Feudalism arose at the turn of antiquity and the Middle Ages. Society could come to a similar system of relations in two ways. In the first case, the feudal state appeared on the site of a decaying slave state. That is how medieval Europe developed . The second way was the transition to feudalism from the primitive community, when the clan nobility, leaders or elders became large owners of the most important resources - livestock and land. In a similar way, the aristocracy and the enslaved peasantry were born.
The formation of feudalism
At the turn of antiquity and the Middle Ages, leaders and tribal military leaders became kings, the councils of elders were transformed into councils of close ones, the militias were reformatted into standing armies and squads. Although each nation had a feudal state in its own way, on the whole this historical process proceeded equally. The spiritual and secular nobility lost their ancient features, a large land ownership was formed.
At the same time, the rural community was decomposing, and free peasants were losing their will. They fell into dependence on the feudal lords or the state itself. Their key difference from slaves was that dependent peasants could have their own small household and some personal tools.
Peasant exploitation
The feudal fragmentation of the state, which was so detrimental to the integrity of the country, was based on the principle of feudal property. On it the relations of serfs and landlords were built - the dependence of the former on the latter.
The exploitation of one social class by another was carried out by collecting mandatory feudal rent (there were three types of rent). The first type was corvée. Under her, the peasant pledged to work out the established number of working days per week. The second type is natural quitrent. Under him, the peasant was required to give part of his harvest to the feudal lord (and part of the produce from the artisan). The third type was cash rent (or cash rent). Under her, artisans and peasants paid lords in foreign currency.
The feudal state was built not only on economic, but also on non-economic exploitation of the oppressed strata of the population. Often such coercion resulted in open violence. Some of its forms were registered and fixed as legal methods of circumvention in the legislation. It was thanks to the support of the state that the power of the feudal lords lasted several centuries, when the situation of the rest of the layers of society often remained simply disastrous. The central government systematically oppressed and suppressed the masses, protecting private property and the socio-political superiority of the aristocracy.
Medieval political hierarchy
Why were the feudal states of Europe so resistant to the challenges of the times? One of the reasons is a strict hierarchy of political and public relations. If the peasants obeyed the landowners, then they, in turn, obeyed even more influential landowners. The crown of this characteristic construction of its time was the monarch.
The vassal dependence of some feudal lords on others allowed even a weakly centralized state to maintain its borders. In addition, even if large landowners (dukes, counts, princes) were in conflict with each other, they could be united by a common threat. As such, external invasions and wars (invasions of nomads in Russia, foreign intervention in Western Europe) usually performed. Thus, the feudal fragmentation of the state paradoxically split the countries and helped them survive various disasters.
As within society and in the external international arena, nominal central authority was not a vehicle for the interests of the ruling class, but the nation. In any wars with neighbors, kings could not do without the militia, which came to them in the form of detachments of younger feudal lords. Often, monarchs went to external conflict only to satisfy the demands of their elite. In the war against the neighboring country, the feudal looters robbed and profited, leaving huge fortunes in their pockets. Often through armed conflict, the dukes and counts seized control of trade in the region.
Taxes and church
The gradual development of the feudal state always entailed the growth of the state apparatus. This mechanism was supported by fines from the population, large taxes, duties and taxes. All this money was taken from urban residents and artisans. Therefore, even if a citizen was not dependent on the feudal lord, he had to give up his own welfare in favor of those in power.
Another pillar on which the feudal state stood was the church. The power of religious leaders in the Middle Ages was considered equal to or even greater power of the monarch (king or emperor). In the arsenal of the church were ideological, political and economic means of influencing the population. This organization not only defended the religious worldview itself, but remained on guard of the state during the period of feudal fragmentation.
The church was a unique connecting link between different parts of a divided medieval society. Regardless of whether the person was a peasant, military or feudal lord, he was considered a Christian, which means that he obeyed the pope (or the patriarch). That is why the church had opportunities that were not available to any secular authority.
Religious hierarchs excommunicated those who were objectionable and could prohibit worship on the territory of feudal lords with whom they had a conflict. Such measures were effective instruments of pressure on medieval European politics. The feudal fragmentation of the Old Russian state in this sense did not differ much from orders in the West. The figures of the Orthodox Church often became mediators between the conflicting and warring princes.
The development of feudalism
The most common political system in medieval society was the monarchy. Less common were the republics that were characteristic of certain regions: Germany, Northern Russia and Northern Italy.
The early feudal state (V-IX centuries), as a rule, was a monarchy in which the ruling class of feudal lords was just beginning to take shape. He rallied around royalty. It was during this period that the first large medieval European states were formed, including the monarchy of the Franks.
