feudalët

Feudalët is the Albanian term for the feudal class, referring to the landholding elites who dominated local power in many medieval and early modern societies. In a typical feudal arrangement, a lord grants a fief to a vassal in exchange for military service and loyalty. The feudalët formed the upper tier of the social hierarchy, exercising authority over peasants and subordinate villages within their estates. Their power rested on personal bonds, oaths of fealty, and customary law rather than centralized bureaucratic institutions.

The feudalët administered justice, collected rents and dues, and organized local defense. They often maintained private armed retinues and played a central role in local governance, diplomacy, and conflict. The economic basis was agricultural production on manor-like estates, with peasants or serfs providing labor and paying rents in kind or through corvée obligations.

Regional variations existed, but common features included semi-autonomous lordships, noble households, and varying degrees of subordinate authority over villages and towns. The system depended on reciprocal obligations between lords and vassals, as well as between lords and the sovereign or higher-level authorities.

Decline and transformation occurred as centralized monarchies strengthened, towns expanded, and new legal and fiscal frameworks replaced personal lordship. In the Balkans and Albania, the expansion of the Ottoman Empire further reorganized landholding and governance, gradually reducing independent feudal authority and incorporating it into imperial administration. By the early modern period, feudal structures had largely given way to new forms of state authority, though remnants persisted in rural customary practices and the genealogies of noble families.

Legacy includes lasting patterns of land tenure, local governance, and social hierarchy that influenced regional politics for centuries.