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#FEUDALISM IN THE MIDDLE AGES DEFINITION FREE#
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With the rise of towns and commerce and the decline of local organisation, feudalism gradually broke down in the continent. Its two principal institutions were vassalage and the fief. It was characterised by a king’s ownership of vast land and the distribution of it to people in exchange for services. It had its roots in Germanic and Roman traditions. Feudalism was a political, economic and social system that flourished in Western Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries.
#FEUDALISM IN THE MIDDLE AGES DEFINITION SERIES#
The feudal lord was the owner or owner of the manor, that is, of a part of the territory. The set of different social groups established a series of social relations . Thus, some peasants asked for protection from feudal lords and in return received land and a series of obligations that made them vassals. The vassal was considered a man inferior to the feudal lord, because he gave him protection. To become a vassal it was necessary to fulfill an oath, an homage. In this act the vassal swore loyalty to the lord in exchange for protection. In the highest society was the sovereign or feudal lord. Below him the high nobility and the high clergy. On a lower scale appeared the lower nobility and the lower clergy. At the base of the social pyramid were the peasants and, lastly, the serfs. Peasants and serfs were the unprivileged and ahead of the rest of the classes or groups with some kind of privilege. This social organization is the characteristic feature of feudalism and that determines the political and economic dimension of the Middle Ages.
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In the early Middle Ages, more specifically during the period of the Carolingian Empire, it began to shape the foundations of feudalism. When the Carolingian Empire weakened, new European kingdoms emerged and, at the same time, a series of invasions by barbarian peoples (Vikings and Slavs) took place. This new social and political framework created a climate of insecurity . At the same time, there was an increase in the value of land. In this way, the new order configures a society in which class division is the most characteristic element.
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Feudalism is a form of political , economic and social organization that took place in the Middle Ages on the European continent . It began in the fourth century and lasted until the fifteenth century.