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Definition: feudalism from Collins English Dictionary

n 1 Also called: feudal system the legal and social system that evolved in W Europe in the 8th and 9th centuries, in which vassals were protected and maintained by their lords, usually through the granting of fiefs, and were required to serve under them in war See also vassalage fief

2 any social system or society, such as medieval Japan or Ptolemaic Egypt, that resembles medieval European feudalism

› ˈfeudalist n

› ˌfeudalˈistic adj

feudalism

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(fyō'dӘlĭzӘm), form of political and social organization typical of Western Europe from the dissolution of Charlemagne's empire to the rise of the absolute monarchies. The term feudalism is derived from the Latin feodum , for “fief,” and ultimately from a Germanic word meaning “cow,” generalized to denote valuable movable property. Although analogous social systems have appeared in other civilizations, the feudalism of Europe in the Middle Ages remains the common model of feudal society. The evolution of highly diverse forms, customs, and institutions makes it almost impossible to accurately depict feudalism as a whole, but certain components of the system may be regarded as characteristic: strict division into social classes, i.e., nobility, clergy, peasantry, and, in the later Middle Ages, burgesses; private jurisdiction based on local custom; and the landholding system dependent upon the fief or fee. Feudalism was based on contracts made among nobles, and although it was intricately…
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Full text Article feudalism

From Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology
This term is used to describe forms of political, economic, and social relationships found during the Middle Ages, principally in western Europe but also in Japan and sometimes China. It is derived from the Latin term feodum and the Germanic fief , but was not used until the seventeenth century. …
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Full text Article feudalism

From The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology
The social, economic and political structure known as feudalism was found in its most developed form in northern France in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Feudalism is conventionally a label applied also to Japan and to other parts of Europe where feudal characteristics have been found, and…
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Full text Article Feudalism

From World of Sociology, Gale
Feudalism is a political system in which land ownership determines authority in a given region. The owner, or lord, apportions land to vassals in exchange for their loyalty and service in military action as well as other duties regarding the upkeep and defense of the lord’s domain. Various versions…
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Full text Article feudalism

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
The main form of social organization in medieval Europe; the term was first used in 1839. A system based primarily on land, feudalism involved a hierarchy of authority, rights, and power that extended from the monarchy downwards. At the head of the system the crown owned all the land. Beneath the…
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Full text Article feudalism

From Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology
Feudalism is a specific type of patronage-based political structure. Generally speaking, feudalism means that in exchange for support a lord makes land available to a vassal. Specifically, feudalism refers to a very particular kind of political structure found in medieval Europe, although the term…
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Full text Article feudalism

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
(fyō'dӘlĭzӘm), form of political and social organization typical of Western Europe from the dissolution of Charlemagne's empire to the rise of the absolute monarchies. The term feudalism is derived from the Latin feodum , for “fief,” and ultimately from a Germanic word meaning “cow,” generalized to…
| 1,579 words
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Full text Article feudalism

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
Term that emerged in the 17th century that has been used to describe economic, legal, political, social, and economic relationships in the European Middle Ages . Derived from the Latin word feudum ( fief ) but unknown to people of the Middle Ages, the term “feudalism” has been used most broadly to…
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Full text Article Feudalism

From Encyclopedia of World Trade: From Ancient Times to the Present Full text Article A-Z Entries
The feudal system, which dominated Europe in the...
A dominant economic, political, and social system in medieval Europe. Historians in the eighteenth century coined the term “feudalism” to describe the political, social, and economic system of much of western Europe during the Middle Ages. The name derives from a grant of land known as a fief ( …
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From Palgrave Macmillan Dictionary of Political Thought
1 . A social and economic arrangement, characterized by a strict hierarchical organization, from lord down to serf, with as many intermediate steps as the penury of the dominant class, or the power of the subordinate class, could interpose. The serf (or villein) is attached to the land (or the…
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Full text Article feudalism.

From The Oxford Companion to British History
An abstract term derived from the adjective ‘feudal’, and commonly used to highlight those features believed to be characteristic of western European society during the Middle Ages. The word was coined in the 19th cent. and is analogous to the earlier French term feodalité . It is based on the Latin…
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