Answer and Explanation: No, feudalism did not foster wealth and well-being. Feudalism left fiefs with little food, hard lives, and little time to enjoy anything other than working.
Feudalism offered the nobles an opportunity to retain their powerful position and rule over a given territory under the express consent of the reigning monarch. It also offered military protection and formal alliances, as this group of wealthy elites were bound by oaths of fealty and brotherhood.
Under feudalism there existed three forms of land-rent: labour-rent, rent in kind and money-rent. In all these forms of rent the exploitation of the peasants by the landlords stood out in unconcealed form. Labour-rent, or "week-work" (barshchina), predominated in the early stages of feudalism's development.
Feudalism was an effective form of government in the short term. It consolidated funding and power into the hands of a small number of people called lords. However, it was not effective in the long term. People in the lowest class, fiefs, had hard lives and oftentimes did not have access to the basic essentials.
No trade and economic growth
Feudalism was a significant impediment to the growth of trade and the economy. Serfs who worked in the fields were also known as peasants. They were tethered to a specific plot of land and were not permitted to move or change occupations without the permission of the land's lord.
Feudalism helped restore trade. Lords repaired bridges and roads. Their knights arrested bandits, enforced the law, and made it safe to travel on roads. Feudalism benefited lords, knights, and peasants.
In effect, feudalism began to lay some of the foundations necessary for the development of mercantilism, a precursor of capitalism. Feudalism lasted from the medieval period through the 16th century. Feudal manors were almost entirely self-sufficient, and therefore limited the role of the market.
Answer and Explanation: The two groups at the top of the feudal system, lords and churchmen, probably benefited the most from the system. They tended to be the wealthiest, were immune from some forms of taxation, were able to collect dues and tithes from the general public, and were the most likely to be literate.
Under feudalism, peasants lived in a state of serfdom, a condition that essentially turned them into rural slaves. The rigid and cruel medieval system of law and order that accompanied feudalism succeeded as a tool for social control and largely prevented peasant resistance or rebellion.
Answer: The decline of feudalism in Europe was influenced by the growth of polite culture, the rise of a centralised monarchy, the introduction of firearms, and the rise of nationalism and bureaucracy.
scutage, also called shield money, French écuage, (scutage from Latin scutum, “shield”), in feudal law, payment made by a knight to commute the military service that he owed his lord. A lord might accept from his vassal a sum of money (or something else of value, often a horse) in lieu of service on some expedition.
Feudalism was the economic and political system of Medieval Europe. It was land-based and built upon the system of loaning a loyal person land in return for military service and taxes. It depended upon loyalty and the use of land as wealth.
Most nobles' wealth derived from one or more estates, large or small, that might include fields, pasture, orchards, timberland, hunting grounds, streams, etc. It also included infrastructure such as a castle, well and mill to which local peasants were allowed some access, although often at a price.
Agrarian advancements, division of labor, and the increased ability to travel all helped change the economic ability of people to make a living. Nobles were able to pay their men to fight, creating mercenaries, which led to professional armies at the monarch's disposal.
For Marx, what defined feudalism was the power of the ruling class (the aristocracy) in their control of arable land, leading to a class society based upon the exploitation of the peasants who farm these lands, typically under serfdom and principally by means of labour, produce and money rents.
Feudalism played an important role in Europe following the fall of the Roman Empire in the West. It helped protect communities from violence and warfare during the dark ages by providing the means to raise standing armies at short notice.
The most important long-term impact of feudalism was the creation of the modern nation states of Europe. As feudalism became harsher on fiefs it became the driving force of revolutions, such as the French in 1789 and the Revolutions of 1848. These revolutions, a backlash to feudalism, created our modern republics.
The people who farmed the land around the castle were called peasants. The lord took some of the crops they grew and the peasants fed themselves on what remained. They sold any spare crops to make money.
Feudalism worked in the Middle Ages because it kept people in strict social classes. These classes were confined and closed, therefore it was difficult for people to cross into different classes.
Peasants were the largest and lowest group in medieval society, making up over 90% of the population. Most peasants were villeins and they were at the bottom of the system.
This shows that they peasants benefited the most compared to the others in this feudal society. The Kings and the Nobles benefited the least from the fall.
It only allowed a few goods like salt for preserving meat and iron for making tools. They would only allow those goods if the manor needed them. The peasants would work and make any other supplies or goods that the manor would need.
Marx argued that feudal society created the conditions for the emergence of a new class, the bourgeoisie, which eventually overturned barriers to production, produced the capitalistic economic system, and established universal equality under the law.
In feudalism, peasants remain in contact with the means of production whereas in capitalism, workers get alienated with means of production that go into the hands of capitalists.
Capitalism grew out of European feudalism. Up until the 12th century, a very small percentage of the population of Europe lived in towns. Skilled workers lived in the city but received their keep from feudal lords rather than a real wage, and most workers were serfs for landed nobles.