An Introduction to Feudalism Trivia Quiz

Answer: Carolingian

Feudalism first emerged around the 9th century in the Frankish Empire, located in western and central Europe, under the rule of the Carolingian dynasty. Named after its two most influential members - Charles Martel, Duke and Prince of the Franks, and his grandson, Charlemagne ("Carolus" being Latin for "Charles") - this noble family ruled Francia, the kingdom inhabited by the Germanic Franks, from 751 to the end of the 10th century.

The roots of the feudal system lie in the custom of Germanic rulers of surrounding themselves with loyal retainers (called "thanes" in Anglo-Saxon England). This custom further evolved during the rule of the Merovingian dynasty (457-751), when some of the king's closest collaborators were often more powerful than the monarchs themselves. This was the case of Charles Martel, Mayor of the Palace of various Merovingian kings, who was the de facto ruler of Francia from 718 to his death in 741; his younger son, Pepin, Charlemagne's father, became king in 751. Charles Martel was the first ruler to reward his followers with the concession of lands for the term of the vassal's life.

The Capetian dynasty, also of Frankish origin, succeeded the Carolingians in the rule of Francia. The Ottonian dynasty, who founded the Holy Roman Empire, was of Saxon origin, and was succeeded by the Salian dynasty (from southern Germany) in the 11th century.

The statue of Charles Martel in the photo is found in the Palace of Versailles.

Answer: foreign invasions

The Early Middle Ages were a time of great instability, political and otherwise. Especially in the years between 850 and 950, one of the biggest challenges faced by Europe was the threat of invasions coming from the north (Vikings), the east (Slavs and Magyars), and the south (Arabs). Western Europe was especially vulnerable to Viking raids, as those skilled Norse seafarers were able to sail up inland rivers, and attacked any defenseless targets with lightning speed. These raids increased in number and intensity after the death of Charlemagne, when the Carolingian Empire splintered in a number of much weaker entities.

Because of the ineffectiveness of the central authority, people came to depend on major landowners, who had plenty of armed men at their disposal, for protection from the threat of these fierce invaders. In fact, attacking a manor and the lands that surrounded it was far riskier than targeting an isolated village. In those turbulent times, trading a higher degree of security for unconditional loyalty to an overlord was a small price to pay for the people of Europe.

In 911, a Viking chief by the name of Rollo (Hrólfr) swore allegiance to Charles the Simple, king of Francia, converting to Christianity, and pledging to defend the estuary of the River Seine from Viking raiders. He became the first Duke of Normandy; one of his descendants, William the Conqueror, introduced the feudal system in England after 1066.

The illustration depicting Viking invaders comes from a 12th-century illuminated manuscript.

Answer: fief

The medieval Latin word "feodum" is rooted in the proto-Indo-European word "*peku", meaning "cattle" (also the root of the English "peculiar"). This word came to replace the older term "beneficium" ("benefit") to describe a gift of land that was granted for the term of a tenant's life. However, the word "feudalism" was first introduced hundreds of years later, probably in the 16th century, and mentioned by influential 18th-century thinkers such as Montesquieu and Adam Smith in their seminal works.

In English, the most commonly used word to denote the central element of the feudal system - the land property granted by an overlord in exchange for allegiance and service - is "fief" (or "fiefdom"), a word of French origin also attested as "fee". Though the term "feud" also exists, its use is quite rare - very probably to avoid confusion with the unrelated word meaning "conflict" or "dispute".

Originally, a fief had to be renewed at the death of either the lord or the vassal. However, with the introduction of primogeniture, which granted to the firstborn children of nobility the right to inherit their parent's estate, fiefs gradually became hereditary.

"Feta" is a well-known Greek cheese, while "fiat" means an authoritative order, and "feal" is an archaic term for "faithful" or "loyal" (hence "fealty", also a word that is relevant to a discussion of feudalism - see Q. 6).

