Feudalism

Feudalism is a form of government that existed in Medieval Europe and Japan. It is extremely complex, and can not only be very confusing, but is often times confused with monarchy. I hope to break it down here to help people understand.

Primary understanding. Feudalism is based upon a pledge or promise. One will promise to serve someone and in exchange they will recieve protection. Now the problem with this is that everyone says it is based upon land, which is true as well, hopefully it will all become clear. Those that pledge to serve are called Vassals. Those that Protect are Lords. Secondary understanding: Society is broken down into multiple classes, and classes within classes. The three major groups are Royalty, Nobility, and Peasantry. Some allow vertical movement (gaining promotions so to speak) others allow no movement. (see class list below). Generally one can move up or down within their main group, but can not cross over groups. Payment to nobles and knights is made in land and the peasents work the land.
 * Protectors=Lord || Servants=Vassals ||

For more clarification look at the chart below
 * < Royalty ||< These are the members of families that can become Kings and Queens, if one doesn't have royal blood, one better have a strong army. ||
 * < Nobility ||< These are the people who serve the king and queen, there are many levels of Nobility, the highest are Dukes and also generally have some Royal blood, but not much. The lowest are Knights, the common soldier during this time. All Nobles are above every Peasent. ||
 * < Peasentry ||< These are the common people. They work the land, are skilled workers and merchants and in some cases are Serfs (which is one step above slave). Occasionally they serve as basic infantry or archers in Army's. ||

Ok, now that we understand the class system, we need to understand society and life during this time. In short, It's horrible. There is no strong government, no police, no firefighters, no education, no medicine. This period of time is often referred to as the Dark Ages to give you an idea of its misery. Europe is invaded by very violent groups in the Vikings and Mongols and the Muslims are moving North. The majority of people are poor and uneducated with nothing to offer but themselves. In addition a lord can not stand by himself and needs allies to help in times of need. It is this kind of society that brings this kind of government to fruition. If you put yourself in this situation understanding you have a family to try and defend with no chance of successfully defending it, what do you do? You have nothing to trade that is worth anything but yourself and your family. Your land has no value because the lords and knights can just take it.

So what happens is people pledge their life and their family's life in servitude (This pledge goes on throughout generations) for ever in return for protection. Now this stands for as longs the the promise is kept, if someone stops serving they are no longer protected and are removed from the land. If people stop protecting, the peasentry are allowed to leave or nobles are allowed to switch sides. This applies to Kings as well.

So first we must determine two things about a person in order to understand feudalism. What class are they, Royal, Noble, peasent. and then what role do they serve (vassal, lord). They must belong to both, but can belong to multiple ones within each. So below is a list of examples attempt to determine what each belong to.

Circle all that apply.
 * 1. King Henry the VIII -- || - Vassal/Lord --- || - Royalty/Nobility/Peasant -- ||
 * 2. Duke of Salsbury || Vassal/Lord - || - Royalty/Nobility/Peasant -- ||
 * 3. John the Blacksmith || - Vassal/Lord - || - Royalty/Nobility/Peasant -- ||
 * 4. Sir Hector the Knight --- || - Vassal/Lord - || - Royalty/Nobility/Peasant -- ||
 * 5. Bill the lowly serf - || - Vassal/Lord - || - Royalty/Nobility/Peasant -- ||
 * 6. King Harold of Scotland who has sworn fealty to the King of England. || - Vassal/Lord - || - Royalty/Nobility/Peasant -- ||

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