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Feud and Internal War: Legal Aspects: Feudalism

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Feud and Internal War: Legal Aspects

understandable that resolute lying often carried the day. Evans-Pritchard E E 1940 The Nuer: A Description of the Modes
However the case was decided, the disgruntled losers would of Lielihood and Political Institutions of a Nilotic People.
soon fabricate a counterclaim (or polish up a valid complaint) Oxford University Press, London
against an apparently vulnerable fraternal clan of the victors Gluckman M 1956 Custom and Conflict in Africa. Barnes and
(Meggitt 1977, p. 155). Noble, New York
Hasluck M 1954 The Unwritten Law in Albania. Cambridge
The second course of action is to make increased use University Press, Cambridge, UK
of indigenous forms of third-party settlement. If, Howell P P 1954 A Manual of Nuer Law. Oxford University
previously, feuding and mediated compensation pay- Press, London
Howell S, Willis R (eds.) 1989 Societies at Peace: Anthropological
ments were alternative ways of handling, say, homi- Perspecties. Routledge, London
cides, mediation payments now come to be the Meggitt M 1977 Blood is their Argument: Warfare among the
dominant method. For instance, after coming under Mae Enga Tribesmen of the New Guinea Highlands, 1st edn.
colonial rule, the Nuer began, with the encouragement Mayfield, Palo Alto, CA
of the authorities, to bring all homicides to the Miller W I 1990 Bloodtaking and Peacemaking: Feud, Law,
Leopard-Skin Chief to be resolved through compen- and Society in Saga Iceland. University of Chicago Press,
sation (though the killer was also prosecuted and Chicago
punished separately). Thus, by settling homicide cases Otterbein K F 1968 Internal war: a cross-cultural study. Ameri-
between lineages that once might have resulted in can Anthropologist 70: 277–89
Otterbein K E, Otterbein C S 1965 An eye for an eye, a tooth for
reprisals, the role of feud contracted while that of a tooth: a cross-cultural study of feuding. American Anthro-
mediation expanded (Howell 1954, p. 61). pologist 67: 1470–82
Whichever option—using judges or mediators—is Peters E L 1967 Some structural aspects of the feud among the
pursued, both are possible because of the similarity in camel-herding Bedouin of Cyrenaica. Africa 37: 261–82
the underlying social structure of violence and liti- Pospisil L 1968 Feud. In: Sills D L (ed.) International En-
gation and, more generally, third-party settlement. cyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Macmillan, New York
The arrival of law into a setting previously stateless Warner W L 1958 A Black Ciilization: A Social Study of An
provides a new outlet for disputes but it does not, at Australian Tribe. Harper and Brothers, New York
least in the short term, fundamentally alter the
underlying relationship between the parties. Hence, M. Cooney
when law forbids feuding, former feudists are usually
attracted more to litigation, mediation, or arbitration
than to forms of conflict management bearing fewer
resemblances to violence. Law and feuding, then, are
neither opposites nor complements, neither strangers Feudalism
nor siblings. Perhaps they are best thought of as
cousins.
Definitions of feudalism ‘vary widely in their degree of
See also: Conflict and Conflict Resolution, Social comprehensiveness’ (Max Weber). Historians and
social scientists of the nineteenth and twentieth
Psychology of; Domestic Violence: Sociological Pers-
centuries thus do not agree on a standard definition of
pectives; Internal Warfare: Civil War, Insurgency, and the term. There is a great deal of controversy about the
Regional Conflict; Violence, History of; Violence in scope and the explanatory value of the term feudalism.
Anthropology; War, Sociology of; Youth Gangs Characteristic of this debate is a plurality of concepts
of feudalism. The diversity of definitions and concepts
is attributable to differences in both the epistemo-
Bibliography logical interests and in the historical and social theories
that inform the approaches of each particular scholar,
Baumgartner M P 1988 The Moral Order of a Suburb. Oxford
University Press, New York
school of thought, and orientation.
Black D 1976 The Behaior of Law. Academic Press, New York
Black D 1993 The Social Structure of Right and Wrong.
Academic Press, San Diego, CA 1. Etymology
Black D 1995 The epistemology of pure sociology. Law and
Social Inquiry 20: 829–70 Etymologically, the adjective ‘feudal’ and the noun
Boehm C 1984 Blood Reenge: The Enactment and Management ‘feudalism’ are derived from the Germanic feod and
of Conflict in Montenegro and Other Tribal Societies. Uni- the Latin feudum, which originally meant ‘cattle,
versity of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, PA
money, property.’ During the course of the eleventh
Bohannan P 1967 Introduction. In: Bohannan P (ed.) Law and
Warfare: Studies in the Anthropology of Conflict, 1st edn. century, feudum became a technical legal term for the
Natural History Press, Garden City, NY fief with which the lord invests a vassal under specific
Ericksen K P, Horton H 1992 Blood feuds: cross-cultural conditions. Being provided with this fief obliged the
variations in kin group vengeance. Behaior Science Research vassal to serve his lord militarily. Feudal law, the sum
26: 57–85 of all recorded feudal legal norms, was known as ius

