Feudalism formed the basis of the social structure within the Holy Roman Empire during the High Middle Ages. In Germany the system is variously referred to Lehnswesen, Feudalwesen or Benefizialwesen.
Feudalism in Europe emerged in the Early Middle Ages, based on Roman clientship and the Germanic social hierarchy of lords and retainers. It obliged the feudatory to render personal services to the lord. These included e.g. holding his stirrup, joining him on festive occasions and service as a cupbearer at the banquet table. Both pledged mutual loyalty: the lord to "shelter and protect", the vassal to "help and advise". Furthermore, feudal lord and vassal were bound to mutually respect one another, e.g. the lord could not, by law, beat his vassal, humiliate or lay hands on his wife or daughter.
The highest liege lord was the sovereign, the king or duke, who granted fiefs to his princes. In turn, they could award fiefs to other nobles, who wanted to be enfeoffed by them and who were often subordinate to the liege lord in the aristocratic hierarchy.
Terms
A fief (also fee, feu, feud, tenure or fiefdom, , , feodum or beneficium) was understood to be a thing (land, property), which its owner, the liege lord (Lehnsherr), had transferred to the hereditary ownership of the beneficiary on the basis of mutual loyalty, with the proviso that it would return to the lord under certain circumstances.
Enfeoffment gave the vassal extensive, hereditary usufruct of the fief, founded and maintained on a relationship of mutual loyalty between the lord and the beneficiary. The Latin term "beneficum" encompassed not only the tangible estate or property, commonly referred to as the fief or "feodum" in Latin, but also encompassed the related legal relationship.
The owner was the so-called liege lord or feudal lord (German: Lehnsherr Lehnsgeber; Latin: dominus feudi, senior), who was usually the territorial lord or reigning monarch. The beneficiary was his vassal, liegeman or feudatory (German: Vasall, Lehnsmann, Knecht, Lehenempfänger or Lehensträger; Latin: vassus or vasallus). Both parties swore an oath of fealty (Lehnseid) to one another. The rights conferred on the vassal were so similar to actual possession that it was described as beneficial ownership (dominium utile), whereas the rights of the lord were referred to as direct ownership (dominium directum).
The fief (German: Lehen or Lehnsgut) usually comprised an estate or a complex of estates, but also specified rights of use and rights of taxation or duties.
Linguistically the term Lehen is connected with the word leihen, to lend or loan, and meant something like "loaned property" (cf. the modern German Darlehen, a loan), whilst the word feudum, which some etymologists suggest comes from the Latin fides (loyalty), is more likely to be derived from the Old High German fihu, fehu (whence modern Vieh), originally "cattle", but later generally "chattel".
The opposite of a fief was the freehold, allod or allodium, which roughly corresponds to the present freehold estate.
An institution during the transition from feudal states to what is now the free ownership of property, was the allodifizierte Lehen ("allodified fief"), a fief in which the feudal lord gave up direct ownership - usually in return for the payment of compensation or an allodified rent (Allodifikationsrenten) - but the vassal's ownership of the fief with an agreed agnatic succession - resembling a family entailed estate (Familienfideikommiß) - remained in place.
Types There were numerous different types of feudal arrangement depending on regional tradition and the nature of feudal lordship (secular or ecclesiastical/monastic). The best-known of these were:
Afterlehen: A subfief whereby the vassal awarded a part of his fief to a third party (subinfeudation) Altarlehen: A medieval proto-foundation (proto-Stiftung). Its purpose was to allocate annual revenue from the property to a specific primate for his abbey or church Beutellehen: originally a Ritterlehen that was later rented to farmers Burglehn: a fief in payment for services as a castellan (Burgmann) Erblehen: a fee tail (entail) where the heirs of the vassal automatically inherited his rights and duties. The fief only first became hereditary through the granting of a deed of entail (Erbrechtsbrief) from the liege lord Fahnlehen: ("banner fief"Stieber, Joachim. W. (1978). Pope Eugenius IV, the Council of Basel and the Secular and Ecclesiastical Authorities in the Empire, E.J. Brill, Leiden, p. 124. ) a fief to a secular prince, in which banners symbolised the fief and the duties to the Heerbann. Falllehen: a fief that expired on the death of the vassal. See Schupflehen Freistift: a fief that could be cancelled at 12 months notice Handlehen: a fief awarded for a specified period or the life of the vassal. Originally: a fief sealed by a handshake instead of a formal oath of fealty. Kunkellehen: a fief to a vassal who was a woman (also called a Weiberlehen or feudum femininum) Mannlehen/Mannslehen: a fief to a vassal who had to be a man ligisches Lehnswesen: a fief in which the vassal was excluded from holding fiefs from other lords through a stronger contract between lord and vassal Schildlehen: similar to Fahnenlehen, but where the vassal held the rank of count or lower Schupflehen: a fief that expired on the death of the vassal. His heirs were figuratively seen as "pushed" (Old German/Alemannic geschupft) out of the contract Stiftslehen: the fief was granted by an abbey, also called a Klosterlehen Weiberlehen: see Kunkellehen Zepterlehen: a fief to an ecclesiastical prince
Feudal system The king gave estates or appointments (Ämter) to upper or crown vassals (Kronvasallen), who, in turn, passed them on to lower vassals (Untervasallen). The lower vassals would then hire the land to be cultivated by unfree farmers. There were no feudal relationships between farmers and the lower vassals.
