Essay On Feudal System

Humanities Writing Assignment

How Smart and Fair was the Feudal System?

In the middle ages, the way that land was ruled and controlled was very different from the way our land is dealt with in the present day. They had something called the ‘Feudal System’, which was basically a series of grants of land in return for services and supplies. The whole system was based on loyalty, especially in the upper classes

At the top of the rankings within the Feudal System was the King, who owned all the land in the country over which he governed. Naturally, he couldn’t control and farm it all, so he granted some of it to the highest ranking of his nobles and members of the church- barons, bishops, etc. In return, these people had to provide the King

However, I do believe that, in some ways, the Feudal System was fair. For example, even though the peasants had to work hard- especially villeins, who had to work at least three days a week on the demesne, as well as paying money instead of completing services. Peasants do get their own land to farm and they get a house and protection. Freemen, only had to do a bit of work, but they did have to work on their own farms whilst farming the demesne to achieve that status and privilege. But, in reality, I believe that the peasants had to do a lot of work and didn’t get much compensation, the majority of the time. On top of work and the complementary payments, the villeins also had to get permission to have their daughters marry and had to pay money for the ‘privilege’. They would also have to pay money if the land was passed from the parents to their children. Sometimes, instead of money the payments would be in the form of supplies from the peasants own lands. Even the freemen weren’t completely free. But then again, perhaps, for them, the hard work and lack of freedom wasn’t much of a price to pay for protection and