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Feudalism

feudale in medieval and early modern legal termin- ‘system of private dependence and private commit-
ology and as ‘fe! odalite! ’ beginning in the seventeenth ment’ in which ‘the general injustice’ and ‘the general
century. During the course of the eighteenth century, rightlessness’ assumed an institutionalized form.
structural changes of a social and political nature Under the conditions of feudal rule, the lawful power
brought about a fundamental shift in the meaning of of the state was superseded by a more personalized
the term ‘fe! odalite! .’ Since then, the words ‘fe! odal’ and form of power which individuals held on the basis of
‘fe! odalite! ’ have been used to designate not only the their ‘private property.’ According to Hegel, ‘the wilful
legally vested relationship of dependence between a brutality of particularistic law’ prevented the forma-
lord and his vassal, but also an entire societal tion of an administrative and controlling authority
condition: the political and social condition of the that could act for the common good to protect the
ancien reT gime. A legal term was thus transformed into freedom and equality under the law of its civil subjects.
a kind of political catchword in order to call into In Hegel’s view, only the legal government of a
question the legitimacy of a traditional political and monarch can adequately guarantee freedom. ‘Feudal
social order. Thus associated with socio-critical con- rule is a polyarchy; it consists of nothing but masters
notations, ‘feudalism’ entered into the languages of and slaves. In a monarchy, on the other hand, there is
Europe as both a word and a concept. only one master and no slaves because under a
monarch, the bonds of slavery are broken and justice
and law prevail. True freedom issues from a
monarchy.’
2. Historical Controersies about Feudalism In Marx’s view of history, ‘feudal society’ with its
In his Esprit des Lois (1748) Montesquieu equates the typical ‘feudal relations of property’ and its ‘feudal
‘lois feT odales’ with the breakdown of public power and mode of production’ constituted a ‘progressive econ-
the disintegration of the central authority of the omic form of society that produced a new class, the
French state into territorial centres of power. Voltaire bourgeoisie, which broke down the ‘feudal barriers to
(1694–1778) denounces the ‘system feT odale’ as a system production.’ Marx does not, however, work out an
of sovereignty in which public power was divided explicit theory of the origins, structure, and trans-
among ‘countless little tyrants.’ In Qu’est-ce le tiers formation of feudalism in detail; he never system-
eT tat, a text appearing in 1789, Abbe! Sieye' s attacks the atically treats the dynamics of the feudal mode of
nobility and the church as ‘agents of feudality’ whose production. For him, terms like the Middle Ages,
privileges were incompatible with the ideal of equality feudalism, and feudality are interchangeable. Marx
under the law. In his view, freeing France from the links the Middle Ages and feudalism to the idea of a
‘ruins of feudality’ was the most important task at premodern society that created the necessary con-
hand. Influenced by persistent and widespread unrest ditions for the rise of a capitalistic society which
among the peasants, the national assembly decreed the eventually overcame and dissolved feudalism itself. In
‘abolition of feudalism’ (abolition de la feT odaliteT \du the ‘Communist Manifesto,’ he writes that ‘the means
reT gime feT odal) on August 11, 1789. In the writings of of production and exchange on whose foundation the
Karl Theodor Welcker (1790–1869), one of the leading bourgeoisie built itself, were generated in feudal
thinkers of Southern German liberalism, the feudal society.’ ‘Modern bourgeois society that has sprouted
system is a glaring counterpart to the liberal order of from the ruins of feudal society has not done away
the early Germanic period with its public coopera- with class antagonisms. It has but established new
tions. In keeping with the polemical use of the word classes, new conditions of oppression, new forms of
‘feT odaliteT ’ in revolutionary France, Welcker employs struggle in place of the old ones.’ Marx is interested in
phrases like ‘feudal despotism’ (tyrannie feT odale) and the Middle Ages as the epoch that preceeded the
‘feudal anarchy’ (anarchie feT odale) in order to ‘epoch of the bourgeoisie.’ He is concerned more with
characterize feudalism as a form of domination which, the political state of medieval society than with an
based on the violent usurpation of power, was analysis of the feudal mode of production. Like the
blatantly inconsistent with the early Germanic ideal of liberal critics of prerevolutionary corporate society,
popular self-determination (‘Volksfreiheit’). Marx assumes that in the feudal society of the Middle
Ages, ‘the supreme command in war and justice is
based on landed property.’ In his opinion, past and
present share common structures with regard to this
3. ‘Feudal Rule’ and ‘Feudal Mode of Production’ connection between power and property, for in both
in the Work of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and feudal society and a bourgeois society, the form of
Karl Marx ownership determines the form of rule. The ‘supreme
command in industry is based on the ownership of
In Hegel’s philosophy of history, the ‘feudal system’ capital,’ while rule in feudal society was based on the
constitutes a step in the historical process which control of land. However, the difference between
brought about the ‘progress from feudal government feudal and bourgeois power relations was that in the
to monarchy.’ Hegel defines feudal government as a Middle Ages, control of landed property determined

