Early European History Part 75

23. Compare the Norman faculty of adaptation with that of the Arabs.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Webster, _Readings in Medieval and Modern History_, chapter vii, "The Saga of a Viking"; chapter viii, "Alfred the Great"; chapter ix, "William the Conqueror and the Normans in England."

[2] See page 67.

[3] The word perhaps comes from the old Norse _vik_, a bay, and means "one who dwells by a bay or fiord." Another meaning a.s.signed to Viking is "warrior."

[4] See the ill.u.s.tration, page 240.

[5] The word is derived from old Norse _segya_, "to say"; compare German _sagen_.

[6] "Hall of the slain."

[7] "Choosers of the slain."

[8] See page 312.

[9] The Icelanders in 1874 A.D. celebrated the thousandth anniversary of the Scandinavian settlement of their island.

[10] Russia in 1862 A.D. celebrated the millenary of her foundation by Ruric.

[11] The Norse word for "fort" is preserved in the gorod of Novgorod.

[12] See page 335.

[13] See page 358.

[14] See the ill.u.s.tration, page 310.

[15] "Norman" is a softened form of "Northman."

[16] In 1911 A.D. Normandy celebrated in the ancient capital of Rouen the thousandth anniversary of its existence.

[17] See pages 315, 317.

[18] The abolition of the French monarchy dates from 1792 A.D., when Louis XVI was deposed from the throne.

[19] See page 320.

[20] The east of England contains more than six hundred names of towns ending in _by_ (Danish "town"), compare _by-law_, originally a law for a special town.

[21] "Meeting of wise men." The word _gemot_ or _moot_ was used for any kind of formal meeting.

[22] See page 556.

[23] See page 325.

[24] See page 317.

CHAPTER XVIII

FEUDALISM

149. RISE OF FEUDALISM

A DARK AGE

The ninth century in western Europe was, as we have learned, [1] a period of violence, disorder, and even anarchy. Charlemagne for a time had arrested the disintegration of society which resulted from the invasions of the Germans, and had united their warring tribes under something like a centralized government. But his work, it has been well said, was only a desperate rally in the midst of confusion. After his death the Carolingian Empire, attacked by the Northmen and other invaders and weakened by civil conflicts, broke up into separate kingdoms.

DECLINE OF ROYAL AUTHORITY

Charlemagne's successors in France, Germany, and Italy enjoyed little real authority. They reigned, but did not rule. Under the conditions of the age, it was impossible for a king to govern with a strong hand. The absence of good roads or of other easy means of communication made it difficult for him to move troops quickly from one district to another, in order to quell revolts. Even had good roads existed, the lack of ready money would have prevented him from maintaining a strong army devoted to his interests. Moreover, the king's subjects, as yet not welded into a nation, felt toward him no sentiments of loyalty and affection. They cared far less for their king, of whom they knew little, than for their own local lords who dwelt near them.

INCREASED POWER OF THE n.o.bLES

The decline of the royal authority, from the ninth century onward, meant that the chief functions of government would be more and more performed by the n.o.bles, who were the great landowners of the kingdom. Under Charlemagne these men had been the king's officials, appointed by him and holding office at his pleasure. Under his successors they tended to become almost independent princes. In proportion as this change was accomplished during the Middle Ages, European society entered upon the stage of feudalism. [2]

PARALLELS TO EUROPEAN FEUDALISM

Feudalism in medieval Europe was not a unique development. Parallels to it may be found in other parts of the world. Whenever the state becomes incapable of protecting life and property, powerful men in each locality will themselves undertake this duty; they will a.s.sume the burden of their own defense and of those weaker men who seek their aid. Such was the situation in ancient Egypt for several hundred years, in medieval Persia, and in modern j.a.pan until about two generations ago.

EXTENT OF EUROPEAN FEUDALISM

European feudalism arose and flourished in the three countries which had formed the Carolingian Empire, that is, in France, Germany, and northern Italy. It also spread to Bohemia, Hungary, and the Christian states of Spain. Toward the close of the eleventh century the Normans transplanted it into England, southern Italy, and Sicily. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the crusaders introduced it into the kingdoms which they founded in the East. [3] Still later, in the fourteenth century, the Scandinavian countries became acquainted with feudalism. Throughout this wide area the inst.i.tution, though varying endlessly in details, presented certain common features.

150. FEUDALISM AS A SYSTEM OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

FEUDAL SOVEREIGNTY

The basis of feudal society was usually the landed estate. Here lived the feudal n.o.ble, surrounded by dependents over whom he exercised the rights of a petty sovereign. He could tax them; he could require them to give him military a.s.sistance; he could try them in his courts. A great n.o.ble, the possessor of many estates, even enjoyed the privilege of declaring war, making treaties, and coining money. How, it will be asked, did these rights and privileges arise?

FEUDAL TENURE OF LAND

Owing to the decay of commerce and industry, land had become practically the only form of wealth in the early Middle Ages. The king, who in theory was absolute owner of the soil, would pay his officials for their services by giving them the use of a certain amount of land. In the same way one who had received large estates would parcel them out among his followers, in return for their support. Sometimes an unscrupulous n.o.ble might seize the lands of his neighbors and compel them to become his tenants.

Sometimes, too, those who owned land in their own right might surrender the t.i.tle to it in favor of a n.o.ble, who then became their protector.

THE FIEF

An estate in land which a person held of a superior lord, on condition of performing some "honorable" service, was called a fief. At first the tenant received the fief only for a specified term of years or for his lifetime; but in the end it became inheritable. On the death of the tenant his eldest son succeeded him in possession. This right of the first-born son to the whole of the father's estate was known as primogeniture. [4] If a man had no legal heir, the fief went back to its lord.