During the Middle Ages another structure developed in Germany, the so-called Heerschildordnung, a medieval feudal hierarchy:
King (König) Ecclesiastical princes (Geistliche Fürsten) Secular, or lay, princes (Weltliche Fürsten) Counts and barons (Grafen und Freiherren) Ministeriales (Ministerialen or Dienstmannen) Vassals of the ministeriales (Männer der Ministerialen) Free knights (Ritterbürtige Mannen) (who could only receive a fief, not grant one)
Initially, only those of knightly birth were entitled to be enfeoffed, i.e. free knights who could bear arms and were in full possession of their title. Later, unfree ministeriales also rose to the knighthood. Vassalage consisted mainly of military campaigns (military service) and court duty (the presence of vassals at the court in order to offer advice). From court service, the state and imperial diets emerged. The fief was only given to the vassal to utilize; later, the vassal also became a sub-owner, but the feudal lord always retained the rights to this office. Eventually, the heritability of fiefs evolved later, but the landowner nevertheless remained the liege lord.
Roots of feudalism
Roman patronage
In Late Antiquity, out of the Roman system of patronage (or clientage) and the clan (Sippe) relationships of the Migration Period (Völkerwanderungszeit) (Germanic kingdoms on Roman soil), relations between rulers and their subjects developed into a prevailing consensus that was commonplace and accepted.
In Roman culture, it was common for a patron (a wealthy Roman citizen) to automatically retain his freed slaves in a dependent relationship, known as patronage. In some cases, populations of conquered areas would become clients of the general who conquered the area. This required the client to accompany his patron to war and protect him if the latter so wished, to accompany him to court as a vocal supporter and, if the patron held public office, to act as his assistant and to accompany him on representational events in public.
In return, the patron had to ensure the legal and practical support of his client in all aspects of life. A Roman citizen, a non-Roman and even entire tribes in the Roman Empire could have a patron-client relationship.
In Late Antiquity, this form of relationship was increasingly adopted in rural areas, because the Roman nomenklatura increasingly saw their vast estates (Latifundia) as their refuge and also as economically important pillars, over which they sometimes even had their own jurisdiction and fortified prisons.
Clients at that time were usually bound to their patrons through the allocation of land.
Germanic clan system During the latter years of the period of clan society with Germanic kingdoms on Roman soil, it was common for all the land to belong to the king. Only he could distribute land to his subjects. These subjects were usually family members, warriors who had performed outstanding feats, and noblemen. This land did not become the property of the subject, but was handed over to him only in persona. On the death of king or vassal, the land was de facto returned to the new king. Over time, a practice developed that the person enfeoffed with the land, together with his family, became the beneficiaries of the fief and remained permanently bound to it. Upon the death of one party, a new act of homage (Lehnseid), a formal legal ceremony, had to take place. These transitions were fluid and there were exceptions to the practice of enfeoffment.
The vassal often enfeoffed the estate, usually divided into smaller parcels of land, to other lesser vassals, who in turn had to swear fealty to him. In return for the lease of land, the king could demand loyalty and allegiance from the vassal and his sub-vassals. This means that, in the event of war, they had to provide soldiers and assistance, or if money ran short or a ransom was needed, they were expected to support the king.
The Roman patron-client relationship and the early clan-based feudal relationship in the Germanic kingdoms merged during the early Middle Ages into the feudal law, or Lehnsrecht, a legal and social set of relationships, which effectively formed a pyramid with the king at the top.
The enforcement of Lehnsrecht is associated with the reduced circulation of money in the Late Antiquity and Early Medieval periods. Money could not bind a vassal to a king, only land. Unlike money, this was plentiful.
Even kings (see Richard the Lionheart - compulsory allegiance) and at least in the early Middle Ages, the clergy (see Ottonian-Salian Imperial church system) could be vassals of a king or another king.
Emergence of feudal relationships
Under the feudal system, various legal institutions came together during the Carolingian period that had previously existed independently. These institutions were: The antrustiones - these were the inner circle of the king's retinue; they were distinguished by the fact that a multiple of the usual weregild had to be paid to them. The vassi - free lords who could no longer look after for themselves were able to commend themselves into the hands of a more powerful lord, receiving sustenance and shelter in return for an obligation of loyalty and service. They did not lose their status as free lords through the commendation ceremony, but the royal court continued to be responsible for them. The commendation was enacted by the so-called handgang ceremony, i.e. the future vassus put his hands, folded, into the hands of his lord, who then enclosed them. This gesture made the relationship of the two very clear. The beneficium (original meaning of "benefit") - in the early Middle Ages land was leased, but there were also cases where estates were granted without requiring recompense, for example under duress or to do someone a favour. The lord then remained the true owner of the land, but was no longer its beneficiary.