Kings in those centuries were weak and nominal figures. Their vassals (princes and dukes) were recognized as "younger", but actually enjoyed independence. The formation of the feudal state took place along with the formation of the classic feudal strata: younger knights, middle barons and large counts.
In the X-XIII centuries, vassal-seignorial monarchies were characteristic of Europe. During this period, the feudal state and law led to the heyday of medieval production in subsistence farming. Political fragmentation finally took shape. There was a key rule of feudal relations: "the vassal of my vassal is not my vassal." Each major landowner had obligations only to his immediate lord. If the feudal lord violated the rules of the vassalage, he would be fined at best, and war at worst.
Centralization
In the fourteenth century, the pan-European process of centralizing power began. The Old Russian feudal state in this period turned out to be dependent on the Golden Horde, however, despite this, the struggle for the unification of the country around one principality was in full swing within it. The main opponents in the fateful confrontation were Moscow and Tver.
Then in the western countries (France, Germany, Spain) the first representative bodies appeared: General States, Reichstag, Cortes. The central state power was gradually strengthened, and the monarchs concentrated in their hands all the new levers of society management. Kings and grand dukes relied on the urban population, as well as on the middle and small nobility.
The end of feudalism
Large landowners, as they could, resisted the strengthening of the monarchs. The feudal state of Russia survived several bloody civil wars before the Moscow princes managed to establish control over most of the country. Similar processes took place in Europe and even in other parts of the world (for example, in Japan, where there were also large landowners).
Feudal fragmentation was a thing of the past in the 16th-17th centuries, when absolute monarchies took shape in Europe with a complete concentration of power in the hands of kings. The rulers performed judicial, fiscal and legislative functions. In their hands were large professional armies and a significant bureaucratic machine, with the help of which they controlled the situation in their countries. The estate-representative organs have lost their former meaning. Some remnants of feudal relations in the form of serfdom were preserved in the village until the 19th century.
Of the Republic
In addition to monarchies, in the Middle Ages there were aristocratic republics. They were another peculiar form of the feudal state. In Russia, trade republics formed in Novgorod and Pskov, in Italy - in Florence, Venice and some other cities.
The supreme power in them belonged to the collective city councils, which included representatives of the local nobility. The most important control levers belonged to merchants, clergy, wealthy artisans and landowners. The Soviets controlled all city affairs: trade, military, diplomatic, etc.
Princes and veche
As a rule, the republics had a rather modest territory. In Germany, they were generally limited to lands that were closely adjacent to the city. At the same time, each feudal republic had its own sovereignty, monetary system, court, tribunal, and army. At the head of the army (as in Pskov or Novgorod) could be a guest prince.
In the Russian republics there was also a veche - a city-wide council of free citizens on which domestic economic (and sometimes foreign policy) issues were resolved. These were the medieval shoots of democracy, although they did not abolish the supreme power of the aristocratic elite. Nevertheless, the existence of many interests of different segments of the population often led to the emergence of internal conflicts and civil strife.
Regional features of feudalism
Each major European country had its own feudal features. France is considered the universally recognized homeland of the system of vassal relations, which, in addition, in the 9th century was the center of the Frankish Empire. Classical medieval feudalism was brought to England by the Norman conquerors in the 11th century. Later than others, this political and economic system took shape in Germany. Among the Germans, the development of feudalism was faced with the opposite process of monarchist integration, which gave rise to many conflicts (the opposite was France, where feudalism had developed before the centralized monarchy).
Why is this so? In Germany, the Hohenstaufen dynasty ruled, which tried to build an empire with a rigid hierarchy, where each lower step would obey the upper one. However, the kings did not have their own stronghold - a solid base that would give them financial independence. King Frederick I tried to make Northern Italy such a monarchical domain, but there he came into conflict with the Pope. The wars between the central government and the feudal lords in Germany lasted two centuries. Finally, in the 13th century, the imperial title became elective rather than hereditary, losing a chance of supremacy over large landowners. Germany for a long time turned into a complex archipelago from independent principalities.
Unlike the northern neighbor, in Italy the formation of feudalism has been accelerated since the early Middle Ages. In this country, an independent city municipal government has been preserved as a heritage of antiquity, which eventually became the basis of political fragmentation. If France, Germany and Spain after the collapse of the Roman Empire were massively inhabited by foreign barbarians, then in Italy the old traditions have not disappeared. Soon, large cities became centers of lucrative Mediterranean trade.
The church in Italy was the successor to the former senatorial aristocracy. Until the 11th century, bishops were often key city administrators on the Apennine Peninsula. The exceptional influence of the church was shaken by wealthy merchants. They created independent communes, hired external administrators and conquered the rural district. So around the most successful cities their own possessions developed, where municipalities collected taxes and grain. As a result of the above processes, numerous aristocratic republics arose in Italy, which split the country into many small pieces.