List of forms of government
26-525: The Feudum Acinganorum was a fiefdom established around 1360 in Corfu , which mainly used Romani serfs and to which the Romanies on the island were subservient. This Romani -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Fiefdom A fief ( / f iː f / ; Latin : feudum ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of
52-424: A seigneur or "lord", 12th century), which gives rise to the expression "seigneurial system" to describe feudalism. Originally, vassalage did not imply the giving or receiving of landholdings (which were granted only as a reward for loyalty), but by the 8th century the giving of a landholding was becoming standard. The granting of a landholding to a vassal did not relinquish the lord's property rights, but only
78-623: A Seigneur or Dame that owns the fief. The Guernsey fiefs and seigneurs existed long before baronies, and are historically part of Normandy . While nobility has been outlawed in France and Germany, noble fiefs still exist by law in Guernsey. The owners of the fiefs actually convene each year at the Court of Chief Pleas under the supervision of His Majesty's Government. There are approximately 24 private fiefs in Guernsey that are registered directly with
104-469: A fighting band of vassals into distinct groups might roughly correlate with the new term " fief " that had started to supersede "benefice" in the 9th century. An "upper" group comprised great territorial magnates, who were strong enough to ensure the inheritance of their benefice to the heirs of their family. A "lower" group consisted of landless knights attached to a count or duke . This social settling process also received impetus in fundamental changes in
130-598: A form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal , who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal allegiance, services or payments. The fees were often lands, land revenue or revenue-producing real property like a watermill , held in feudal land tenure : these are typically known as fiefs or fiefdoms . However, not only land but anything of value could be held in fee, including governmental office, rights of exploitation such as hunting, fishing or felling trees, monopolies in trade, money rents and tax farms . There never existed
156-485: A land grant in exchange for service continued to be called a beneficium (Latin). Later, the term feudum , or feodum , began to replace beneficium in the documents. The first attested instance of this is from 984, although more primitive forms were seen up to one hundred years earlier. The origin of the feudum and why it replaced beneficium has not been well established, but there are multiple theories, described below. The most widely held theory
182-549: A standard feudal system, nor did there exist only one type of fief. Over the ages, depending on the region, there was a broad variety of customs using the same basic legal principles in many variations. In ancient Rome, a " benefice " (from the Latin noun beneficium , meaning "benefit") was a gift of land ( precaria ) for life as a reward for services rendered, originally, to the state. In medieval Latin European documents,
208-425: A vassal often included military support by knights in exchange for certain privileges, usually including land held as a tenant or fief . The term is also applied to similar arrangements in other feudal societies. In contrast, fealty ( fidelitas ) was sworn, unconditional loyalty to a monarch. In fully developed vassalage, the lord and the vassal would take part in a commendation ceremony composed of two parts,
234-437: Is first attested around 1250–1300 (Middle English); the word "fief" from around 1605–1615. In French, the term fief is found from the middle of the 13th century (Old French), derived from the 11th-century terms feu , fie . The odd appearance of the second f in the form fief may be due to influence from the verb fiever 'to grant in fee'. In French, one also finds seigneurie (land and rights possessed by
260-559: Is put forth by Marc Bloch that it is related to the Frankish term *fehu-ôd , in which *fehu means "cattle" and -ôd means "goods", implying "a moveable object of value". When land replaced currency as the primary store of value , the Germanic word *fehu-ôd replaced the Latin word beneficium . This Germanic origin theory was also shared by William Stubbs in the 19th century. A theory put forward by Archibald R. Lewis
286-518: Is that the origin of 'fief' is not feudum (or feodum ), but rather foderum , the earliest attested use being in Astronomus 's Vita Hludovici (840). In that text is a passage about Louis the Pious which says "annona militaris quas vulgo foderum vocant" , which can be translated as "(Louis forbade that) military provender which they popularly call 'fodder' (be furnished)." In
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#1732773314448312-472: The homage and the fealty , including the use of Christian sacraments to show its sacred importance. According to Eginhard 's brief description, the commendatio made to Pippin the Younger in 757 by Tassilo III, Duke of Bavaria , involved the relics of Saints Denis, Rusticus, Éleuthère , Martin , and Germain – apparently assembled at Compiegne for the event. Such refinements were not included from
338-405: The 10th and 11th centuries the Latin terms for 'fee' could be used either to describe dependent tenure held by a man from his lord, as the term is used now by historians, or it could mean simply "property" (the manor was, in effect, a small fief). It lacked a precise meaning until the middle of the 12th century, when it received formal definition from land lawyers. In English usage, the word "fee"
