Capitalism: The Rise Of The European Feudal System

Feudalism was the medieval model of government predating the birth of modern nation state. It discouraged united government and trade and economic growth. Under feudalism the lord would grant his subjects land in return for their services. When the Roman Empire collapsed feudalism was able to grow out of pure chaos. The basic structure of feudalism is a king at the top who had lords to serve him. As for castles those were built by the nobles in order to enable protection. Feudalism was a stage of social and economic development that preceded capitalism. There was a limited money exchange as well in a feudal society. The church was also used as an ally. The first time a feudal system appeared was in the Frankish lands in the 9th and 10th century. It spread from France to Spain, Italy and later Germany and the rest of Eastern Europe. The entire …show more content…
At the core of feudalism is the relationship between the lord and the vassal. At the very top of a feudal society in Europe is the Pope. Feudalism offers many varieties of justification for force. The most common excuse for warfare was approval from the church. As time went on Feudalism became very complex, more rigid and was open to much abuse. In some regions of Europe kings were successful in using feudal hierarchy. There are many varieties of how feudalism operated but there were things that always stayed the same. The first is the lord and vassal relationships. Next you have the form of a personalized government; which had the most effectiveness at a local level, there was little to no separation between politics. Third there was a system of landholding which had the fiefs who in return for service could assure for more services in the future. Fourth was the existence of private armies it was looked upon to honor all military obligations. Lastly who had the rights of the lord over the