They became the monarch’s vassals who would in return give him loyalty and service. To repay loyal nobles, he granted them lands. In 1066, William the Conqueror became the King of England and held all lands under his control. At the top of a feudal society was a king.Moreover, the manorial system imposed in Medieval England had its roots with the Romans in which workers were provided with protection while living on large estates. In Frankish states by the 8th century, a king granted benefice or lands to reward members of the nobility in return of service.While distributing much of the land to loyal nobles who supported him in battles, William the Conqueror retained 20% for personal use and the rest for the church. Among his first step was the seizure of all English land. In 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, held all lands in England after he successfully defeated King Harold II.When the Germanic tribes invaded most territories of the Roman Empire, the Franks, one of the kingdoms, were able to manage lands through appointing earls, barons, or counts.Etymologically, ‘feudalism’ was derived from the Latin terms feudalis and feodum, which respectively mean fee and fief.According to the Oxford English Dictionary, feudalism refers to the dominant social system in medieval Europe, in which nobility held lands from the crown in exchange for military service, and vassals were in turn tenants of the nobles, while the peasants were obliged to live on their lord’s land. It was only in the Middle Ages when the term ‘feudalism’ was coined to define this socio-political society.Between 1046 and 256 BCE, the Zhou period of China and Edo period of Japan from 1603 until 1868 were under this kind of system. The general notion of ruling based on land distribution and loyal was used in number of civilizations prior to the Middle Ages.Key Facts & Information ORIGIN OF FEUDALISM See the fact file below for more information on the Feudal System or alternatively, you can download our 21-page Feudal System worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment. The Feudal System that existed in Medieval Western Europe was a socio-political and economic system identified by a king’s ownership and distribution of lands to his loyal nobles.
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