Feudal Dues Definitionįeudal dues referred to the various taxes that were imposed by the king or the other sections of aristocracy on landowners below.įor instance, a king imposed a number of special taxes on the lands of his own tenants. Clerics were granted tenure under a different category called frankalmoigne. The fee-farm kind of feudal tenure allowed an individual to collect revenues on a certain portion of land and pay a fixed rent to the Crown. Similarly, other feudal tenure came with the condition of service as a knight or as a castle guard at the local castle. The highest among these was the barony, under which the land was granted to a feudal baron who provided military service and fighters in return. Feudal Tenure Definitionįeudal tenure refers to the agreement or contract which overlooked the land granted by the king or the prince directly to an individual.ĭifferent forms of feudal tenure existed in European feudalism. The land held by the tenant was considered his for a certain tenure and the king or prince who had granted it could take it back in the future. Sometimes, the tenants would hand out portions of his lands to further sub-tenants. The tenant was a unique landholder in the feudal society in that he didn’t have another lord above him on the social ladder but was directly responsible to the king or the prince. Moreover, the military formation of the society greatly depended on the feudal system where each lord or noble on the lower rung of the ladder was to provide fighters for the lord or noble above him. The peasant was at the lowest rung of the social ladder, who provided labor to the landowner and in some cases was allowed to hold some land.Ī characteristic feature of feudal society was the private jurisdiction of a noble or lord on the land he owned.
The social status of any given individual was derived from the amount of land he held. In a feudal society, the social relationships between different classes of the society were dictated by their landholdings. A Mesne tenant could further portion his land between further mesne tenants. The vassal granted land to these mesne tenants. Under the vassal came the mesne tenant who was mostly a knight and only occasionally a baron. The King directly granted land to this vassal. Under the King came the vassal of the King, who was usually a baron or a lord. At the top of the pyramid was the King who was considered the true owner of all land. In the classical form of feudalism, the power structure was shaped like a pyramid. In exchange for land holdings, lords owed allegiance to nobles and helped them in wars, and nobles owed similar allegiances to the king. The King granted land to nobles, the nobles granted land to the lord and lords had peasants, slaves, or serfs cultivate this land. Moreover, relationships between different classes were based on land exchange. In this power structure, the power of an individual was directly tied to the amount of land he held. The Feudal system was a power structure that existed primarily during medieval times in Europe. Feudal System What was the Feudal System?
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