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Feudalism

both social standing and legal rights to rule; the administrative services.’ The polity was not held
‘constitution of private property’ was also the ‘political together by—to his mind—the integrative forces of a
constitution.’ In feudal society, ‘property or member- bureaucratically controlled state, but drew on the
ship to a privileged family or the nature of one’s personal relationship of loyalty between lord and
occupation … were essential elements of political life in vassal for stability and duration. During investiture
the form of landlordism, class, and corporation.’ this relationship took on the character of a legally
Control over land formed the basis for rule over binding contract in a symbolic act which included
people. Noble birth was a kind of guarantee for the commendation (homagium) and an oath of fealty
privileges of a lord. Private corporations such as guilds (fides). In the absence of a centralized bureaucracy,
administered justice over their members, a right which ‘the personal feudal bond of allegiance and the feudal
the modern constitutional state reserves exclusively for code of honor serve as the glue of political cohesion.’
itself. Narrow ‘personalized relations of dependence’ Charlemagne’s reform of the army led to a feud-
characterized the ‘social conditions of material pro- alization of military affairs. Knights were provided
duction.’ Bond men were personally dependent on a with economically useful fiefs which obliged them to
small class of landholding nobles; as serfs, they were provide military service. A cavalry composed of
obliged to pay dues to their feudal lord and provide heavily armed feudatories replaced an army that once
him with certain services. consisted of freeborn peasants. The feudalization of
Interpreting history from a Eurocentric perspective, administrative structures transformed the early and
Marx equates classical antiquity with a slave-holding high medieval realm into a system of ruled territories
society, the Middle Ages with feudalism, and the (duchies, ecclesiastical and secular principalities,
present times with capitalism. This classification of margravates, earldoms) whose bearers were bound to
history reflects Enlightenment philosophy’s belief in the king by feudal law as tenants in chief. The feudal
progress and combines it with the view of history held system was of fundamental significance for the poli-
by postrevolutionary historians and social scientists. tical-legal organization of the kingdom. As a political
In their view, ‘feT odaliteT ’ is a term to describe both an principle of organization that divided the power of
epoch and a society: in the linear, evolutionary course lords, feudalism laid the foundations for a decen-
of world history, ‘feT odaliteT ’ or more exactly the tralization of political power. Contractually stipulated
‘systeZ me theT ologique et feT odal’ was a link between the division of power caused rivalries and conflicts be-
society of ancient slaveholders and the ‘systeZ me tween the central authority of the king and local vassals.
industriel et scientifique’ that produced the French By banding together to form corporations, feudatories
Revolution. transformed the feudal union into a corporative state.
Weber also points out that the manor constituted
the economic basis of feudalism. The manor was ‘the
4. Feudalism as Conceied by Historians and standard object of feudal tenure.’ The power of nobles
Social Scientists: Max Weber, Otto Hintze, and and princes was founded on ownership of land, human
Marc Bloch beings, and livestock. The conditions under which
feudalism emerged and its function as a system of rule
Weber’s concept of feudalism has nothing in common lent it a social character. The social differentiation
with revolutionary and liberal authors’ view of feud- between peasants and trained warriors grew out of the
alism as a system of anarchy, injustice, and violence. emergence of an armored cavalry. Membership to the
Weber integrates socio-political, legal, economic, and noble class of lords was necessary in order to exercise
spiritual-religious structural elements into a single power in the feudal system. Ownership of a manor
model. Weber defines feudalism as a traditional system which yielded rent entitled one to a ‘lordly mode of
of governance that combines economic, social, and existence’ and enabled one to live according to one’s
cultural factors. The idea that a feudal society is deter- social standing. Honor was the most important norm
mined exclusively by socioeconomic characteristics— influencing conduct. Work-free rental income was
its ‘feudal mode of production’—is quite alien to indispensable for a life ‘from which the social forms of
him. In his view, feudalism is not a type of economic prince and nobleman originate.’ ‘Feudalism, especially
management, but rather a type of domination that in the form of free vassalage and, more importantly, in
requires an economic basis. Weber argues that as a the feudal system appeals to ‘‘honour’’ and personal,
form of organizing and exercising domination, feud- freely rendered and sustained ‘‘allegiance’’ as consti-
alism is a political phenomenon. The structural prin- tutive motives of conduct.’ Honor and allegiance, the
ciple of feudal power relations is the fief. Feudal embodiment of the ‘feudal ethics’ which are charac-
relations determine the structure and form of the teristic of Western feudalism, constitute the ‘extreme
political order, a hierarchically graded feudal pyramid opposite of all objective business relations.’ Feudalism
that consists of feudal lords, vassals, and their sub- produced and cultivated an ethics of the nobility in the
vassals. Weber defines enfeoffment as ‘any investment form of heroic asceticism, heroic honor, and hero-
of rights, especially the right to use land or to exercise worship; these ethics contradict the objectiveness of
territorial domination in exchange for military or business relations and operations. The idea of the fief

