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Origins of feudalismFeudalism began as a contract under which military service was given in exchange for the use and occupation of land. However, it turned into a vast system of hereditary privilege and largely lost its contractual character (except as a legal fiction). Another AnswerThe term "feudalism" is not clearly defined, and there are historians who want to make it obsolete for that reason. The answer to this question depends on what definition is used.

The origins of the manorial system can be traced back to the Roman Empire, and the origins of the feudal hierarchy are natural in a state dependent on military structures or similar command structures for distribution of power. Using a definition that combines manorialism and a hierarchical command structure would make feudalism merely the product of systems already in use in the Roman Empire. All that is needed to complete it is rewarding members of the hierarchy with manors appropriate to their station.

If we use the narrow view, that feudalism is a system characterized by a weak central government and a need to respond more quickly to emergencies than such a government can act, then the system of feudalism originated in the time of the decline of the Carolingian Empire, with a hundred years of the death of Charlemagne, when the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire were rising to take its place. During this time, the central governments of both of these later states were weak and in a turmoil, and the various areas within them were under constant threat of attacks from such groups as the Vikings.

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15y ago

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