Feodalism

Feudalism (also feodalism) is a term used by historians to describe a decentralized political and social order that took shape in medieval Europe, roughly from the 9th to the 15th centuries. It is based on a system of personal ties and land tenure known as vassalage, whereby a lord granted a fief—land or income—to a vassal in return for military service and loyalty. The chain could extend from monarchs to great nobles to lesser knights, with subinfeudation creating many intermediate lordships. In most regions, peasants or serfs worked the land and owed rents, labor, and other duties to their lord, while receiving protection and the right to work the demesne.

Key features include fealty and homage ceremonies, a reciprocal set of obligations, and the coexistence of political and economic power centered on land. The manorial system describes the economic side, with peasants producing agricultural goods on lordly estates and paying rents or performing corvée work.

Historians debate the usefulness of the term, noting regional variation and the gradual emergence of centralized states that undermined the feudal order. Nevertheless, feudal structures influenced European governance, military organization, law, and social hierarchies for centuries. Similar land-for-service arrangements appeared in other regions, though the specifics differed.

Decline began from around the late Middle Ages with the growth of royal authority, the rise of towns and money economies, and demographic and social changes, culminating in a transition to early modern statehood.