The origins of feudalism date back to the 3rd century, when the slave system of production in the Roman Empire went into crisis. Faced with the economic crisis and the Germanic invasions, many of the great Roman lords abandoned the cities and went to live on their properties in the countryside. These rural centers, known as Roman villas, gave rise to medieval manors. Many less wealthy Romans began to seek protection and work in the lands of these great lords. In order to be able to use the land, however, they were obliged to hand over part of what they produced to the owner. Gradually, the slave system of production in the Roman Empire was being replaced by the servile system of production, which would predominate in feudal Europe. Thus, the servitude regime was born, where the rural worker is the servant of the great landowner.
In the feudal system, the king granted land to great lords. These, in turn, gave land to other less powerful lords, called knights, who, in return, fought on their behalf. The one who granted the land was a suzerain, and the one who received it was a vassal. Relations between suzerain and vassal were mutual obligations, established through an oath of allegiance. When a vassal was invested in possession of the manor by the suzerain, he swore to render him military assistance. The suzerain, in turn, was obliged to give legal and military protection to the vassal.
Feudal society was divided into estates, that is, a society composed of stagnant strata, in which the passage from one social stratum to the other was practically impossible. According to the specific function of each layer, some historians classify it as a society formed by those who fight (nobles), those who pray (clergy) and those who work (servants). Serfs did not own the land and were tied to it. They could not be sold as slaves were, nor were they free to leave the lands where they were born. In the poor strata, there were also villains. The villains were free men who lived in the manor, they owed some obligations to the lords, such as banalities, but they were not tied to the land, being able to leave it whenever they wished. The nobility and clergy made up the dominant layer of feudal lords, that is, those who had legal possession of land and serfs and who dominated political, military and legal power. The high clergy consisted of the following members:pope, archbishops and bishops. The lower clergy consisted of priests, and monks. The nobility was also hierarchical being divided into high and low nobility. High nobility:Duke, Marquis and Count. Low nobility:viscount, baron and knight.
The fief (land) was the domain of a feudal lord. The average size of these fiefs is not known. Each manor comprised one or more villages, the land cultivated by the peasants, the forest and common pastures, the land belonging to the parish church and the manor house, which became better cultivable. The basis of the feudal system was the servile relations of production. The serfs lived in extreme poverty, because, in addition to being tied to the land by law, they were tied to the lords, to whom they owed obligations such as:
- the hoist;
- the corvee;
- the banalities.
The carving was the servant's obligation to give to his lord a part of what he produced. This part, in general, corresponded to half.
The corvée was the obligation that the serf had to work for free a few days a week in the manor manor, that is, in the cultivation of the lands reserved for the lord.
Banalities were the payments that serfs made to lords for the use of the distillery, oven, mill, granary, etc.
In addition, part of its production was destined for the Church. All this led to a very low level of productivity, because, in addition to the techniques being rudimentary, the serfs had no motivation to develop them because they knew that the more they produced, the more the masters would suck from them.
The biggest contributor to the decline of the feudal system was the resurgence of towns and commerce. With the resurgence of cities, peasants began to sell more products and, in return, get more money. With the money some could buy freedom. Others simply fled to cities in search of better living conditions.
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