feudalism

Examples of feudalism in the following topics:

• Feudalism

  • There were many varieties of feudal land tenure, consisting of military and non-military service.
  • Many societies in the Middle Ages were characterized by feudal organizations, including England, which was the most structured feudal society, France, Italy, Germany, the Holy Roman Empire, and Portugal.
  • Each of these territories developed feudalism in unique ways, and the way we understand feudalism as a unified concept today is in large part due to critiques after its dissolution.
  • The king was the absolute "owner" of land in the feudal system, and all nobles, knights, and other tenants, termed vassals, merely "held" land from the king, who was thus at the top of the feudal pyramid.
  • In the king's feudal court, such deliberation could include the question of declaring war.

• Society Under the Zhou Dynasty

  • Under the initial period of the Zhou Dynasty (called the Western Zhou period), a number of innovations were made, rulers were legitimized under the Mandate of Heaven, a feudal system developed, and new forms of irrigation allowed the population to expand.
  • A number of important innovations took place during this period: the Zhou moved away from worship of Shangdi, the supreme god under the Shang, in favor of Tian ("heaven"); they legitimized rulers, through the Mandate of Heaven (divine right to rule);  they moved to a feudal system; developed Chinese philosophy; and made new advances in irrigation that allowed more intensive farming and made it possible for the lands of China to sustain larger populations.
  • The feudal system in China was structurally similar to ones that followed, such as pre-imperial Macedon, Europe, and Japan.
  • Under this feudal (fengjian) system, land could be passed down within families, or broken up further and granted to more people.
  • Most importantly, the peasants who farmed the land were controlled by the feudal system.

• The Manor System

  • The manor system was an element of feudal society in the Middle Ages characterized by the legal and economic power of the lord of a manor.
  • Manorialism was an essential element of feudal society and was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire.
  • Serfdom was the status of peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism.
  • The manor formed the basic unit of feudal society, and the lord of a manor and his serfs were bound legally, economically, and socially.
  • Serfs formed the lowest class of feudal society.

• The Eastern Zhou Period

  • The lords under feudalism gained increasing power, and ultimately the Zhou King You was assassinated, and the capital, Haojing, was sacked in 770 BCE.
  • During this time, power became increasingly decentralized as regional feudal lords began to absorb smaller powers and vie for hegemony.
  • By the end of 5th century BCE, the feudal system was consolidated into seven prominent and powerful states—Han, Wei, Zhao, Yue, Chu, Qi, and Qin—and China entered the Warring States period, when each state vied for complete control.

• Empress Maria-Theresa

  • Maria Theresa introduced reforms that improved her empire's economy, military, education, public health, and administration but left the feudal social order intact.
  • Despite all these reformist efforts, Maria Theresa did not to change her lands' deeply feudal social order based on many privileges of the landlords and oppressive forced labor of the peasantry.

• The Westernization of Russia

  • In order to modernize socially and economically lagging Russia, Peter the Great introduced sweeping social, administrative, and economic reforms that Westernized Russia to a certain extent yet did not alter deeply feudal divisions in the increasingly authoritarian state.
  • The class of kholops, or feudally dependent persons similar to serfs but whose status was closest slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation (Russian agricultural kholops were formally converted into serfs in 1679).
  • He also commanded all of his courtiers and officials to wear European clothing and cut off their long beards, causing great upset among boyars, or the feudal elites. 

• Japanese Expansion

  • Prior to 1868, most Japanese more readily identified with their feudal domain rather than the idea of "Japan" as a whole.
  • In this way, loyalty to feudal domains was supplanted with loyalty to the state.

• The Constitution of 1791

  • Many proposals for redefining the French state were floated, particularly in the days after the remarkable sessions of August 4-5, when feudalism was abolished.
  • On a local level, previous feudal geographic divisions were formally abolished and the territory of the French state was divided into several administrative unit (Départements), but with the principle of centralism.

• France and Cardinal Richelieu

  • To further consolidate power in France, Richelieu sought to suppress the influence of the feudal nobility.
  • Earlier, the nation's political structure was largely feudal, with powerful nobles and a wide variety of laws in different regions.

• The Ancien Regime

  • The term is occasionally used to refer to the similar feudal social and political order of the time elsewhere in Europe.
  • The fundamental issue of poverty was aggravated by social inequality as all peasants were liable to pay taxes, from which the nobility could claim immunity, and feudal dues payable to a local lord.