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determined the various forms of ‘feudal incorpor- a corporative federation within a more solid feudal
ation,’ ‘all sorts of social relations: from one’s re- monarchy as it occurred in England when barons
lationship to the Saviour to that to his lover.’ joined together in parliament against the crown—it
To continue with Weber’s concept of feudalism, in extends roughly up to the sixteenth or seventeenth
the long term, ‘feudal structures of power with their century; and third, the era of late feudalism in which
clearly defined rights and duties’ contributed to the the main interest of the nobility was in preserving and
‘stability of the economy.’ The ‘constancy of the legal exploiting its socio-economic position as lords of
system’ contributed to the ‘emergence of a rational manors and estate owners—it extends up until the era
capitalistic system and fostered its penetration into the of the French revolution and up until the dissolution
gaps and seams of the feudal system.’ According to of traditional relationships in rural areas in the
Weber, the feudal system also had the rationalizing nineteenth century.’ Hintze sets up guidelines for
effect of molding society into ‘an at least relatively applying the term feudalism to non-European states,
constitutional formation.’ The feudal relationship societies, and cultures. In his view, the term feudalism
between lord and vassal created a ‘constitutional state’ is, strictly speaking, only applicable to a society in
which did not arise on the basis of a legal system, but which ‘military, socio-economic and political feudal-
rather on the basis of subjective rights agreed upon by ism are fully developed.’ Working under this premise,
free partners. By strengthening the personal rights of Hintze argues that ‘feudalism in its fullest sense can
the individual feudatory, a system of social relations only be found—albeit with considerable deviations
emerged in which contract and consensus constituted and particularities—in Russia, the Islamic nations and
the predominant forms of societal integration. Japan.’ Egypt, the ancient Orient, the Roman Empire,
In Character and Spread of Feudalism (1929) Hintze India, and China only exhibit initial signs of a
follows in the steps of Weber’s methodology to feudalism that extended equally over the political
‘describe the ideal type that underlies the concept of order, the manorial, agricultural economic form and a
feudalism.’ In his effort to precisely define feudalism as military nobility which, supported by work-free
a socio-historic category, Hintze follows the rules of income, was bound in allegiance to the ruler. In view of
modeling ideal types to go beyond the hermeneutical the poorly developed possibilities for communication,
interpretation of historical texts and concepts. Hintze large kingdoms required a decentralized administra-
argues that feudalism is more than ‘a self-contained tion and court system which were meant to function
and coherent system of institutions’ that constitute the on the basis of the feudal bond of allegiance between
‘feudal state.’ His concept of feudalism is thus intended ruler and noble vassals.
to understand and include other phenomena that are Like Otto Hintze, Marc Bloch also views feudalism
not a part of the feudal system in a strict sense. He as a social type. His book La socieT teT feT odale is
therefore tries to link political, military, and socio- considered to be ‘a model of analysis of social
economic structural elements in his definition of structure,’ a ‘paradigm of a histoire totale.’ Bloch does
feudalism. He understands feudalism not only as a not limit himself to describing an ideal type which
principle of political organization, but also as ‘a other scholars can use as a starting point for their own
principle of military, economic, and social consti- research. He also analyzes and describes European
tution.’ According to Hintze, feudal structures had an social history from the mid-ninth to the mid-thirteenth
effect on the development of sovereignty and social centuries, never losing sight of feudal society as the
stratification in three ways: first, in the ‘selection of a main connecting thread throughout this era. He sees
highly trained and loyal class of warriors who, bound vassalage and the manorial system as ‘leading
by private contract, assumed a privileged position; characteristics’ of feudalism as a type of society. He
second, ‘in the development of a manorial, rural designates the manor as ‘the fundamental unit of the
economic form which provided for the privileged class feudal regime.’ According to Bloch’s understanding,
of warriors’; and third, in the ‘elevation of this military feudalism encompasses more than just those forms of
nobility to the status of local lords who exercised social interaction that result from vassalage and the
considerable influence or who, because of their arbi- feudal and manorial system. He sees feudalism as a
trary way of ruling, assumed a privileged position’ society that should be reconstructed as a complete
within the loosely structured feudal state. interactive system. He therefore examines the basic
Hintze distinguishes between three main phases in structural conditions—including transportation,
the development of feudalism in the history of the trade, population, the system of communication, and
Romance-Germanic peoples: ‘first, the era of early the monetary system—that constitute the environment
feudalism in which the military factor predomin- of society. He is concerned with describing the
ated—it extends roughly until the end of the twelfth ‘atmospheZ re mentale,’ the ‘culture of the feudal period’
century; second, the era of high feudalism in which the that influenced the social behavior and societal life of
military nobility attained the height of its political the people by means of its ‘forms of feeling and
influence, either by attaining relative independence thinking’ including its literature (heroic song and
from their feudal overlord as was the case under the epic), its education and scholarship, its attitudes
arbitrary rule of princes in Germany, or in the form of toward nature, time and history, and its matters of

