Thesis on feudalsim vs manorialism.

Feudalism and Manorialism

In the medieval times they had something called feudalism and manorialism. "Feudalism was a political and legal structure regulating the relations among the various levels of the nobility" (4). To a large extent feudalism and it's counterpart manorialism promoted security and stability in medieval Europe. It helped many poor people that couldn't help themselves with out it.

When Charlamane died his son Louis took over. He didn't have a lot of power and there was no body of law. This made the empire break apart and cause a civil war in 843. After the war the counts got together and signed a treaty know as the Treaty of Verdun. This divided the empire up into states and then this caused the battle of the classes, which was the start of feudalism (1). They now had to make feudal states. "In general, one can say that a feudal state is one in which all the members of the ruling class form a feudal hierarchy with a chief lord or suzerian at it's peak" (2 p4).

Plan of a fictional mediaeval manor

Still Waiting for Bonaparte

Refusing to recognize Irene's reign, Pope Leo III ...

All they needed to make these states was a king.

Feudalism had many characteristics. One of them was a decentralized political system. This meant that the king really had no power. The people who had the most power where the lords. These people where and made the warrior class. They had the power over the civil and military. The courts, judges, prisons and contracts where all in the hands of the lords. The executions where also done by them. Everything started to become private. The political power was now based on heredity. (1)

The basic unit of these feudal arrangements was the fief (3). The fief was a piece of land that was owned by the lords. They would grant serfs these...