Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The rise and fall feudalism
Essays on feudalism
The rise and fall feudalism
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Nihal Lalwani BBE 29 October 2014 8 History Essay Term 4 Assignment Tokugawa Japan (1600-1868) and Medieval Europe (590-1500) both grew in two separate sides of the world but both of them are similar in ways such as how they were run, their architecture, their warriors and the society. In discussing whether these two civilisations are similar, the research has led me to believe that these two civilisations are partly similar. There are many similarities between Japanese and Medieval European Castles such as what were they used for and how they worked. Medieval European Castles are similar to Japanese castles as they are used for similar reasons and architecture such as the castles had high walls for protection against arrows, both of them were used as outposts by respective lords of each civilisation (Friar, 2003. P.47).
Tokugawa Japan + Medieval Europe Medieval Europe and Tokugawa Japan lived in seclusion to each other, and yet there were many uncanny similarities between Tokugawa Japan and Medieval Europe. In Medieval Europe there were many key features of the social system that were introduced at the time. The social system of Medieval Europe was called Feudalism. Feudalism puts the King in charge of everything and everyone, with barons and nobles underneath him. The nobles provide loyalty and knights to the king in return for land to control.
The societies of Tokugawa Japan (c.1603-1867C.E.) and medieval Europe (c.1000-1500C.E.) had two things in common; a feudal system. A feudal system is something that features hierarchies or social structures. The feudal system normally starts with a religion, which is at the very top of the social pyramid, then it’s the King or monarch for Europe and the shogun for Japan, then there are the nobles for Europe and the daimyos for Japan. As we go down the pyramid there are the warriors, like the knight in Europe and the samurai in Japan, then there are the peasants. The peasants were included in both eras and are at the lowest part of the pyramid.
Feudal systems connected the people to their land.
In the 1500s and the 1600s the feudal system was beginning to fall. Different countries were trying new different types of governments instead of the dysfunctional feudal system. The feudal system consisted of many different nobles ruling over their own land. It was not a uniform system of ruling over the country. There were small city-states run by a singular ruler.
It also greatly reduced the Unitarian power of many countries, each manor implementing feudalism being like a state in a Federalist nation. Feudalism was also another aspect that kept the economy running despite the expensive and fruitless expeditions for gold and other riches in the New World. ECONOMIC - feudalism ran on a series of obligations that could be considered a trading of service in exchange for money, goods, or another service. Even though the classes were not paying each other with money but with services in feudalism, it maintained the economy’s momentum, as it kept everyone working and a steady flow of payments to one another. By keeping an overall strong economy for long periods of time, it helped fund ventures in the new world.
Western Europe went through their feudal systems before Japan did, almost three hundred years in fact. Although Japan and europe did not have direct contact with each other in the medieval and modern times, they independently grown their own social political systems that had very much in common to one another. Both feudal Japan and feudal Europe had differences and similarities in this time period. Both the Japanese and European feudal systems developed as a result from a weak central government. As a result of having no strong central government politically, individual landowners gained power in both of the regions.
Feudalism in Japan had many similarities and differences with feudalism in Europe. Comparing the social structures and the cultures that the two powers presented can show us how alike and how different they are from each other. Feudal Japan and Feudal Europe were similar in many ways, such as having a religious figurehead at the very top of the feudal pyramid. Japan had the Tennō (Emperor) and Europe had the Pope. They also shared a similar pyramid of power, with the previously mentioned religious figureheads at the very top, and descending down with the Kings and Shoguns, the Vassals and Daimyo, the Knights and Samurai, and ending with the peasants.
The feudalism was a social system ruled by multiple kings then eventually fell. The feudal system is where a monarch makes usually all the decisions about his piece of land. The lords controlled just part of his land. The knights would prevent enemies from attacking the king's land. The peasants/serfs would work on the fields at the manors.
Since the beginning of civilization, all them have strived for a government system. For medieval Europe this government system was Feudalism. Feudalism was a working system for all aspects of the medieval life including culture and economy. The Black Death was a horrible disease that caused horrible symptoms and was responsible for the deaths of over one third of the population in Europe. The Black Death accelerated the fall of feudalism accelerated the fall of feudalism by completely disrupting its systems.
From the Kamakura Period of the late twelfth century to the Meiji Restoration in the nineteenth century, the samurai have held prominent positions as noble warriors in Japanese society. They have come to be famous in modern, Western pop culture as the fierce, stoic guards of feudal Japan, but their practices and rituals extended beyond wielding katanas and donning impressive armor. Samurai practices were rich and complex, with strict codes, ritual suicide, and a history of influencing culture and politics (“Samurai”). Samurai code was influenced by traditional Japanese culture, Zen Buddhism, and Confucianism. Bushido, or “Way of the Warrior,” was the code of conduct the samurai class were expected to uphold.
Development of the Renaissance Era is discernible through shifts in the long-established power of the Catholic Church towards the prominence of the merchant class's influence, leading to changes in the traditional social structure. Before this time, the Feudal System was the present force that drove education, arts, and sciences. Under this system, nobles who had inherited wealth by being born into high social statuses and the Catholic Church sponsored individuals in these areas. When the merchant class gained power, this sponsorship transferred to wealthy private citizens usually without the strong affiliations of the Feudal System and the Catholic Church. As a result the works of arts and sciences produced in the Renaissance Era were unbound
Feudalism developed in Western Europe, leaving them with no unified government. Peasants sought protection of nobles in exchange for working their
Long before the Renaissance, government was based on feudalism, the idea of dividing society based on class. People earned a set wage for their class’ jobs. Children that were born into a family were the same class as their family. Also, thinking was deeply religious and even art and sculpture all were based on religious figures. However, humanists quashed this idea.
Feudalism brought together two powerful groups: lords and vassals. The lords gave vassals land in return for military and other services. Feudalism was a help to Western Europeans for the flowing reasons: 1. Feudalism helped protect communities from the violence and warfare that broke out after the fall of Rome and the collapse of strong central government in Western Europe. Feudalism secured Western Europe’s society