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faith and religious practices. Bloch identifies ‘fear of social conditions gradually evolved between the end of
punishment in hell’ as ‘one of the strongest social the fifth and the middle of the ninth centuries. The
powers of this time.’ The ‘kingdom of the feudal ‘epoch of developed feudalism’ lasted from the middle
period’ had a ‘holy character.’ of the eleventh until the end of the fifteenth century. ‘It
Personal ties and relationships of dependence had a was a time in which feudal conditions of production
great influence on the societal interactions which Bloch and exploitation in Western and Central Europe
designates as feudalism. ‘A network of bonds of prevailed and influenced the economy and society,
dependence that ran through all levels of human politics and class struggle, culture and ideology in
society from top to bottom gave the culture and spite of critical disturbances during the late medieval
society of European feudalism its distinctive charac- centuries and variations in the degree reached by
ter.’ Forms of personal dependence that existed within capitalistic conditions of production in the most
families and clans were based on blood ties. Under advanced European regions.’ Feudalism was able to
vassalage and the feudal system, personal bonds were endure over a span of several epochs because the ‘early
forged through freely made agreements, thus initiating bourgeois revolution’ (peasants’ war, Reformation)
a relationship in which services and duties were miscarried. As a ‘late feudal order’ characterized by
interchanged. Legal tradition, voluntary devotion, or ‘unrestricted rule of the nobility,’ ‘absolute feudal
involuntary coercion produced legal, economic, and monarchy,’ ‘fragmentation of the feudal state,’ the
social inequality on manorial estates between noble continuation of feudal conditions of production, and
lords, serfs, and tenant farmers. Central elements of the ‘development of capitalistic forms of production,’
Bloch’s concept of feudalism include vassalic depen- feudalism continued until the end of the eighteenth
dence, which bound vassals to perform military century, when it was overcome and dissolved during
services for a lord, and manorial dependence, under the French Revolution by ‘bourgeois emancipation.’
which villeins and serfs (coloni, illani, mancipia, seri) The question of the ‘essence’ and ‘genesis of
were made to pay their landlords dues and tributes and feudalism’ grew out of an interest in the structures
perform statute labor. Like Max Weber, Bloch sees of the precapitalistic form of society. The following
vassalage as patterns of behavior and relations which characteristics of premodern feudal society arise out of
shaped relationships within the family, between lovers, a comparison between the two systems feudalism and
and between the believer and God. capitalism: low level of technique, dominance of a
Because the members of societies generally desig- barter economy, and feudal and hence divided owner-
nated as ‘feudal’ were subdivided into groups which ship of land. Strictly speaking, the owner of the land
were stratified according to profession, prestige, was the feudal lord. He had the absolute ownership
wealth, and power, Bloch examines social divisions as (dominium directum) of the parcels of land which were
well as legal and economic inequality between the lent to the peasant. The peasant was granted the right
nobility, burghers and peasants, high and low clerics. to use the land by way of a loan (dominium utile). The
He views bearers of ‘public power’ in the ‘feudal instruments of production necessary to work the land
epoch’ (emperors and kings, princes and prince belonged to him. The villein and serf owed their lord
bishops, dukes and earls) not as representatives of the ‘surplus work’ (coreT e) and ‘surplus products’ (pay-
so-called ‘feudal state,’ a system of public rule distinct ment in kind, dues) for the use of the land. The ‘extra-
from society, but rather as bearers of ‘traditional economic compulsion’ which issued from the lord lent
powers’ in terms of their social bonds, limitations, and the exploitative feudal conditions duration and stabi-
functions. It was, after all, their duty in a legally and lity. Extra-economic compulsion refers to the connec-
socially ‘divided society to maintain certain principles tion between property and sovereign rights. Because
of order and unity.’ the lord of the manor also had the right of jurisdiction
over the peasants to whom he granted use of his land,
control of jurisdiction was a constitutive element of
5. History and the Concept of Feudalism: the exploitative conditions of production.
Marxist, Historical, and Social Science The majority of non-Marxist historians exclude
Perspecties forms of manorial dependence from their concept of
feudalism. They use feudalism and feudality as syn-
Marx and Lenin are only interested in feudalism as a onyms for the feudal system and feudal law. In their
societal formation that constituted a preliminary stage view, a definition of feudalism that includes all forms
of capitalism. Influenced by Marx, Lenin, and Stalin, of dependence including that of the peasant on the
socialist historians and social scientists have developed manor is an imprecise and thus unsuitable term for
a theory of feudal society that not only explains its ordering and explaining this historical phenomenon.
origins and characteristics, but also takes the change They reject a definition of feudalism that is more
in conditions of production as a starting point to broadly conceived to include all areas of political and
develop a criteria for the division of history into social life because they say that it cannot be verified by
epochs. According to the prevailing theory of the sources themselves. They argue that the term
Marxism, feudal conditions of productions and feudal feudalism loses its heuristic value if the clear-cut

