The word “feudal” derives from the word fief. As a shorthand, feudalism will do as well as any other. However, the alternative is to get bogged down in detailed descriptions and qualifications which risk overwhelming all but specialist medievalists. They regard it as inadequate in describing an extraordinarily complex situation. How did towns fit into the feudal system? It was on these foundations that modern democracy would be built. It helped shape world history as a whole, by giving rise to early forms of representative government. Its significance goes far beyond its role in a few centuries in the European Middle Ages, however. The term “feudal system” is used by historians to describe a social-political structure which was a key feature of medieval Europe. This article deals with the feudal system of Medieval Europe, focussing on western Europe.
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