What are characteristics of medieval European feudalism?

Answer 1

The features of feudalism are as follows:

1.Feudalism was based on land owner-ships.

2.The higher classes gave protection the lower classes in return for a amount of their crops or services.

3.Feudalism represents a low level technique in which the instruments of the production are simple and generally inexpensive.

4.The act of production is largely individual in nature.

5.It is not the result of complex division of labour

Alright, the feudal system was centered around a hierarchy like this

At the top: King

Next: Lord

Next: Knight

Last: Serf/ sharecropper guy.

What happens is that the knight will give the serf a place to live, some land, and necessities for survival if he will give a majority of his earnings to the knight. The lord then gives pieces of land, called fiefs, to the knight in exchange for loyalty and protection. Finally, the king will gives fiefs to the lords in exchange for their loyalty and protection [the knights]. This really discouraged commerce, so the farming techniques were low level, and earnings were generally not high.

Answer 2

Feudalism has three main characteristics. The first is that there are lords, and the lords have peasants that work for them. The second is that there are knights, and the knights have different class levels, starting at a squire, or an apprentice for another knight. The last is that there is a church with a priest that has a strong grip on the area or kingdom.

Answer 3

The medieval period is Europe was characterised by a form of social organisation known as "feudalism." This was a complex system of rights and obligations, under which land was held in return for service to the landowner. Under feudalism, medieval society formed a pyramid, with the King at the top. The King theoretically owned all the land in the country, parcelling it out to the lords, in exchange for (mainly military) support. As well as the land, the lord obtained rights to control its use and enforce the law within its boundaries. In turn, the lords delegated land to their subordinates, in exchange for the subordinates' promised service to the lord, and so on, until the level of the peasants, who actually worked the land. Typically, the peasant tenant's rent obligations involved working on the lord's demesne and/or giving part of their crop to the lord, with further obligation to fight for the lord when required. After the drastic fall in population due to the Black Death, money rents came to replace work on the lord's demesne.

The Norman conquesthe 1066 invasion was the most significant factor in shaping the development of British feudalism. However, even in those areas where Norman power was strongest - the agriculturally productive South and East - the distinctions between royalty and barons and knights were not very sharp until the end of the 16th century. In the North and West, older patterns of social relations tended to persist to some degree until the 16th century. In these areas, the basis of power was not rooted not so much in power over the distribution of land but in control of a kin goup.1 Lords

Feudal lordship was hereditary, with feudal rights and duties passing automatically to the eldest son on the lord's death. A lord was tied to his subordinates, and vice versa, through ties that might extend across several generations. A lord must be closely involved with his people. He lived in the territory which he held or risked losing it. An essential feature of the feudal system was that political and economic

Answer 4

Well basically there is only one that I know of right now..... If you don't trust me to bad for you! I am in a honors social studies class and i am the smartest out of everyone

ANSWER: A characteristic of European Feudalism was land in exchange for military services

Answer 5

1. The absence of a strong central authority, and the diffusion of governmental power through the granting of administrative and legal authority over particular lands (fiefs) by higher lords (including the king) to vassals sworn by voluntary oath to support or serve them, usually (though not exclusively) by military means.
2. The obligation attached to particular holdings of land that the peasant household should supply the lord with specified labour services or a part of its output (or cash in lieu thereof) subject to the custom of the holding.
3. An overwhelmingly agrarian economy, with limited money exchange, necessitating the dispersion of political authority and the substitution of arrangements involving economic support from local resources.

Answer 6

If we think of this in layers it may make it easier to understand. The status of nobility was from birth and ancestry, but wasconfirmed by "living nobly", in otherwords, by the sword. The function was the practice of arms. This was the function assigned to the second of the three estates established by God, each with a given task for the good of the whole. The nearest to God was the clergy. They were divided into two levels, the cloistered and the secular. Presiding over both was the abbots, bishops, and archbishops. The third estate was divided between employers and workers. This covered lawyers, doctors, craftsmen, day laborers, and peasants. The nobility lumped all of these people together as "common" people. The noble was suppose to protect the people of his estates, to combat tyranny, and the cultivate virtue. From the ownership of land and revenues the nobles had the right to exercise authority over all non nobles of his estates except the clergy and the merchants who were citizens of a free town. A squire belonged to the nobility by birth and this was the same for the serf. Both of them were born to it and belonged to the estate. The squire had a chance to move up into knighthood, but the serf was always a serf and so was his children. The level of each person's rank could be seen by what they wore. Fabric, color, fur trimming, ornaments and jewels were set for every rank and income level. Peasants could wear any color but black and brown. In Florence doctors were allowed to wear ermine, but merchant wives couldn't wear multicolored, striped, pr checked gowns, brocades, velvets and fabrics with silver and gold. The peasants who worked the manor were forced to pay for anything they needed. They paid for the seeds, the use of the grinder, the cider press, the use of the land. When there was a war they were called upon to fight the war, turn their tools into weapons and still pay taxes to the manor and the church. Above all of this was the church. It gave the answers, it was the central institution that gave meaning to life and it affirmed that man's life on earth was a passage on the way to God. Life was nothing, but a 'weary journey". The church offered salvation and that could only be reached with the rituals of the established church and the priests. No one doubted in the middle ages that everyone was eternally damned. This was the basics of life in the system of the middle ages. For the sake of time and space I have given a brief outline of a complicated system.

Answer 7

Land was exchanged for military service and obligations.

Answer 8

feudalism