What was the importance of feudalism?

Answer 1

Feudalism was the primary political system of the Middle Ages. The system came about, for the most part, because during his reign of England, King William had two major woes: he couldn't keep the people from rebelling and he couldn't take care of all the land. In order to solve these problems, William created the Feudal system, in which he would give out sections of land, called fiefs, to his most important nobles, his barons, and his bishops in exchange for their services and their loyalty. Peasants, or "serfs" were considered to be the lowest of the lower class, and rather than being given land in exchange for loyalty, they were forced to work the land, and the Lord of that land would offer them protection.

Under the feudal system, everyone but the king had a ruling lord above him to which he owed loyalty and service in exchange for land and protection. The brilliance of this system is that it "killed two birds with one stone", solving both of the king's problems because he now had control over the people and the land. Though brilliant in its conception, the practicalities of this system eluded William. He could not see that he was primarily the only one to benefit from this oppressive system, and that whenever only one person benefits at the expense of thousands of other people, something is eventually going to have to "give". William threw diplomacy and public relations out the window in order to devise a quick-fix to rectify his own failures and inability to properly rule his country. Feudalism's biased hierarchy of authority, rights, and power extended from the monarch downwards, creating an intricate network of obligatory situations that infringed on almost every basic human right. Despite its many shortcomings, Feudalism was backed by a complex legal system and supported by the Christian church. However, with the growth of commerce and industry, feudalism gradually gave way to the class system as the dominant form of social ranking.