The Middle Ages gave the world new concepts. Among them, the word “feud” occupies a large place, most closely associated with the emergence of such historical phenomena as the hierarchical ladder and feudal lords. It is very interesting to trace how new concepts were formed in those distant times, to find out what a feud was and what significance it had in the medieval world.

Hierarchy of the nobility

The concept of "feud" is closely related to the emergence of the medieval institution of lords and vassals. Relations between the nobility were presented in the form of a hierarchical ladder. At its top was usually the king, although in many countries the lower lords-landowners had no less great power, but were formally subordinate to the ruler of the country.

A lord was a large landowner-nobleman, to whom smaller representatives of the nobility were subordinate. They, in turn, were called vassals.

The beginning of feudal relations was laid by the Frankish ruler in the 8th century. while? His role was played by a beneficiary - the grant of land to his vassal in exchange for a promise to come to war at the first call of the king. Thus, the ruler turned into a lord (“senior”), and the one who received the land allotment became his vassal.

History of the word

In medieval France, the custom was established to reward faithful service not with money (there was simply very little of it at that time), but with the most valuable thing - land. What did the feudal lord receive as a reward from the king? Fief, or possession with an estate and with peasants attached to it. Thus, he could receive a constant income from this land.

In turn, the vassal could transfer part of the property granted to him to a smaller representative of the nobility, for example, a knight, who became his vassal. At the same time, he did not lose rights to the land that he granted to his subordinate. As a result, two or more people owned the same plot.

So, what is land ownership that the overlord granted to his vassal on the terms of his military service? Different countries had their own versions of this name: flax, fi and fief. The word goes back to the Late Latin feodum and German fehu (property) and od (possession). This term first began to be used in the 10th century.

In order to bring a vassal into possession, the lord performed a solemn ceremony called “investiture.”

Fee for the right to own a fief

It should be noted here that the vassal's ownership of the granted land was conditional. He could own, manage and use the fief only if he fulfilled his duties to the lord.

He was supposed to accompany the overlord on military campaigns and be his escort during trips, keep a detachment in the lord's castle, provide him with a castle or a place to stay upon request, and help in difficult situations with advice and money.

If for some reason the vassal did not fulfill his obligations, he was deprived of ownership rights to the granted land, and it passed into the possession of another or remained with the lord.

Another feature of the fief was that only a nobleman could receive it. Wealthy peasants or rich merchants did not have such a right.

Battles for territory

The main wealth in ancient times, and then in the Middle Ages, was land. The one who owned it had power, strength and power. And the more territories a person owned, the more influential he was. The most delicious and valuable spoils were fiefs. Wars of thrones often happened precisely because of them. The conflicts that occurred in the Middle Ages over land were called “civil strife.”

These clashes between nobles were a hallmark of the period. Their reasons were both banal greed and the desire to enrich themselves with someone else's land, and legal incidents that often arose in the Middle Ages. It happened that the king of one country owned territories in another, as happened with William I the Conqueror. Being the king of England, he did not obey anyone, but, while remaining the Duke of Normandy, he was a vassal. Such incidents led to military conflicts between entire countries. Clashes between ordinary feudal lords occurred even more often. It got to the point that in the event of a quarrel, the ruler of the country forbade starting a war for 40 days, so that the weaker rival could file a complaint with the authorities.

Conclusion

So, what is a fief? In the Middle Ages in Europe, this was the name given to land ownership granted by a lord to his vassal under the conditions of military and court service. After the appearance of this type of land holding in Europe, a hierarchical system of feudal system was finally formed.

Concepts

· Middle Ages – the period of world history (mid-V – mid-XV centuries), which studies feudal society; so called because it lies in the middle between the eras of the Ancient World and Modern History.

· Great Migration - the era of mass movements of tribes that led to the death of the Western Roman Empire. From the end of the 4th century, the Germans moved from raids on the Roman Empire to conquest. Wanting to seize fertile lands and military booty, entire tribes left their homes and went on long campaigns. The impetus for the resettlement was the invasion of the Huns. Kn. VI century Germanic tribes settled throughout the Western Roman Empire:

Vandals - in North Africa;

Visigoths - in Spain;

Ostrogoths - in Italy;

Franks - in Gaul;

Angles and Saxons in Britain.

