Feudalism In The Middle Ages

Throughout the period known as the Middle Ages, most of Western Europe relied on the Feudal System in order to survive and prosper. After the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 AD, much of Western Europe descended into what is referred to as the Dark Ages (Dutch, 2000). During this time, the lack of infrastructure and protection that had been provided by Rome caused a serious collapse in the economic and military solidity of much of Western Europe, with wars between small kingdoms being common, as well as invasions from outlanders or “barbarians”. Feudalism truly began with the Franks, a group of Germanic tribes settled between the Rhine and Weser rivers. The Franks were powerful warriors, and over the centuries, expanded into much of Western

Pepin was succeeded by his son, Charlemagne in 768, and he would rule most of Western Europe by what is considered to be the start of the Middle Ages (Violatti, 2014). This new unification would prove to be a great boon to the Europeans, who had been living without any centralized form of government, solid economic structure, or unified defenses for centuries. During their many centuries of conquest and expansion, the Franks had absorbed many different cultures into their own, taking on laws, arts, and general views of the world from many different

The King was ultimately responsible for protecting all that he ruled over, and was at the top of the Feudal hierarchy. His word was considered divine and absolute. Because the King could not be everywhere at once, he would bequeath land to “tenants in chief”, typically Bishops, Barons, or other nobility. These tenants in chief would be granted a large section of land which they could then subdivide amongst their knights and other minor nobles. The minor nobles would then establish villages upon their land comprised of families of serfs or