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Under the system of feudalism
Feudalism

Feudalism, a term first used in the early modern period , in its most classic sense refers to a Middle Ages European political system composed of a set of reciprocal law and military obligations among the warrior nobility, revolving around the three key concepts of lords, vassals, and fiefs....
, a fiefdom, fief, feud, feoff, or fee, often consisted of inheritable
Inheritance

Inheritance is the practice of passing on property, Title s, debts, and obligations upon the death of an individual. It has long played an important role in human societies....
 lands or revenue-producing property granted by a liege
Allegiance

An allegiance is a duty of fidelity said to be owed by a subject or a citizen to his/her state or Monarch....
 lord
Lord

Lord is a title with various meanings. It can denote a Prince#Prince_as_a_generic_word_for_ruler or a Examples of feudalism . The title today is mostly used in connection with the peerage of the United Kingdom or its predecessor countries, although some users of the title do not themselves hold peerages, and use it 'Courtesy titles in the U...
, generally to a vassal
Vassal

A vassal in the terminology that both preceded and accompanied the feudal of medieval Europe, is one who enters into mutual obligations with a monarch, usually of military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain guarantees, which came to include the terrain held as a fiefdom....
, in return for a form of allegiance, originally to give him the means to fulfill his military duties when called upon. However anything of value could be held in fief, such as an office, a right of exploitation (e.g., hunting, fishing) or any other type of revenue, rather than the land it comes from.

Originally, the feudal institution of vassal
Vassal

A vassal in the terminology that both preceded and accompanied the feudal of medieval Europe, is one who enters into mutual obligations with a monarch, usually of military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain guarantees, which came to include the terrain held as a fiefdom....
age did not imply the giving/receiving of landholdings (which were granted only as a reward for loyalty), but by the eighth century the giving of a landholding was becoming standard.






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Encyclopedia


Under the system of feudalism
Feudalism

Feudalism, a term first used in the early modern period , in its most classic sense refers to a Middle Ages European political system composed of a set of reciprocal law and military obligations among the warrior nobility, revolving around the three key concepts of lords, vassals, and fiefs....
, a fiefdom, fief, feud, feoff, or fee, often consisted of inheritable
Inheritance

Inheritance is the practice of passing on property, Title s, debts, and obligations upon the death of an individual. It has long played an important role in human societies....
 lands or revenue-producing property granted by a liege
Allegiance

An allegiance is a duty of fidelity said to be owed by a subject or a citizen to his/her state or Monarch....
 lord
Lord

Lord is a title with various meanings. It can denote a Prince#Prince_as_a_generic_word_for_ruler or a Examples of feudalism . The title today is mostly used in connection with the peerage of the United Kingdom or its predecessor countries, although some users of the title do not themselves hold peerages, and use it 'Courtesy titles in the U...
, generally to a vassal
Vassal

A vassal in the terminology that both preceded and accompanied the feudal of medieval Europe, is one who enters into mutual obligations with a monarch, usually of military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain guarantees, which came to include the terrain held as a fiefdom....
, in return for a form of allegiance, originally to give him the means to fulfill his military duties when called upon. However anything of value could be held in fief, such as an office, a right of exploitation (e.g., hunting, fishing) or any other type of revenue, rather than the land it comes from.

Originally, the feudal institution of vassal
Vassal

A vassal in the terminology that both preceded and accompanied the feudal of medieval Europe, is one who enters into mutual obligations with a monarch, usually of military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain guarantees, which came to include the terrain held as a fiefdom....
age did not imply the giving/receiving of landholdings (which were granted only as a reward for loyalty), but by the eighth 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 the use of the lands and their income; the granting lord retained ultimate ownership of the fief and could, technically, recover the lands in case of disloyalty or death. By the middle of the tenth century, fiefs had largely become hereditary. Eventually, great feudal lords sought also to seize governmental and legal authority (the collection of taxes, the right of high justice, etc.) in their lands, and some passed these rights to their own vassals.

Derogatory usage


In derogatory usage, fiefdomism can refer to behavior of bureaucrat
Bureaucrat

A bureaucrat is a member of a bureaucracy and can comprise the administration of any organization of any size, though the term usually connotes someone within an institution of a government....
s or small time politician
Politician

A politician is an individual who is involved in influencing public decision making through the influence of politics or a person who influences the way a society is governed....
s when information or programs are isolated and jealously guarded from other bureaucrats or small time politicians in order to preserve their power at the expense of making government worse.

See also


  • Nobility
    Nobility

    Nobility is a government-privileged title which may be either hereditary or for a lifetime. Titles of nobility exist today in many countries although it is usually associated with present or former monarchies....
  • Serfdom
    Serfdom

    Serfdom is the socio-economic status of unfree peasants under feudalism, and specifically relates to Manorialism. It was a condition of Debt bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe....
  • Appanage
    Appanage

    An apanage or appanage is the grant of an estate, titles, offices, or other things of value to the younger male children of a sovereign, who under the system of primogeniture would otherwise have no inheritance....
     (consisting in part of the liege's domain, granted to a junior relative)
  • Knight-service
    Knight-service

    Knight-service was the dominant and distinctive tenure of land as a fief associated with a knight under the English feudal system....
  • Enfeoffment
    Enfeoffment

    Under the Feudalism, enfeoffment was the deed by which a person was given land in exchange for a pledge of service. This mechanism was later used to avoid restrictions on the passage of title in land by a system in which a landowner would give land to one person for the use of another....
  • Feoffee
    Feoffee

    Feoffee, or more correctly within this context feoffee to uses, is a Legal history term relating to the law of Trust law and Equity , referring to the owner of a legal title of a property when he is not the equitable owner....


Sources and references

  • Norman F. Cantor. The Civilization of the Middle Ages. New York: HarperPerennial, 1993. ISBN 0-06-092553-1