· State - a special organization of society, occupying a certain territory and headed by a king, having an army, a treasury and laws.

· Franks - Germanic tribes who lived before the Great Migration in the lower reaches of the Rhine River.

· Lock - a fortified dwelling of a feudal lord.

· Knight – horse warrior, beneficiary owner.

· Tournament - military competitions of knights in strength and dexterity.

· Order - union of knights.

· Feudal lord - owner of a fief.

· Normans - Northern Germans, ancestors of modern Norwegians, Swedes, Icelanders, Danes. In Rus' they were known as Varangians .

· Vikings - led the military campaigns of the Normans.

· Feudal fragmentation – disintegration of the state into independent feudal states.

· Centralized State - a single state with a strong king.

Names

· Clovis - leader of the Frankish tribe; in the 5th century he created the state of the Franks and became king. From the Merovingian dynasty.

· Charlemagne - King of the Franks, made about 50 military campaigns, in 800 he took the title of “emperor”. Carolingian dynasty.

· Muhammad - a resident of Mecca, in 610 he preached a new religion - Islam, the founder of the religion.

· Justinian I - Emperor of Byzantium. Under him, Christianity became the official religion. He led a successful foreign policy.

· Biruni - Arab astronomer, scientist.

· Ibn Sina (Avicenna) - Arab healer, brought together the experience of ancient, Indian and Central Asian doctors.

· Gregory VII – The Pope, elected in 1073 (until 1085), sought to subordinate all secular sovereigns to his power.

· Henry VII Tudor - founder of the Tudor dynasty in England. Put an end to the War of the Scarlet and White Roses. He was supported by small and medium-sized feudal lords and wealthy townspeople. Strengthened royal power.

· Friedrich I Barbarossa - warlike Emperor of Germany, nicknamed Redbeard, led the 3rd campaign of the Crusaders to the East (gg.)

· Richard I (nicknamed Lionheart) - King of England from the Plantagenet dynasty. Typical medieval knight. “I wanted to surpass everyone in fame.” He led wars and took part in the Third Crusade to the East. On the way back he was captured. He was released for ransom. He continued to fight until he was killed.

· Philip IV Beautiful – (gg.), King of France since 1285. In 1302 he convened the Estates General for the first time. In 1312 with the assistance of the Pope, he abolished the Order of the Templars.

· Wilgelm the conqueror - Duke of Normandy, who, taking advantage of the end of the old dynasty in England, with the support of the Pope and many knights in France, conquered England in 1066.

· Robin Hood - a favorite hero of English ballads, a courageous and faithful friend of the oppressed, an implacable enemy of the rich; robber, lived in the forest.

· Joan of Arc - a peasant girl, a French folk heroine, who during the Hundred Years' War organized the patriots of France to fight the British. (1 year - the time of her actions)

· Watt Tyler - leader of the peasant uprising in England in 1381. Craftsman, participant in the 100 Years' War. He was mortally wounded during negotiations. After his death, the peasants lost their leader, and the uprising was quickly suppressed.

· Louis XIV - King of France from the Bourbon dynasty. Reigned from 1643 to 1715. under him, absolute monarchy reached its dawn. He owns the famous saying: “I am the state.”

· Johann Guttenberg - Around 1450 he invented a printing press.

· Jan Hus - (yy), patriot, the first Czech to become rector of a university, criticized the church (against the sale of indulgences, payment for rituals), demanded church reform. After the massacre of him, the Hussite wars began in the Czech Republic.

