The crisis of feudalism occurred in the last period of the Middle Ages, called the Low Middle Ages (11th and 15th centuries).
Some factors were necessary for feudalism to disappear completely, ending the Middle Ages and beginning the Modern Age.
Abstract
Based on land ownership (fiefs), monarchy, centralization of power, self-sufficiency and a status society (nobility, clergy and people), devoid of social mobility, feudalism was a system that remained until the 14th century in Europe.
However, with paradigm shifts and various historical, cultural, political and social events, the feudal system began to decline from the 11th century onwards.
Below are the main causes that led to the crisis of the feudal system .
Demographic Growth :from the 10th century onwards, the considerable increase in the number of people was a decisive factor in the emergence of a new social class interested above all in commerce:the bourgeoisie. The bourgeois class, formed by artisans, merchants, bankers and owners of trading companies, were inhabitants of the old medieval fortified cities, called burgos.
With this, the power of the nobility, feudal lords and the clergy also declined. Faced with this system, it became difficult to meet the different needs of the population (food, housing, health, etc.) which practically doubled in the following centuries.
This population explosion generated a marginal population, without jobs and without land. From the 15th century onwards, the urban and commercial renaissance provided an increase and stability in the population.
Bourgeois Revolution :with the emergence of the bourgeoisie, many people fled from manors (rural exodus) to cities in search of better conditions. The emergence of currency, the development of medieval cities and the intensification of commercial activities were essential for the feudal system to go into decline.
The new social class that emerged aspired against absolutism, aiming for independence and proposing a new economy, based on the capitalist system (mercantile bourgeoisie). In addition, the bourgeoisie fought for enrichment and social mobility, a system unknown in feudal society.
Black Death :one of the factors that devastated the population in the Middle Ages was the epidemic of the Black Death (or bubonic plague), which killed millions of people from the 14th century onwards, that is, about a third of the European population.
Between 1346 and 1353, the lack of hygiene and favorable living conditions were decisive for the plague to reach a large part of the population. Thus, the decrease in the workforce fell sharply, revealing a little of the feudal crisis that was beginning.
The population lived in precarious housing and hygiene conditions, which caused the plague virus, which lodged in the rats' fleas, to proliferate dramatically.
This implied, mainly, in the greater oppression and exploitation of the few serfs who still worked in the manors, which left the population increasingly discontented, leading to several peasant revolts, of which the Jacquerie (1358) and the Peasant Revolt of 1381 stand out.
The Crusades :It was from the Crusades movement (between the 11th and 13th centuries), a series of eight expeditions of a religious, economic and military nature organized by the Church, that trade intensified and the commercial renaissance emerged in Europe.
The commercialization of products with the East from the opening of the Mediterranean Sea was a determining factor for the fall of the feudal system, with the increase of trade routes.
Although from a religious point of view they did not achieve many goals, the Crusades favored commercial development, putting an end to Arab domination in the Mediterranean Sea.
Rebirth :With new discoveries and changes in the religious, commercial, urban, cultural, artistic and scientific fields, the Renaissance appears in the 15th century in Italy:an artistic, philosophical and cultural movement that allowed the change of mentalities in European society.
With him, humanistic anthropocentrism gave way to theocentrism that dominated the life of the population in the Middle Ages, together with the power of the Church, which participated fully in the lives of citizens. The commercial renaissance favored commercial exchanges, increasing the economy and generating the capitalist system.
Complement your research on the topic by reading the articles :
- Low Middle Ages
- Feudalism
- Relations of Suzerainty and Allegiance in Feudalism
- Feudal Economy
- Feudal Society
- Absolute State
- Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism