![]() ![]() This would depend on the amount of land involved, which was calculated in multiples of knight’s fees. The services the vassal owed the lord commonly entailed military service for a set amount of time each year (40 days was normal). In brief, a fief was a piece of property which a person was given on condition that he (and occasionally she) performed certain services to the one who gave it.Ī person who received a fief was a vassal of the one who had given him the fief, who was his lord. In the agrarian society of medieval Europe, a fief was usually a specified parcel of land. The word “feudal” derives from the word fief. As a shorthand, feudalism will do as well as any other. However, the alternative is to get bogged down in detailed descriptions and qualifications which risk overwhelming all but specialist medievalists. ![]() They regard it as inadequate in describing an extraordinarily complex situation. The term “feudal system” is used by historians to describe a social-political structure which was a key feature of medieval Europe. Harold swearing oath on holy relics to William, Duke of Normandy, from the Bayeux Tapestry / Wikimedia Commons The term “feudal system” came into use to describe a hierarchy of relationships which were embraced in medieval Europe, involving fief-holders of different ranks. Night of August 4th, abolition of feudality and fiscal privileges, by Léopold Morice / Wikimedia Commons
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