![]() Harold swearing oath on holy relics to William, Duke of Normandy. In return for these services, the lord would promise to protect his vassal (a very valuable commitment in violent times) and to “give him justice” (that is, support him in court).Īll these promises and counter-promises were accompanied by solemn oaths, so that the whole was underpinned by strong religious sanctions – which, in a deeply religious age, counted for a great deal. This last was very important for what it led on to (see below, Representative Government). He also had a duty to provide his lord with advice. If he had only been given one knight’s fee, he would either undertake the service himself or (if old or frail) send a substitute.Ī vassals was also obliged to provide his lord with money from time to time – for example, when the lord’s son came of age, or the lord’s daughter got married, or if the lord was captured in battle and needed ransoming (quite a common occurrence – a soldier would far prefer to take an enemy prisoner than kill him, as a defeated opponent was worth a lot more alive than dead). So, if a vassal had been granted a fief worth 40 knight’s fees (a very large fief), he would be obliged to furnish his lord with 40 knights for 40 days a year. A knight’s fee was normal the smallest fiefs, a sufficient amount of land to support one knight – enough land, in other words, to support a warrior and his very expensive war-horses, armor and weapons, plus his family and servants (including at least one servant to aid him while on campaign). 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. Conflicts like this created a new spirit of nationalism and an end to feudalism.Not all historians like the term. ![]() The Hundred Years' War ended with the Treaty of Calais, which recognized French control over most of the territories in question and established the English Channel as the border between the two countries. The conflict was marked by a number of important battles, such as the Battle of Crécy and the Battle of Agincourt, and it had a significant impact on the political, economic, and cultural development of both England and France. It was a long and complex conflict that was fought over a number of issues, including control of the French throne, control of key territories in France and England, and the claim of the English kings to the French throne. ![]() Over time, the competition for trade, land, and resources led the English and French to war. The Hundred Years War is an example of this type of conflict. The Hundred Years' War was a series of conflicts fought between England and France from 1337 to 1453. The English Parliament will eventually form to be a strong legislative body.
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