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AnswerSome people had some strength, and the wherewithal to build fortresses, and the others needed protection, eventually, the serfs needed to be protected, even from their own lords, who would have them attacked if they didn't pay the taxes, and comply with the other rules. AnswerThe bottom line on feudalism is that it developed because of a need for security when a strong central government was not in place to provide it, and this was the condition of much of Europe of the Middle Ages.

Some of the elements of feudalism were established during the Roman Empire. These elements involved a feudal pyramid of power, and the manorial system, with the serfs at the lowest level, provided a foundation for the rest of the system of power. The bondage of the coloni, free tenant farmers, to the soil they worked was legislated by Constantine the Great in 332, and this persisted into the Middle Ages because the Germanic kingdoms that occupied the West Roman Empire saw the people they had conquered as still of that empire and subject to its laws.

The rest of the feudal pyramid included ranks of nobility, with lords of manors at the level above serfs, and successively greater lords above them until there was a monarch at the top. The thing that made this practical was a comparatively large country with a weak central government. If the government was powerful enough to govern directly, as through a bureaucracy, then the feudal pyramid became an unnecessary encumbrance.

The chaos of the invasions, and the development of kingdoms when migrating tribes settled did not allow the maintenance of strong central governments as had been under the early Roman emperors. Charlemagne did produce a strong Empire in the Carolingian empire, but in the face of Viking raids and internal strife, it failed within only a few generations, and was divided into two realms, the kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire. Both of these had weak central governments.

Prior to the invasion of William the Conqueror, the governments of England were rather strong, relative to the size of the country. The invasion produced a situation where the nobility could quickly find themselves under siege from their tenants, so naturally, they did not trust them. This produced a perception that feudalism was necessary, so for a couple centuries England was also feudal.

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Ressie Okuneva

Lvl 13
3y ago

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