Answer: military aid

As already pointed out, Europe in the Middle Ages was in an almost constant state of armed conflict; states were often lacking in a strong central authority, which made them vulnerable to outside pressures. Needing to sustain an army of mounted warriors - that cavalry that had been the key to the military successes of the Carolingian Empire - rulers began to grant land to nobles in exchange for military aid. A feudal contract provided fully equipped soldiers to the lords, and protection to the vassals and the people who lived on their estates. These warriors were the knights so often identified with the Middle Ages in popular culture. Knights were the younger sons of noblemen, who could not count on inheriting their father's estate, and had to choose between a career in the Church and one in the military. Those vassals who, for some reason, were unable to provide their overlord with armed men contributed a sum of money called "scutage" (from the Latin "scutum", meaning "shield"), which the lord often used to pay mercenary soldiers.

As medieval rulers were often engaged in war, the burden of granting large-scale military aid was sometimes bound to cause friction between vassals and overlords. This happened in England in 1215, when King John was forced by a group of rebellious barons - exasperated by the king's seemingly endless requests for taxes and warriors to fight a series of disastrous wars against France - to sign the Magna Carta.

"Liege" comes from an old Old French (though of Germanic origin) word meaning "free and independent", while "vassal" comes from the Latin "vassus", a word of Celtic origin meaning "servant".

Answer: Yes

The practice of subinfeudation allowed a vassal to grant part of his fief to another tenant, who became vassal to him. This was reflected as always by language: in English feudal law, a lord who held lands from a king or prince ("lord paramount") was termed "tenant-in-chief", while his vassal was a "mesne (middle) lord". A freeholder, or "tenant paravail", was the lowest kind of tenant. Another term for a mesne lord was "vavasour", a word probably derived from the Latin "vassus vassorum", or "vassal of the vassals".

As these arrangements become increasingly common, they led to confused loyalties, due to the difficulty of keeping track of this complex network of relationships. Not surprisingly, great landowners were unhappy about the whole practice, which weakened the original ties between overlord and vassal: therefore, in 1290 the English Parliament passed an act named "Quia Emptores" ("because the buyers") that effectively put an end to subinfeudation.

The gorgeous depiction of a French ducal manor comes from the celebrated early 14th-century illuminated manuscript known as "Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry", held at the Condé Museum in Chantilly (France).

Answer: homage

"Homage" is a word of Old French origin, derived from the medieval Latin "hominaticum" ("pertaining to a man"), and related to the French "homme". In the feudal system, the homage was part of a solemn ceremony (the "commendatio"), in which the vassal pledged his loyalty and reverence to the lord, receiving from him the investiture - that is, a symbol that represented his new position. To show his submission, the vassal knelt before the lord, and placed his joined hands in those of his liege, who accepted by clasping the vassal's hands with his own, and raising him to his feet.

An oath of fealty followed the homage, in which the vassal promised to be faithful to his lord, no matter the circumstances. While a vassal could pay homage only to one lord (his liege), he could swear an oath of fealty to other overlords, towards whom, however, he had lesser obligations. These oaths were usually sworn upon some religious object - such as a Bible, or some saint's relic - so that they were considered binding before God.

Appanage ("giving of bread") was the grant of an estate or other thing of value to the younger child of a ruler; tallage ("a cut out of the whole") was a land tenure tax; socage was a tenure of land that involved payment of rent or other service instead of military aid.

The homage scene in the photo comes from a 14th-century manuscript.

Answer: they were bound to the land

The peasants who worked on a feudal estate were most often unfree, and known as serfs - a word derived from the Latin "servus", meaning "slave". Serfs were unable to leave the manor, because they were "tied to the soil", and thus part of the estate. In the manorial system, derived from Roman as well as Germanic custom, peasants held the lord's land in return for fixed dues (money or other services). Serfs were near the bottom of the social pyramid - only slaves ranked lower - and had few rights: though they could not be bought, sold or traded as individuals, they could be sold together with the land, and faced a number of legal restrictions. They were, however, entitled to cultivate a piece of land within the manor for their own needs, as well as to the lord's protection and justice. There were different levels of serfdom: most serfs were villeins, who had more rights than cotters (usually younger sons of villeins).

Most people become serfs out of necessity, when they were left unable to provide for themselves and their families by an economic downturn (often due to war or crop failures). In order to survive, a person entered into a bargain with the lord of a manor, placing themselves under his protection in a ceremony known as "bondage". The serf would repay the lord's protection with service - generally in the form of labour on the demesne (the land held by a lord for his personal use), as well as money (taxes) and fees (produce). A serf's children were also born into serfdom. Some serfs were able to buy their own freedom, or earn it through military valour.

