Feudalism in France

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Feudalism flourished between the 9th-15th centuries in medieval Europe. Feudalism was based on a convention of legal and military customs. Generally speaking, it was a system of organizing the society around relationships developed from owning the land (Bayar, 2017). All the land belonged to the monarchy and was given out to the nobles who in turn gave out the land to vassals. The fief was at the pivot of the feudalism system. Vassals obliged their services in a ceremony called the homage to the monarch in exchange for the fief and protection. Feudalism developed as a result of the decentralization of the Carolingian empire. Mounted troops were allocated land and over time they secured a system of hereditary rule. The soldiers exerted components of social, political, judicial, and economic dominance over their land. Feudalism was a repressive system that only stimulated the progress of the nobles while the peasants’ turmoil at their mercy.

Feudalism hindered development in France. The peasants essentially paid every day to live. The monarch exerted massive taxes to the peasants while the nobles paid little yet they were the ones who made huge profits from their various businesses and land. The peasants had no rights of their own except to service their masters who enjoyed luxurious lifestyles. This was the source of hatred which would in turn result in the French revolution in the future centuries. The serfs as they were commonly known received no economic incentives neither good wages. The feudal system promoted low-level farming hence there was no surplus to promote trading. Free trading and globalization were minimal hence peasants were prone to starvation. Small scale farming resulted in low development. Furthermore, the situation was exacerbated by high taxes to peasants (Cheyette, 2016). In France, feudalism led to economic instability which cost her a number of colonies. Feudalism was essentially an oppressive regime to its core. The concepts of feudalism spread to neighboring countries such as England and Germany.

On the other hand, feudalism had benefits. Feudalism benefited people at the top and also at the bottom of the hierarchy. Feudalism was quite flexible creating a system where power and decision making was delocalized. The system permitted people to decide if they wanted to fight for the monarch. It created stability and a sense of social security. The system was based on an obligation of the mighty to the weak in that they were compelled to protect them (Cheyette, 2016). It was the most common system at the time and therefore it gave everyone a chance to develop. Though most critics say it gave the 90% of the French a chance to survive in an oppressive system.

The French Revolution abolished the feudal system. The revolution occurred between 1789-1799 and was orchestrated by the national constituent assembly that unanimously abolished the feudal system. The main motivator for the change was the oppression of the majority peasant population. The peasants had been seeing how the minor monarch misused and oppressed them over the centuries and grew inpatient which led to the development of the national assembly (Blaufarb, 2018). The constituents believed that the assembly represented the cries and pleas of the people. As a result, the assembly abolished the seigneurial rights of the nobles and the tithes of the Roman Catholic clergy, favoritism in taxation, pluralities, and unwarranted pensions. The major losers were the clergy and the nobles who had supported the monarch from the beginning.

Feudalism was an oppressive system that only promoted the growth and development of the nobles and the monarch. When the system was abolished, the resulting system adopted some of the strengths of the system while scrapping off its weaknesses. Despite its decline and increased French nationalism, modern society still uses some of its practices. One major similarity with capitalism is that the rich own the means of production and the land while the peasants give them their labor.

References

Bayar, T. Ö. (2017). Feudalism. The Wiley‐Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Theory, 1-2.

Blaufarb, R. (2018). A Reassessment of the Abolition of Feudalism, 1789-1793. La Révolution française. Cahiers de l’Institut d’histoire de la Révolution française, (15).

Cheyette, F. L. (2016). ‘Feudalism’: A Memoir and an Assessment. In Feud, Violence, and Practice (pp. 133-148). Routledge.