The Origins of Feudalism
The first evidence of the beginnings of a feudal system stems all the way back to the Roman Republic with their patrician-client relationship. During military conquests the Romans would take slaves back to work their estates. Soon the patricians found a better use for these slaves, and they would free them, creating an entirely new class in Roman society known as libertini, or simply freedmen. These libertini were given a simple offer, they would be free of their slavery if they were to return the favour to the patrician who gives them this privilege.
Upon being freed, the libertini were given a house of their own to live in, which was on the patrician's land. They did not own it, and were tied to the land, but they were fed and clothed well by their patrician. They gained the right to apply for Roman citizenship, and could even gain representation in the senate. In return they were required to fight for Rome during war time, work on their Patrician's land without pay, always vote for their Patrician in the senate, and were not allowed to testify against him in court. In this way, libertini were somewhat similar to the Villeins of the later feudal system.
The Rise of Feudalism
The rise of Feudalism as it is known today, began in the late 8th - early 9th Century A.D. in Gaul (France). The Frankish Empire had been dissoluted recently, and it was now a collection of squabbling Barons, Lords and Nobles, warring for land and attempting to unite the Empire beneath them. Charlemagne, an ambitious young Noble, saw this squabbling and had a desire to end it. However, Charlemagne was faced with a problem: the Frankish civilians were unwilling to be united, and the Barons, Lords and Nobles would listen to no one man. How then, was Charlemagne to secure their loyalty?
After the collaspse of the Roman Empire, the money system as it was known collapsed, and thus money was a useless commodity. Hence, Charlemagne could not buy the loyalties of the Barons. Charlemagne devised a plan and raised an army. He marched into a Baron's lands, defeating him and gaining control. However, rather than leaving it at that and marching onwards, he offered the land back to the Baron in return for his loyalty, some revenue and more troops for his army. The Baron accepted, and onwards Charlemagne marched, his army bolstered and backed with funds. The next Baron fell, and was offered back his lands, accepting once again, and so on... soon he had united the lands beneath with a Feudal system keeping things under control. Hence, the previous money based economy was replaced with a land based economy.
Feudalism in Practice
Charlemagne had been succesful, he now lorded over the entire realm of the Franks and had hardly any work to do. However, the Barons were now presented with the same problems, similar to Charlemagne: how to keep the populace under control, and how to recruit troops without causing dissent. The solution: Lords; but again, the Lords were faced with problems of their own, and so the Feudal chain was created:
- King/Emperor: The King/Emperor was at the top. He owned all the lands in the realm and controlled the armies.
- Barons: Barons were given a fiefdom by the King/Emperor, and although they did not own it, they controlled it and could do what they wished with it. In return, they recruited troops for the King's/Emperor's army and were required to give the King a place to stay as he travelled.
- Lords: Lords, Knights chosen by the Barons, were given a castle to live in, and dominion over the area around them. In return they sent the Barons one of their best Knights (that would in turn be sent to the King/Emperor), and would appoint tax collectors for the Barons. They were required to collect the taxes of produce from the peasents and send them to the King.
- Villeins: Villeins were serfs chosen by the Lords to live on a plot of land near their castle. They did not own the land, and could not sell it, but they had a better life than your average serf. In return they worked on the Lord's manor.
- Serfs: Serfs were not given any land, they were tied to the land they were born on and they were required to work for their Lords. During times of war they were conscripted into the peasent militia with little more than some leather armour (if any) and a common farming implement as a weapon.
At the top, the King/Emperor lived an easy life, often travelling the country side to make his presence known, he never stayed in one area long however. The Barons prospored, Lords were fairly well off, but Villeins were downtrodden, and Serfs were utterly oppressed. In principle, the Feudal system worked because it was a "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" system. The Lords were generous enough to allow Serfs and Villains to live on their lands, so they had to work, the Barons were generous enough to give the Lord's castles, so they had to keep control and send money and knights, and the King/Emperor was generous enough to allow the Barons' fiefdoms, so they had to bolster his army and pay him his dues. Since all the lower classes did was work for the upper classes, they were supposed to be provided for by the upper classes. This usually wasn't the case, however.
Serfs were expected to go to war, and their Lords were expected to outfit them. The only problem was, it is much easier to outfit hundreds of peasents with old leather armour, than newer ring mail or chain mail. Similarly, rather than spending time to ensure that the Serfs' did not live in squalor, it was much easier to simply ensure they had a dwelling, and to leave it at that. Thus, the Feudal system only worked for short periods of time, and wasn't very productive. Over time, the lower classes would become restless unless something was done to keep them in control, and there was always problems with succession in a Feudal system. This is shown with the collapse of Charlemagne's Holy Roman Empire and its division into three kingdoms.
The Decline of Feudalism
As time progressed and the Dark Ages gave way to the medieval age, a new economy began to emerge. These squabbling Barons were replaced by national identites: Britons, French, Germans etc. and these countries began minting again. Around the time of the first crusade, another factor came about that conflicted with Feudalism: the need for specialized production. The third factor was the development of agriculture. Feudalism just didn't work with any of these factors, as it discouraged individualism and specialization, and only required the Serfs to toil endlessly on basic farms.
Once these national identities had formed, land was less important to Barons. They belonged to a nation, and the King owned all the land, they simply lived on it. The Barons still needed to be more important than Lords and Serfs, however, and so they turned to new means: money. With the return of the money system, the Barons had more money than Lords and Serfs, and so they were more important. Similarly, Lords had more money than Serfs, and so they were more important. Thus, this heirachal class system based on land was obsoleted, and the King could no longer hold sway over them by offering lands (nor did he have to by this stage).
As the crusades began, they found themselves in need of specialized suits of armour and weapons; and as the crusades returned, they brought with them treasures of the East. Trade also began to open up, and a question became evident: who would specialize in these areas, who would carry out the trade? The answer came through guilds, a Lord would renounce his Knighthood and begin making a very lucrative profit as a guildmaster of a trading company, and the best smiths in the land found themselves constantly accosted for these specialty items, getting rich from the business and founding guilds of their own. This happened in many other professions, and the feudal system was broken as Serfs ascended to a middle class of merchants and guildmasters that had no place in feudalism.
Finally, the agriculturual system began to develop beyond the basic farms used in feudal society. collars were invented, crop rotation implemented and irrigation began to find a place. These were not cheap to implement, however, and Lords of the feudal system were not willing to pay for them, and so only non-Feudal farmers could carry out these agricultural reforms, and they had increased production, while the feudal system continued to get poorer and poorer, and others flourished. Thus the Feudal system was abandoned and gave way to monarchism blended with a very early form of capitalism.
Note: This describes the rise and fall of Feudalism in Medieval Europe. Eastern Feudalism declined much later, and it Russia, peasents were never fully emancipated until Tsar Alexander II freed them in 1861.