364-494: The Crown. Vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch , in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe . While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain . The rights and obligations of a vassal are called vassalage , while the rights and obligations of a suzerain are called suzerainty . The obligations of
390-499: The actual territory of the monarch. In this framework, a "formal colony" or "junior ally" might also be regarded as a vassal state in terms of international relations, analogous to a domestic "fief-holder" or "trustee". The concept of a vassal state uses the concept of personal vassalry to theorize formally hegemonic relationships between states – even those using non-personal forms of rule. Imperial states to which this terminology has been applied include, for instance: Ancient Rome ,
416-488: The conduct of warfare. As co-ordinated cavalry superseded disorganized infantry , armies became more expensive to maintain. A vassal needed economic resources to equip the cavalry he was bound to contribute to his lord to fight his frequent wars. Such resources, in the absence of a money economy, came only from land and its associated assets, which included peasants as well as wood and water. Many empires have set up vassal states , based on tribes, kingdoms, or city-states,
442-417: The documents) for the life of the vassal, or, sometimes extending to the second or third generation. By the middle of the 10th century, fee had largely become hereditary. The eldest son of a deceased vassal would inherit, but first he had to do homage and fealty to the lord and pay a " relief " for the land (a monetary recognition of the lord's continuing proprietary rights over the property). Historically,
468-600: The fees of the 11th and the 12th century derived from two separate sources. The first was land carved out of the estates of the upper nobility. The second source was allodial land transformed into dependent tenures. During the 10th century in northern France and the 11th century in France south of the Loire , local magnates either recruited or forced the owners of allodial holdings into dependent relationships and they were turned into fiefs. The process occurred later in Germany, and
494-573: The outset when it was time of crisis, war, hunger, etc. Feudal society was increasingly based on the concept of "lordship" (French seigneur ), which was one of the distinguishing features of the Early Middle Ages and had evolved from times of Late Antiquity . In the time of Charlemagne (ruled 768–814), the connection slowly developed between vassalage and the grant of land, the main form of wealth at that time. Contemporaneous social developments included agricultural " manorialism " and
520-478: The right of high justice, etc.) in their lands, and some passed these rights to their own vassals. The privilege of minting official coins developed into the concept of seigniorage . In 13th-century Germany, Italy, England, France, and Spain the term "feodum" was used to describe a dependent tenure held from a lord by a vassal in return for a specified amount of knight service and occasional financial payments ( feudal incidents ). However, knight service in war
546-554: The service of mercenaries . A list of several hundred such fees held in chief between 1198 and 1292, along with their holders' names and form of tenure, was published in three volumes between 1920 and 1931 and is known as The Book of Fees ; it was developed from the 1302 Testa de Nevill . The Bailiwick of Guernsey is a group of several of the Channel Islands that is a Crown Dependency . Guernsey still has feudal law and legal fiefs in existence today. Each fief has
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#1732773314448572-452: The social and legal structures labelled — but only since the 18th century — " feudalism ". These developments proceeded at different rates in various regions. In Merovingian times (5th century to 752), monarchs would reward only the greatest and most trusted vassals with lands. Even at the most extreme devolution of any remnants of central power, in 10th-century France, the majority of vassals still had no fixed estates. The stratification of
598-461: The subjects of which they wish to control without having to conquer or directly govern them. In these cases a subordinate state (such as a dependency , residency , client state or protectorate ) has retained internal autonomy, but has lost independence in foreign policy, while also, in many instances, paying formal tribute , or providing troops when requested. This is a similar relationship to vassals, but vassals hold fiefdoms which are present in
624-413: The use of the lands and their income; the granting lord retained ultimate ownership of the fee and could, technically, recover the lands in case of disloyalty or death. In Francia , Charles Martel was the first to make large-scale and systematic use (the practice had remained sporadic until then) of the remuneration of vassals by the concession of the usufruct of lands (a beneficatium or " benefice " in
650-400: Was far less common than: A lord in late 12th-century England and France could also claim the right of: In northern France in the 12th and 13th centuries, military service for fiefs was limited for offensive campaigns to 40 days for a knight. By the 12th century, English and French kings and barons began to commute military service for cash payments ( scutages ), with which they could purchase
676-479: Was still going on in the 13th century. In England, Henry II transformed them into important sources of royal income and patronage. The discontent of barons with royal claims to arbitrarily assessed "reliefs" and other feudal payments under Henry's son King John resulted in Magna Carta of 1215. Eventually, great feudal lords sought also to seize governmental and legal authority (the collection of taxes,
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