The Middle Ages gave the world new concepts. Among them, the word “feud” occupies a great place, which is closely connected with the emergence of such historical phenomena as the feudal system, the hierarchical ladder, and feudal lords. It is very interesting to trace how new concepts were formed in those distant times, to find out what a feud is and what significance it had in the medieval world.
The hierarchy of the nobility
The concept of "feud" is closely related to the emergence of the medieval institute of seniors and vassals. The relations between the nobility were presented in the form of a hierarchical ladder. The king was usually at its peak, although in many countries the large lords-landowners who were lower in the feudal ladder had no less great power, but formally subordinated to the ruler of the country.
The lord was called the large landowner-nobleman, to whom the smaller representatives of the nobility obeyed. They, in turn, were called vassals.
The beginning of feudal relations was laid by the Frankish ruler Karl Martell in the 8th century. What is a feud at the time? Beneficiaries performed his role - giving land to his vassal in exchange for a promise to come to war at the first call of the king. Thus, the ruler turned into a lord ("elder"), and received land allotment became his vassal.
Word history
In medieval France, the custom was established to reward for loyal service not with money (at that time there was simply very little of it), but with the most valuable land. What did the feudal lord receive as a reward? Theod, or possession with an estate and peasants attached to it. Thus, he could receive a steady income from this land.
In turn, the vassal could transfer part of the property granted to him to a smaller representative of the nobility, for example, a knight who became his vassal. At the same time , the lord did not lose his rights to the land, which he granted to his subordinate. As a result, two or more people owned one allotment.
So what is a feud? This is land ownership, which the overlord granted his vassal on the terms of his military service. Different countries had their own variations of this name: flax, fi and fie. The word goes back to Late feodum and German fehu (property) and od (possession). For the first time this term began to be used in the X century.
In order to bring the vassal into possession, the lord performed a solemn ceremony, which was called "investiture".
Feud ownership fee
It should be noted here that the vassal’s ownership of the granted land was conditional. He could own, manage and use the feud only under the condition that he performed his duties to the lord.
He had to accompany the suzerain in military campaigns and be in his escort during trips, keep the detachment in the seigneur’s castle, provide him with a castle or a place for standing upon his first request, and help with difficult situations with advice and money.
In the event that for some reason the vassal did not fulfill his obligations, he lost his tenure rights to the granted land, and the vassal passed into the possession of another or remained with the lord.
Another feature of the feud was that it could only get a nobleman. Wealthy peasants or wealthy merchants did not have this right.
Battle of Territory
The main wealth in antiquity, and then in the Middle Ages, was the land. The one who owned it possessed power, strength and power. And the more territories belonged to man, the more influential he was. The feuds were the most tasty and valuable prey. Wars of thrones often happened precisely because of them. The conflicts that occurred in the Middle Ages over the lands were called "feudal wars", or "feuds".
These clashes between the nobility were a hallmark of that period. Their reasons were both banal greed and a desire to enrich themselves with foreign land, and legal incidents that often arose in the Middle Ages. It happened that the king of one country owned territories in another, as happened with William I the Conqueror. As the King of England, he did not obey anyone, but, while remaining the Duke of Normandy, he was a vassal of the
King of France. Such incidents led to military conflicts between entire countries. Clashes between ordinary feudal lords happened even more often. It came to the point that in the event of a quarrel, the country's ruler forbade starting a war for 40 days, so that a weaker rival could complain to the authorities.
Conclusion
So what is a feud? In the Middle Ages in Europe the land ownership granted by the lord to his vassal was called on the terms of military and court service. After the appearance of this type of land holding in Europe, the hierarchical system of the feudal system was finally formed.