feudal system
Lords over serfs
The feudal system was the medieval European social structure based on land tenure and personal loyalty.
A lord granted land to vassals in exchange for military service and other obligations; peasants worked the land and owed labor to their lord.
The term now describes any rigid hierarchy where power flows from top to bottom through layers of dependency: The company operates like a feudal system, with executives as lords and workers as serfs.
Fortified medieval residence
- knightHonored mounted soldier
- squireKnight's noble assistant
- joustingMounted knightly combat sport
- chainmailArmor of linked rings
crusades · heraldry · tourney · moat · battlements · keep · drawbridge · fortress
Granted feudal estate
- manorLanded aristocratic residence
- demesneLord's private estate
- estateProperty and grounds
- tenureProtected employment status
freehold · acres · parcel · allotment · enclosure · farmland · arable · cultivation
Bonded agricultural laborer
- peasantryRural working class
- villeinageFeudal tenant bondage
- bondageInvoluntary subjugation to another
- servitudeCompulsory labor under masters
thrall · laborer · tenant · tillage · subjugation · obligation · unfree · manumission
Division into distinct levels
- rankPosition in hierarchy
- statusOne's relative position
- tierHorizontal structural layer
- orderMethodical arrangement or request
structure · caste · class · echelon · gradation · dominance · subordination · social order
Land-holding sworn subordinate
- homageExpression of deep respect
- fealtyPledged devotion to authority
- allegianceLoyalty owed to authority
- oathFormal binding promise
loyalty · fidelity · duty · service · pledge · retainer · benefice · commendation
castle
Fortified medieval residence
chainmail · crusades · heraldry · tourney · moat · battlements · keep · drawbridge · fortress · minstrel
fief
Granted feudal estate
tenure · freehold · acres · parcel · allotment · enclosure · farmland · arable · cultivation · agrarian
serf
Bonded agricultural laborer
- peasantryRural working class
- villeinageFeudal tenant bondage
- bondageInvoluntary subjugation to another
servitude · thrall · laborer · tenant · tillage · subjugation · obligation · unfree · manumission · yeomanry
stratification
Division into distinct levels
order · structure · caste · class · echelon · gradation · dominance · subordination · social order · estates
vassal
Land-holding sworn subordinate
- homageExpression of deep respect
- fealtyPledged devotion to authority
- allegianceLoyalty owed to authority
oath · loyalty · fidelity · duty · service · pledge · retainer · benefice · commendation · investiture
aristocracy
Rule by hereditary elite
noblewoman · duke · countess · baron · dame · marquis · courtier · patrician · titled · bloodline
liege
Feudal superior or subject
baron · duke · count · marquis · earl · lord · bailiff · steward · seneschal · domain
- Georgian historyTbilisi, Iberia, golden age, Christianization, Mongol invasions
- Medieval RomaniaMoldavia, Transylvania, boyar, boyars, principalities
- chivalryknighthood, knights, chivalry, medieval knights, honor
- medievalknights, castles, cathedral, kings, queens
- Medieval Europekings, queens, knights, castles, castle
- Middle AgesMiddle Ages, medieval period, castles, knights, Dark Ages
feudal systemdemocracy
Rule by the people
representative democracy · parliamentary system · liberal democracy · popular sovereignty · direct democracy
feudal systemcapitalism
Private profit-based economy
free market economy · market economy · industrial economy · industrial capitalism · free enterprise
feudal systemclassless society
System without social strata
egalitarianism · meritocracy · egalitarian society · open society · social mobility
system, feudal, feudalism, fiefdom, feudalistic, manorialism, feudally, feudal systems