ABSTRACT
Character of Feudalism.—As a political system, feudalism may be regarded alternatively as a government of landowners or a government of soldiers. When the central monarchies of Europe became too weak to protect their subjects against the inroads of barbarians like the Northmen or the Hungarians, this duty was undertaken perforce by the powerful landowners in each district, who became practically sovereigns within their own domains. The political system of Europe underwent a radical change. Organized states like the Carolingian Empire broke up into loose federations. Particularism verging on anarchy took the place of centralized government. The predominantly military character of feudalism is easily accounted for in an age when defence was the most pressing need of society. Its close connexion with the land is explained by the stage of economic development which Europe had then reached. In an agrarian society the simplest way to provide for a governing class is to quarter it on the land. The feudal soldiery who governed Europe in the early Middle Ages were endowed with estates tilled for their benefit by servile or semi-servile peasants. Thus, in the person of the medieval baron, the three functions or capacities of military leader, political administrator and agricultural landlord were intimately blended, so that in practice it became difficult to distinguish between private property rights and rights of public sovereignty. Under feudalism, a landowner was a public functionary, simply because he was a landowner. A man’s social status depended on his position on the land; conversely, land tenure determined political rights and duties.