Dates

486 - the emergence of a state among the Franks. Clovis is the first king of the Franks. 630 - Most Arab tribes converted to Islam. 800 - proclamation of the empire of Charlemagne. 843 - Verdun section. The collapse of Charlemagne's empire into three states: France, Germany and Italy. 1054 – division of the Christian Church into Eastern (Orthodox) and Western (Catholic). 1066 - Conquest of England by the Duke. – 1st Crusade. Capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders. 1204 – 4th Crusade. Capture of Constantinople by the crusaders. 1215 – signing of the Magna Carta by the English King John the Landless. 1265 - emergence of the English Parliament. 1302 - convening of the Estates General in France. 1337 -1453 - The Hundred Years' War between England and France. 1445 - invention of printing in Germany by Johannes Gutenberg. 1453 - the death of the Byzantine Empire. Constantinople, renamed Istanbul, becomes the capital of the Ottoman Empire.

), carried out under the conditions of the vassal performing military, administrative or court service in favor of the lord. This type of land holding was practiced during the Middle Ages in Europe.

Story

When a lord transferred the right of ownership of a fief to a vassal, the lord did not lose a similar right in relation to the fief. As a result, the same fief was simultaneously owned by two or more persons.

Feudal property was conditional and class-based. Convention feudal property was that the vassal's right to own, use and dispose of the fief remained with him only if the vassal served in favor of the lord. If the vassal for one reason or another stopped fulfilling his obligations to the lord, the lord had the right to take the fief away from the vassal and transfer it to another person or keep the fief for himself. Estate feudal property was that only persons belonging to the noble (noble) class had the right to own fiefs. Peasants and townspeople, even the rich, could not become owners of a fief without first receiving nobility.

The introduction of a vassal into possession of a fief (infeodation) was formalized by a symbolic act called investiture. Since the 11th century, investiture began, as a rule, to accompany the conclusion of a vassal agreement along with an homage ceremony and the vassal’s taking an oath of allegiance to the lord (fua).

A synonym for feud is the term linen(from ancient German. lehn- “gift”). Initially, the term "flax" meant the same as beneficiary, that is, a conditional grant for a period. From the 12th century, flax became a hereditary grant from a large feudal lord to a smaller one, that is, it took on the features of a feud. In the course of fief grants, a hierarchical system of feudal land tenure in Western Europe finally emerged.

Lennik- a person who is in fief dependence on the overlord, the hereditary holder of the fief in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; owner of a fief in Western Europe. A vassal who is dependent on a lord.

With the development of commodity-money relations and the decline in the importance of the feudal militia of knights, the vassal's obligations towards the lord were transformed: instead of personal military service, the holder of the fief began to pay a certain cash annuity. In addition, the so-called monetary fiefs, when the knights were provided not with land, but with monetary support. This led to the death armored flax, that is, land holdings for personal military service to the lord.

In addition to land ownership, a feud could also represent any right - to collect road, bridge, ferry tolls, or the right of ownership of property that fell on the land of the feudal lord (“What fell from the cart was lost,” or things thrown ashore after shipwreck).

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Excerpt characterizing Feud

But when he said the last words about the Rostovs, the confusion in Princess Marya’s face was expressed even more strongly. She again ran her eyes from Pierre’s face to the face of the lady in a black dress and said:
- Don't you recognize it?
Pierre looked again at the pale, thin face of his companion, with black eyes and a strange mouth. Something dear, long forgotten and more than sweet looked at him from those attentive eyes.
“But no, this can’t be,” he thought. – Is this a stern, thin and pale, aged face? It can't be her. This is just a memory of that.” But at this time Princess Marya said: “Natasha.” And the face, with attentive eyes, with difficulty, with effort, like a rusty door opening, smiled, and from this open door it suddenly smelled and doused Pierre with that long-forgotten happiness, which, especially now, he did not think about. It smelled, engulfed and swallowed him all up. When she smiled, there could no longer be any doubt: it was Natasha, and he loved her.
In the very first minute, Pierre involuntarily told both her, Princess Marya, and, most importantly, himself a secret unknown to him. He blushed joyfully and painfully. He wanted to hide his excitement. But the more he wanted to hide it, the more clearly—more clearly than in the most definite words—he told himself, and her, and Princess Marya that he loved her.
“No, it’s just out of surprise,” thought Pierre. But just as he wanted to continue the conversation he had begun with Princess Marya, he looked at Natasha again, and an even stronger blush covered his face, and an even stronger emotion of joy and fear gripped his soul. He got lost in his words and stopped mid-speech.
Pierre did not notice Natasha, because he did not expect to see her here, but he did not recognize her because the change that had happened in her since he had not seen her was enormous. She lost weight and became pale. But this was not what made her unrecognizable: she could not be recognized in the first minute when he entered, because on this face, in whose eyes before there had always shone a hidden smile of the joy of life, now, when he entered and looked at her for the first time, there was no there was a hint of a smile; there were only eyes, attentive, kind and sadly questioning.
Pierre's embarrassment did not affect Natasha with embarrassment, but only with pleasure, which subtly illuminated her entire face.