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Feudalism

reference to the fief of a vassal who is obliged to societies. This usage is part of the established ter-
perform military service is lost; in their view, extending minology of the field. The intense debate about
the term further is linguistically and objectively un- feudalism in the former GDR ended after the uni-
grounded. Faced with the dilemma of defining feu- fication of Germany. The Jahrbuch fuW r die Geschichte
dalism either as a form of society or as the feudal des Feudalismus (Annual for the History of Feudalism)
system, Franc: ois Louis Ganshof chooses the latter. ceased publication in 1990. German historians avoid
His justification for this choice is symptomatic for all the term feudalism as an ideologically loaded con-
historians who, by means of an exact interpretation of struct. They consider the term manor (‘Grundherr-
the sources, claim to be able to determine ‘how it schaft’) on the other hand, as indispensable. However,
actually was.’ the term manor also originated as a politically ten-
Ganshof defines ‘the feudal system as a collection of dentious term; at the end of the eighteenth and
institutions,’ ‘that create and regulate two kinds of beginning of the nineteenth centuries, enlightened and
bonds between one free-born man, called vassal and liberal authors who saw the manor as an illegitimate
another, called lord or seignior: the ‘vassal’ is obliged form of aristocratic despotism used the term to
to obey and serve—chiefly militarily—the ‘lord’, and stigmatize the connection between domination and
the ‘lord’ is obliged to provide the ‘vassal’ with ownership of property which made the peasant de-
protection and a livelihood. The lord normally fulfilled pendent on noble lords and removed land from
his obligation to provide the latter by granting the use circulation on the free market.
of land known as the ‘fief.’
It has often been pointed out that conceiving of the
feudal state as a counterpart to a bureaucracy leads to 6. Feudalism as a Type of Society
a ‘one-sided exaggeration of domination’ and does not
adequately take ‘the communal, co-operative, and Adherents of a liberal concept of the town which
corporative elements in the village, the city, and in the originated in the nineteenth and early twentieth
country’ into account (Otto Brunner). Research in centuries object to usage of the term ‘feudalism’ or
social and constitutional history that focuses on the ‘feudality’ to label medieval society as a whole because,
role of the community in towns and in the country they argue, the political order and the socioeconomic
confirms this skepticism. It is argued that there is ‘no life of the town—municipalized since the twelfth
logical connection’ between ‘feudalism,’ which over- century—can hardly be characterized as ‘feudal.’ As
emphasizes the rule of the nobility, and ‘com- Otto von Gierke argues in Rechtsgeschichte der
munalism,’ which sees the community as an organ of deutschen Genossenschaft (1868), ‘free union,’ a new
civic and peasant self-determination (Peter Blickle). form of incorporation that formed the basis for the
Hence by seeing the peasant as a mere object of medieval town, was destined to ‘break the feudal
domination and exploitation, the ‘feudal’ point of system.’ Max Weber recognizes the medieval town as
view ignores historical records and documents to one of the factors that ‘broke the restraints of the outer
overlook the fact that the peasants themselves were and inner authorities of the feudal era.’ According to
also active subjects in the long development from Marc Bloch, social relations within the town were
serfdom into freedom. inconsistent with the ‘feudal type.’ Because of its
Historians who examine changes in social structures ‘liberties,’ its ‘economic expansion,’ and ‘collective
in order to explain the development of modern independence,’ medieval towns remained ‘foreign
capitalism (Perry Anderson, Rodney Hilton, Maurice bodies in feudal society.’ As a community in which
Dobb, Eric Hobsbawm, Hans Ulrich Wehler) use personally free citizens with equal rights vowed their
feudalism as a term of demarcation. Free of dogmatic mutual solidarity by oath, the upward bound aspiring
fixation, the work of Ludolf Kuchenbuch, Guy Bois, citizens became a ‘destructive element for the feudal
and Rodney Hilton examines the sources closely and system.’ Experts in the fields of law and the social
focuses directly on its subject in order to empirically sciences have recently emphasized that assuming the
substantiate and better clarify the term ‘feudal mode form of a commune, the medieval town developed a
of production.’ Feudalism and History (1956), an ‘principle contrary to the hierarchically structured
anthology edited by Rushton Coulborn, attempts to forms of domination in feudal society’ (Gerhard
turn the definition of feudalism as a ‘territorial system Dilcher). Further, the medieval town proved itself to
of governance’ into a category of world history that be ‘a point of crystallisation for an alternative principle
could be used for international comparisons. Drawing of legitimacy,’ for a ‘legitimacy by virtue of statute,
on this definition of feudalism, the volume comes to not tradition and piety,’ and for a ‘republican, not a
the conclusion that only Western Europe, Japan, and feudal or estate-based model of governance’ (Wolf-
early Chou-China display evidence for the existence of gang Schluchter). Otto Brunner, on the other hand,
a feudal social system. English and French historians contends that the medieval municipality developed
make little attempt to justify their use of the terms into ‘a special configuration in the world of European
feudalism, ‘feT odaliteT ,’ and ‘feT odalism’ to describe feudalism.’ He argues that the bond of fealty that was
structures of medieval and early modern agrarian characteristic for the European system of governance,

