security in the absence of law and order. $y special consideration or usurpation, ma*or landowners assumed substantial legal and governmental power from the central government and proceeded through private arrangements to create local armed forces for defensive purposes. In the late 19th and early +,th centuries, -ohn .orace /ound and (rederic %illiam "aitland, both historians of medieval $ritain, arrived at different conclusions as to the character of English society before the 0orman con1uest in 1,22. /ound argued that the 0ormans had imported feudalism, while "aitland argued that its fundamentals were already in place in $ritain. !he debate continues today. (eudalism evolved its own system of law and code of ethics for its members as it spread throughout Europe to assume a dominant role in the political and cultural history of the "iddle #ges. $y its very nature, it gave rise to a hierarchy of ran , to a predominantly static social structure in which every man new his place, according to whom it was that he owed service and from whom it was that he received his land. !o preserve existing relationships secured, rights of succession to land were strictly controlled by various laws, or customs. (eudal society was characterized by military landholders and wor ing peasants. !he nobility included bishops, for the church was one of the greatest of medieval landowners. 3ntil the rise of powerful monarchies with central administration, it was the lord who was the real ruler of society. $y its nature, (eudalism is anarchism. In the 14th century, writers of the Enlightenment, writers valued reason and the "iddle #ges were viewed as the '5ar #ges'. Enlightenment

authors generally moc ed and ridiculed anything from the '5ar #ges' including feudalism for its exploitation of the lower class people. In the 19th century, 6arl "arx described feudalism as the economic situation coming before the inevitable rise of capitalism. (or "arx, what defined feudalism was that the power of the ruling class 7the aristocracy8 rested on their control of land, leading to a class society based upon the exploitation of the peasants. !he term feudal has also been applied to non)%estern societies in which institutions and attitudes similar to those of medieval Europe are perceived to have prevailed. !he Zamindari System is often referred to as a feudal)li e system. 9riginally the :amindari &ystem was introduced in the pre)colonial period to collect taxes from peasants, and it continued during colonial $ritish rule. #fter independence :amindari was abolished in India and East ;a istan 7present day Bangladesh8, but it is still present today in Pakistan.