On the other hand, free farmer-tenants paid rent to the lord, and were not expected to provide any services to him; they were, however, a minority.

The illustration showing a group of serfs harvesting wheat comes from a 14th-century manuscript known as Queen Mary's Psalter.

Answer: the Black Death

The epidemic of bubonic plague that swept through Europe between 1347 and 1352 was one of the most traumatic events in the history of the continent, which had a huge influence on the evolution of society in the decades that followed. It is estimated that at least one-third of the European population perished of this disease - which at the time was not named Black Death, but rather "Great Death", or variations thereof. One of the main consequences of the epidemic was a serious workforce shortage, so that many estates ended up being abandoned because there was no one left to work the land. The growth of urban centres throughout the continent also contributed to many peasants choosing to look for work in those cities, which were in need of new citizens after the widespread mortality had considerably thinned the ranks of their population.

Another contributing factor to the end of feudalism was the rise of powerful monarchs in countries like Spain, France and England, parallel to the emergence of the bourgeois class, which gradually broke down the very foundations on which the feudal system was based.

The Avignon Papacy and a good part of the Hundred Years' War also took place during the 14th century, though neither of them had the devastating impact of the Black Death and the Great Famine which preceded it (1315-1317). The Little Ice Age, on the other hand, was a period of cooling that lasted from the early 14th century to the mid-19th century, with changes in weather patterns that affected some regions of the world more than others.

The miniature in the photo is a 15th-century depiction of the Black Death.

Answer: Russia

Russia was the last European country to abolish serfdom. In fact, in parts of Central and Eastern Europe the institution grew stronger after the Black Death (see Q. 8), and lingered longer than in the rest of the continent. In the mid-19th century, over one-third of the Russian population consisted of serfs, and peasants as a whole outnumbered other social classes. On the other hand, the institution of serfdom was slowly crumbling throughout the Empire, which reflected the progressive weakening of the Russian nobility's hold over their subjects during the 19th century.

In 1861, Influenced by his aunt, Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna who was opposed to serfdom, Tsar Alexander II freed all serfs with the Edict of Emancipation - believing that such an edict would stem the revolutionary undercurrents that threatened the stability of the Empire. However, the terms under which serfs were liberated turned out to be often unfavourable to the peasants, which did nothing to stop, or at least mitigate the pressures that, a few decades later, culminated in the October Revolution. The Tsar himself was assassinated by revolutionaries in 1881.

In Western Europe, feudalism effectively ended by the beginning of the 16th century. France, however, officially abolished any remnants of the institution in August 1789, just a few weeks after the storming of the Bastille. In Spain, feudal lordships were abolished by the Constitution of 1812, while in Germany the system persisted until 1848.

The 1907 painting by Boris Kustodiev shows a group of Russian serfs listening to the proclamation of the Edict of Emancipation.

Answer: daimyo

A system similar to European feudalism existed in Japan at least since the 10th century; however, it developed at its fullest extent during the Edo period (1603-1868) in which the country was ruled by the Tokugawa shogunate, a military dictatorship that pursued a strict isolationist policy. Under Tokugawa rule, the Japanese territory was organized in "han" (feudal domains) administered by powerful lords known as "daimyo" ("large holding"). Although the Emperors and the nobility technically stood at the top of the class pyramid, the true power was in the hands of the shogun and the daimyo, who commanded the highly trained warriors known as samurai.

As was the case in medieval Europe, about 80% of Japan's population in the Edo period were peasants, who lived in rural areas. Unlike Europe, however, so-called feudal Japan was characterized by peace and stability, which fuelled economic and cultural growth. Society was organized according to a very rigid class system: each class kept to its place, living in separate quarters in the cities that grew around the castles of the daimyo. After the Meiji Restoration (1868), the han were abolished, and the daimyo and their samurai were pensioned off, or required to move to Tokyo, in order to prevent them from rebelling.

The three wrong answers are all Japanese words that bear some relation to samurai: "bushido" refers to their moral code of martial virtues, "katana" is the best-known of the swords used by those famed warriors, and "seppuku" (also known as "harakiri") is a form of ritual suicide.

The 17th-century painting in the photo depicts Edo Castle, the residence of the Tokugawa shoguns.