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Feudalism

‘so-called feudalism,’ also determined the relationship and make it useful for our current understanding of
between the town lord and the municipality. In the the past.
Marxist interpretation of history, which defines the The following features can be considered as typical
Middle Ages as ‘age of feudalism,’ medieval and early structural characteristics of a feudal society:
modern towns are referred to as ‘economic and social (a) Understood as political feudalism, the feudal
units of feudal society.’ system—in view of the limited communication pos-
In order to compare and distinguish societies with sibilities—provides regions in the process of expansion
different formations and structures, it is useful to have which are difficult to organize politically: access to the
a relatively wide range of general definitions. The term dispensation of justice, administrative services, and
feudalism is just this kind of general definition: it is a military protection. Organized according to feudal
tool of historical study in the attempt to understand law, land, administrative posts, and legal rights can be
and describe premodern society in its entirety. This equally invested and bequeathed; the result is a system
conclusion cannot be called into question or disproved of governance determined by the interplay between
by the fact that the medieval town had its own special manorial and cooperative powers at the level of both
political, social, and economic character, and there- the kingdom and the regions. (b) Political feudalism
fore contributed to the transformation of the so-called also refers to fragmentation of executive and judicial
feudal society into a civil society. The towns of Old powers. During the medieval and early modern eras, a
Europe were not sovereign polities; they were bound monopoly on state power in the hands of a king
up in the constitution of kingdoms and principalities. was—in most cases—unknown. The monarchy and
Max Weber refers to the ‘feudal town lords’ to whom the nobility divided public power among themselves.
the town council had to pledge loyalty and obedience Noble lords ruled over land and people by virtue of
each time the crown changed hands or new lords came both their own right and royal investment. Com-
to power. Weber also points out the ‘feudal character’ petition for power, a consequence of divided and
that marked the lives of urban patricians and oligarchs fragmented executive power, allowed for the devel-
and makes reference to the existence of ‘feudal unions’ opment of a cooperative social structure that, in the
within the towns of Northern Italy and the devel- long run, contributed to the disintegration of feudal
opment of a clientele at the hands of the nobility in the power and social conditions. The medieval town
towns of Southern Europe. Patrician families claimed emerged only because feudalism did not represent a
to possess the qualities of the nobility and therefore fully realized structural principle with regard to
wanted to be regarded as nobility and receive the same politics and society. Processes of social differentiation
status. The councils of late medieval and early modern could therefore take hold in the seams and gaps of the
towns often saw themselves as an authority appointed system, thus forming a basis for the development of
by God and worthy of the loyalty and obedience of the the town as a new kind of settlement and social form.
citizens. The council saw its rule as a system of (c) In the chiefly agrarian structured societies of early
command and obedience and derived its position not and high medieval Central and Western Europe, the
from a mandate of the citizens but rather from its territorial sovereignty practiced by kings, noble lords,
summa potestas. When towns tried to increase their and municipal cooperatives was not one of many
power by setting up territories of their own, they acted principles structuring society, but rather the funda-
as feudal lords themselves by exercising dominion over mental way of ordering life and was of importance for
territory and people. The different quality of the the whole of society. (d) Decisive for the organization
medieval and early modern town did not preclude of social life were relations of personal dependence:
structural elements of a feudal provenance and charac- the vassal was dependent on his feudal lord, the client
ter. Because empirical evidence indicates that the on his patron, the serf and tenant on their ecclesiastical
borders between systems are permeable, it is probably and secular landlord, the apprentice on this master,
justified to include the town as a special configuration the craftsman, homeworker, and wage earner on his
in a more open concept of feudalism. manufacturer. (e) The exercise of dominion as well as
The concept of feudalism is useful as a kind the extent and range of political participation were
of comprehensive model which draws connections closely connected with one’s social position. The
between the various constituent areas of reality in a distribution of political power and social organization
given society (politics, economics, law, social behavior, were closely linked. This relationship was not only an
religion, and culture) in order to show and explain expression of legal and social inequality, but also of
how these areas function independently as well as how the absence of the division between public and private
they interplay with each other as elements in a law. The medieval societas ciilis was constituted
complete social system. If the concept of feudalism is neither as a system of social and economic needs which
to be used in this way, then it is necessary to expand on was separate from the state nor as a society of citizens
the meaning it has acquired during its genesis with new with equal rights. (f) Medieval and early modern
contents. Only by formulating the concept of feu- societies were devoid of the inherent laws of secular
dalism anew is it possible to free it from the ideological orders and institutions. Christianity constituted an
burdens of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries interpretative and formative power which encom-

