Manorialism (mid-Evil Ages)

Rome did not, contrary to common belief, suddenly collapse - it had been

doing so for quite some time, accelerated by the invasion of the teutonic

tribes - but from a commonly accepted standpoint Rome collapsed in 476

AD.

In its collapse, almost all of the eastern [Western] empire fell along with any

attempt to restore it, while some of the elements from the western empire

never really faded. The structure of tribes that took the place of the Roman

centralized government consisted not only of the Visigoths who sacked

Rome in 410, the Vandals who attempted the same in 455, and the Goths,

there were other tribes who came during this period such as the Franks

under Clovis who established the Merovingian empire - named for Clovis's

father Merowig - . After Clovis' death he passed his kingdom on to his 4

sons, his land divided 4 ways, essentially making 4 different smaller

kingdoms all trying to control it all.

Under Merovingian kings counts and

knights were elected one way or another to assist the king, however in

hiring these counts and knights needed to be paid, and with no basic

currency they were given land. Of course this was a problem, as the king

kept hiring knights and counts for protection and help, and as they passed

thier given land onto there sons, the Merovingian kings power slowly

dissipated leading them to be known as the "Do Nothing Kings." Another

factor that may have led to their downfall was the hiring of the mayor of the

palace. This second in command was atsked with overseeing the kingdom

and the kings finances. With such control one could say that a mayor of a

palace was at the level of the king (though he would certainly never say it)

and in one instance actually overthrew the king, who was coincidently the

last of the Merovingian kings.

The next wave of kings were named the Carolingian kings. These kings

attempted to learn from there predecessors mistakes and fix the problem

of land distribution, however the solution only made the problem worse.

This solution - gavelkind - split the land in an inheritance form, equally,

after the king had died. This was the general reason for the downfall of the

Carolingian Empire.

Feudalism - the predominant social structure during the eleventh and

twelfth centuries - was a social structure strongly based on Land - which

determined your duties to be preformed, rights as a person, and status in

society - and the people you knew. Feudalism consisted of 2 acts that

constituted a feudal contract, one which was homage, and the other

investiture. In the first act of homage a tenant, in person, had to appear

before the lord he wished to have a contract with, as well as the lords

court. In the tenants appearance he kneeled before the lord and said an

oath, something along the lines of " I swear to be faithful and attached as

a man is to his lord"

After the homage came the part of the Lord in this ceremony known as

investiture. In this act the lord gave the tenant a sign of i suppose the

oath, saying that he in a sense belonged to that particular lord, much

like cattle branding.

The tenants land and agreement was often called a

fiefdom, or fief and was often recorded after the twelfth century. The fief

was a substantially vital part of the feudal system because with land

came power, and the more tenants a lord had, the more land he gained,

and therefore the more power he gained from such land. However the fief

was not the only way to hold land. Another way - though not extensively

used - was Allod. Allod was generally the same as a fief except that it

empowered complete ownership without any promises or conditions of

payment or service. Allod also required a written agreement. In a feudal

contract a lord had responsibilities to his vassal as the vassal (tenant) had

to his lord. Generally the lord supplied protection for his vassals, acted as

the judicial structure for his estate, and collected tax (which isn't really an

obligation of the lord to his tenant but the other way around) for the

upkeep of his estate and people, as well as for the estates defenses.

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