feudal Europe
Lords and vassals
Feudal Europe refers to medieval Western Europe, roughly from the 9th to 15th centuries, when society was organized around a hierarchical system of land ownership and mutual obligations.
Lords granted land to vassals in exchange for military service and loyalty, while peasants worked the land in exchange for protection.
The term appears in historical discussions contrasting decentralized medieval governance with modern nation-states: Property rights in feudal Europe differed fundamentally from today's.
- demesneLord's private estate
- fiefdomFeudal territory under lord
- suzeraintyControl without full annexation
- villeinsFeudal bound peasants
- vassalageSubordination to a lord
knighthood · knight errant · chivalric code · coat of arms · lordship · cathedrals · agrarianism · serfdom · banneret · monasteries · tithe barn · nobility · primogeniture · divine right · manorialism · castles · investiture · clergy
feudal Europeliberal democracy
Rights-based elected governance
constitutional republic · free market economy · democratic society · bourgeois society · socialist state
feudal Europemodern Europe
Current European civilization
contemporary society · industrial society · ancient Rome · classical antiquity · Renaissance Europe