“She came to visit me,” said Princess Marya. – The Count and Countess will be there one of these days. The Countess is in a terrible situation. But Natasha herself needed to see the doctor. She was forcibly sent with me.
– Yes, is there a family without its own grief? - Pierre said, turning to Natasha. – You know that it was on the very day we were released. I saw him. What a lovely boy he was.
Natasha looked at him, and in response to his words, her eyes only opened more and lit up.
– What can you say or think for consolation? - said Pierre. - Nothing. Why did such a nice boy, full of life, die?
“Yes, in our time it would be difficult to live without faith...” said Princess Marya.
- Yes Yes. “This is the true truth,” Pierre hastily interrupted.
- From what? – Natasha asked, looking carefully into Pierre’s eyes.
- How why? - said Princess Marya. – One thought about what awaits there...
Natasha, without listening to Princess Marya, again looked questioningly at Pierre.
“And because,” Pierre continued, “only that person who believes that there is a God who controls us can endure such a loss as hers and ... yours,” said Pierre.
Natasha opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but suddenly stopped. Pierre hastened to turn away from her and turned again to Princess Marya with a question about the last days of his friend’s life. Pierre's embarrassment had now almost disappeared; but at the same time he felt that all his former freedom had disappeared. He felt that over his every word and action there was now a judge, a court that was dearer to him than the court of all people in the world. He spoke now and, along with his words, reflected on the impression that his words made on Natasha. He did not deliberately say anything that might please her; but, no matter what he said, he judged himself from her point of view.

The Middle Ages is a special era, which has historically unique characteristics - heretics and the Inquisition, indulgences and alchemy, crusades and feudalism.

Who is a feudal lord? This definition and the concept of feudalism are discussed in more detail below.

Feudalism concept

Feudalism is a special system of land-legal relations that developed during the Middle Ages.

The basis of this form of relationship was the feudal lord. land allotment (feud). Each feudal lord received land along with the peasants from another, larger owner (seigneur), and from then on was considered his vassal. All vassals were in the military service of the lords and had to take up arms against his enemies at the first call.

Hierarchy

The hierarchy of feudalism was quite complex. To understand it, we first consider a simplified model of relations of 3 links: at the lowest level stood the peasant, the commoner, who was at the mercy of the owner - the feudal lord, over whom stood the monarch.

But a feudal lord is not just a person belonging to a certain stratum of society, he is part of a complex system. consists of lower knights - vassals who were in the service of higher lords. Each lord, in turn, was also someone's vassal. The head of state was the king.

The schematic chain of hierarchy can be presented in this form (from lowest to highest): peasant - knight (vassal 1) - lord 1 (vassal 2) - lord 2 (vassal 3) - lord 3 (vassal 4) - ... - king .

The main feature of the hierarchy was the fact that a large feudal lord did not have power over all lower vassals. The rule “my vassal’s vassal is not my vassal” was followed.

Customs of the feudal lords

All landowners, regardless of the size of their holdings, were not distinguished by economic efficiency. They did not try to increase their wealth through accumulation or improvement. What were the main ones that any feudal lord had? These are extortions from peasants, seizures, robberies. Everything obtained was spent on expensive clothes, luxurious furnishings and feasts.

Among the feudal lords there was a code of honor for the knight - courage, exploits, protection of the weak. However, other facts have been historically recorded: they everywhere showed rudeness, cruelty and waywardness. They considered themselves God's chosen ones and despised ordinary people.

