CONQUEST AND FEUDALISM IN

EARLY MIDDLE AGES

Far from their dour reputation, the Middle Ages were a period of massive social change,
international conflict, rebellion, resistance and renaissance.

FEUDALISM.

The social structure of the Middle Ages was organized round the system of Feudalism. It was
introduced in England in 1066 following the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest. The
ones responsible for introducing feudalism in England, were the Normans, led by William the
Conqueror who was crowned King William I of England

Feudalism in practice meant that the country was not governed by the king himself, but by
individual lords, or barons, who administered their own estates, dispensed their own justice,
minted their own money, levied taxes and tolls, and demanded military service from vassals.
Usually the lords could field greater armies than the king. In theory the king was the chief feudal
lord, but in reality the individual lords were supreme in their own territory. Many kings were
little more than figurehead rulers.

Feudal Ties. Lord and Vassal: 8th – 12th century AD

Feudalism was built upon a relationship of obligation and mutual service between vassals and
lords. A vassal held his land, or fief, as a grant from a lord. When a vassal died, his heir was
required to renew his oath of faithfulness (fealty) to his lord (suzerain). This public oath was
called "homage".

Feudalism had a dramatic effect on England and Europe during the Middle Ages. The pyramid of
power which was the Feudal system ran to a strict 'pecking' order - during the Medieval period of
the Middle Ages everyone knew their place. The emergence of the Medieval Feudal System of the
Middle Ages affected all spheres of Medieval society: a land-based economy, the judicial system
and the rights of the feudal lords under the feudal system and the lack of rights for the serfs and
peasants.

Medieval Serfs were peasants who worked his lord's land and paid him certain dues in return for
the use of land, the possession (not the ownership) of which was heritable. When the land
changed owners the peasants were obliged to work for the new owners - the Normans. The
peasants worked his lord's land and paid him certain dues in return for the use of land, the
possession (not the ownership) of which was heritable. The dues were usually in the form of 3
days labor on the lord's land.

KINGSHIPS

Kings in the Middle Ages

The kingships of England cover the periods from 1066 - 1485. The Kings and Queens of England
in the Middle Ages included Richard the Lionheart and the great Plantagenet English Kings from
King Henry II (1154-1189) to King Edward III (1327-1377), who reigned during The Hundred
Years War between England and France and the Wars of the Roses and The Medieval Kings and
Queens of the Royal Houses of Lancaster and York.

?MAGNA CHARTA?
THE DECLINE OF FEUDALISM

The Medieval Feudal system worked well for many hundreds of years as the normans
maintained it as long as they could. They split up the English land and retained and saved their
power by building castles as power bases to control the English population.

The decline of feudalism came when rich nobles were allowed to pay for soldiers rather than to
fight themselves. Life changed and Mercenaries were hired from all over Europe. The
Mercenaries had few allegiances, except to money, and these paid fighting men were feared
throughout Europe. The threat of the Mercenaries led on to the employment of professional,
trained soldiers - the Standing Armies and ultimately the end of Middle Ages feudalism in
England. Under feudalism the King was answerable to the Pope. At the end of the Middle Ages
King Henry VIII clashed with the Pope and England subsequently broke with the Catholic
church of Rome and the power of the Pope. This led to the establishment of the Church of
England and the Dissolution of the Monasteries. It was the final 'nail in the coffin' of the
Medieval Feudal System, feudalism, in England.

*Plantagenet English Kings:

From 1154 - 1377 the Plantagenet Kings of England (Angevin Line) ruled the English. The Plantagenet
Kings of England (the Angevin dynasty) included seven Kings of England in the Middle Ages:

 King Henry II 1154-1189 (grandson of Henry I)

 King Richard I 1189-1199 (third son of Henry II)
 King John 1199-1216 (fifth son of Henry II)
 King Henry III 1216-1272 (son of John)
 King Edward I 1272-1307 (son of Henry III)
 King Edward II 1307-1327 (son of Edward I)
 King Edward III 1327-1377 (son of Edward II)