5614
Feudalism

passed the whole of society and pervaded and regulated historians of Medieval Europe. The American Historical
all realms of life. The connective and binding power of Reiew 79: 1063–88
the political order was rooted in ideas and principles of Brunner O 1968 ‘Feudalismus’. Ein Beitrag zur Begriffsge-
the Christian religion which attribute justice and schichte. In: Brunner O (ed.) Neue Wege der Verfassungs- und
Sozialgeschichte. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Go$ ttingen, pp.
power to God. Not only did manifestations of social 128–59
inequality require legitimacy in religion, but also Brunner O 1975 Artikel ‘Feudalismus’. In: Brunner O, Conze W,
justice, the economy, science and art, war, and peace. Koselleck R (eds.) Geschichtliche Grundbegriffe. Historisches
The social character of religion encompassed more Lexikon zur politisch-sozialen Sprache in Deutschland. Klett-
than just works of Christian caritas; it also constituted Gotta, Stuttgart, Germany Vol. 2, pp. 337–50
a inculum societatis, a kind of bond that integrated Byres T J, Mukhia H (eds.) 1985 Feudalism and Non-European
groups and unions through common convictions Societies. F. Cass, London
concerning right and wrong. Demski R 1996 Adel und LuW beck. Studien zum VerhaW ltnis
Defining feudalism involves the difficult task of zwischen adliger und buW rgerlicher Kultur im 13. und 14.
Jahrhundert, Lang Frankfurt a.M., Germany
comprehending and describing both the unifying and
Dilcher G 1993 Kommune und Bu$ rgerschaft als politische Idee
the differentiating aspects of the premodern societas der mittelalterlichen Stadt. In: Fetscher I, Mu$ nkler H (eds.)
ciilis, which became thinkable as a social unity Pipers Handbuch der politischen Ideen. Piper, Mu$ nchen,
through the medieval reception of Aristotle. However, Germany Vol. 2
because the urban and rural societies of the Middle Duby G 1978 Les trois ordres ou l’imaginaire du feT odalisme.
Ages and the Early Modern underwent various struc- Gallimard, Paris
tural changes, it is crucial from a methodological Duus P 1969 Feudalism in Japan. Knopf, New York
standpoint to use the term feudalism in a way that Fourquin G 1976 Lordship and Feudalism in the Middle Ages.
makes the difference between ideal-typical model and Publisher, New York
concrete historical reality clear. Heuvel G v d 1988 Artikel ‘Fe! odalite! , Fe! odal’. In: Reichardt R,
Schmitt E (eds.) Handbuch politisch-sozialer Grundbegriffe in
Frankreich 1680–1820. Oldenbourg, Mu$ nchen, H.10, pp. 1–48
See also: Bloch, Mark Le! opold Benjamin (1886–1944); Hilton R H 1985 Class Conflict and the Crisis of Feudalism.
Hintze, Otto (1861–1940); Honor and Shame; Marx, Essays in Medieal History. Hambledon Press, London
Karl (1818–89); Middle Ages, The; Weber, Max Holton R H 1985 The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism. St
(1864–1920) Martin’s Press, New York
Hintze O 1929 Wesen und Verbreitung des Feudalismus.
In: Oestreich G (ed.) Otto Hintze, Staat und Verfassung.
Gesammelte Abhandlungen zur allgemeinen Verfassungsges-
chichte. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Go$ ttingen, Germany
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Wehler H-U 1987 Deutsche Gesellschaftsgeschichte, Vol.1: Vom P(e  1.64 σ ) l 95 percent; then with data value y!
Feudalismus des Alten Reichs bis zur Defensien Modern- !
the probability statement would be applied to the
isierung der ReformaW ra 1700–1815. Beck, Mu$ nchen, Germany error e l y!kθ giving the structural probability
Wunder H 1974 Der Feudalismus-Begriff. U= berlegungen zu
P( y!kθ  1.64 σ ; y!) l 95 percent or equivalently
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Mo$ glichkeiten der historischen Begriffsbildung. In: Wunder H
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related manner the! Bayesian methodology might use a
many
Wunder H 1989 Artikel ‘Feudalismus’. In: Sautier R H (ed.) uniform prior cdθ and obtain a posterior distribution
Lexikon des Mittelalters. Artemis, Mu$ nchen, Germany, Vol. for θ that would have P(θ  y!k1.64 σ ; y!) l 95
4, pp. 411–15 percent. For this simple example the three! methods
give the same result at the 95 percent level and also at
K. Schreiner other levels, thus saying essentially that with data
Copyright # 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. value y! the probability distribution describing the
unknown θ is normal ( y!; σ#).
All rights reserved. !
With more complicated models the results from the
Fiducial and Structural Statistical three methodologies can differ and philosophical
Inference arguments concerning substance and relative merits
arise. However, for one straightforward generaliza-
Fiducial inference is a statistical approach to interval tion the methods remain in agreement: the normal
estimation first advocated by R. A. Fisher as an distribution can be replaced by some alternative
alternative to the then dominant method of inverse distribution form; this is discussed in some detail in
probability, i.e., using Bayes’ Theorem. Considerable Sect. 2.
effort has gone into formalizing Fisher’s notions using
such concepts as statistical invariance and pivotal
quantities. This entry describes elements of the fiducial
approach and relates them to other currently more 2. Fiducial Probability
widelyusedstatisticalapproachestoinference.Section1
introduces some basic inferential ideas via a simple Fisher (1922, 1925; see also Fisher, Ronald A
example. (1890–1962)) had already introduced most of the

5616

International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences ISBN: 0-08-043076-7

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