feudal hierarchy
Lords over serfs
Feudal hierarchy is the ranked system of social and political relationships in medieval Europe, with the monarch at top, followed by nobles of descending rank, down to peasants at bottom.
Each level owed obligations to those above and below—lords granted land in exchange for military service, peasants worked the land in exchange for protection.
The term now describes any rigid, top-down power structure: The company operates like a feudal hierarchy, with information flowing only from executives down.
- feudal lordLand-granting medieval ruler
- fiefdomFeudal territory under lord
- vassalageSubordination to a lord
- demesneLord's private estate
- fealtyPledged devotion to authority
king · hereditary rule · baron · primogeniture · peasant class · divine right of kings · noble · tithe · serfdom · suzerainty · nobility · noble blood · overlordship · oath of fealty · lord · manor · knight · lord of the manor
feudal hierarchyegalitarian society
Group with equal status
classless society · egalitarianism · social equality · meritocracy · social mobility
feudal hierarchycommunism
Collective ownership system
capitalism · free market · socialism · collective ownership · worker cooperative
feudal hierarchymodernity
Being of present times
modern democracy · industrial society · liberal democracy · bourgeois society