The relationship between vassal and lord was complex. Often the newly elected vassal attacked his lord and seized his wealth, peasants and lands.

The difference between feudalism and the slave system

A feudal lord is not a slave owner. Slaves belonged to the owner and had no will or property of their own. The peasants who belonged to the feudal lord owned property, their own farm, which they managed independently - they could sell, donate, or exchange. For their piece of land, they paid the owner a rent, and he provided them with security.

The feudal lord could declare war on his neighbor, conclude a truce with him, organize military campaigns with the aim of capturing prisoners for whom he could receive a ransom, robbed other people's peasants, other landowners, and churches.

All this created a “state within a state” situation, weakening the power of the monarch and continental Europe as a whole, the majority of whose inhabitants were in poverty and hunger due to robberies on all sides.

What made him give it this name was the form of land ownership.

Until the 9th century. the normal type of ownership was allod, full ownership, without any tax, with an unconditional right of alienation. But since the owners distributed their lands in the form of holdings to peasants and in the form of fiefs to knights, there have been three methods of ownership: allod; fief, use subject to noble service; and holding (in the form of censorship, villenage and servage), use subject to payment of duties. Based on the common law of the Middle Ages, these possessions became hereditary, and three types of inheritance appeared. These forms of ownership can be combined, subordinate to one another: three different owners own the same land as a census, a fief and an allod, not counting the hereditary steward, who also has immutable rights. In this sense, the expressions “allod”, “fief”, “censive” are inaccurate; one should say: possession “in the form of an allod”, “in the form of a fief”, “in the form of a census”.

Homage. Medieval miniature

But the position of the owner was eventually attached to his plot, so that all land received an unchangeable quality, which passes to every new owner. Now these lands are already called censuses, villages, fiefs, allods, and since only a nobleman can own a fief, they began to distinguish between noble and non-noble lands. Non-noble land consists of peasant holdings; noble land is a reserve (indominicata) exploited by the noble owner of a fief or allod. A nobleman, having acquired a census, can no longer turn it into noble land; a peasant, owning a fief (when customary law allows him to do so), no longer deprives it of the quality of noble land.

Allod can be turned into a fief by the owner; a fief can no longer be turned into an allod. Therefore, allods are becoming less and less common. Finally, in the 13th century, especially in the north of France, they became so rare that allods were looked upon as an exceptional and implausible form of possession. It is sometimes called franc alleu(free allod), and they say that he is not guilty of anything and depends only on God; but its existence is believed only when formal evidence is presented, because everyone is sure that every land is either a fief or a holding: “Nulle terre sans seigneur” (There is no land without a lord). English lawyers say that there is only one owner - the king.

There are many more allods left in the south of France. When the English king took a census of his Duchy of Guienne in 1273, many nobles declared that they were not guilty of anything, or even that they were not obliged to answer the duke’s questions.

Right of feudal inheritance

Land is passed on through two opposing systems of inheritance. According to the ancient system, common to Roman law and Germanic customs, property is divided equally among children without distinction of sex. This rule continues to apply in the feudal era to allods, both noble and non-noble, and extends to all non-noble lands (burdened with duties that the heir - whoever he may be - may bear); they only distinguish - in the case when there are no children - hereditary land, which, as the property of the family, must return to the line from which it descends, and acquired land, the owner can dispose of it at will. This is common law.

On the contrary, in the inheritance of fiefs, the right of the heirs runs counter to the right of the lord. According to strict logic, the fief must be indivisible and be in the possession of an heir capable of serving: it passes entirely to the eldest and always to a man; the right of seniority and the exclusion of women are the hallmarks of feudal law. But the principle - more or less, depending on which country - gave way to universal custom: the younger were allowed to share the feudal inheritance with the elder (this is called parage), daughters – to inherit in the absence of sons. Only the eldest received a larger share and men had priority over female heirs of the same degree.

In addition, there are many other secondary feudal rights, when (as is usually the case) there are several degrees of vassals.

The extremely inaccurate language of the Middle Ages sometimes applies the concept of allod to fiefs when it wants to indicate that they are hereditary or that they are subject to minor duties.