Feudal Lord: We explain what a feudal lord was in the Middle Ages and what the power of ban was. Also, his relationship with serfs and peasants.
What were feudal lords?
Feudal lords were people who belonged to the nobility and who owned a territory that included a castle, the surrounding lands and the people who lived there. Feudal lords existed during the Middle Ages and were a social group that appeared within the framework of the political-economic system known as feudalism.
Feudalism was a political, social and economic system that was characterized by the fragmentation of power in small territories dominated by feudal lords. This system existed in Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries, although in some regions it survived until the 18th century. You must read about Archaeology once!
Each feudal lord owned a fief over which he exercised political, economic and social power. That is, he acted as a ruler and made the economic and social decisions that affected the population residing within the fief. This population was made up of peasants who worked the land and delivered part of their production to the feudal lord.
The power of the feudal lords was hereditary. Each feudal lord had obtained his power by being the heir son of the previous feudal lord of a fief. The first feudal lords were appointed by kings, who granted them a fief and the power to govern and manage the work of their lands. In exchange, the feudal lords had to defend the kingdom against various dangers.
In this way, a noble warrior became a vassal of the king in exchange for a fief. In turn, the feudal lords could have lesser vassals, who were other feudal lords to whom they granted a portion of the fief in exchange for military and political loyalty.
Privileges of the feudal lords
The feudal lords were a privileged social group. They constituted a caste of noble warriors whose main function was to militarily defend the fief that a king had granted them. In return, the feudal lords held the power of ban or power of command: each feudal lord could govern within his jurisdiction.
Therefore, the lords had power over the peasants living in the fief. They could give them orders and dispense justice. In addition, they were the owners of almost all the territory and required the peasants to pay tribute in work and in kind.
The feudal lords lived in the castles of their fiefs with their families and a small court. They obtained their resources through the exploitation of the labor of the peasants of the fief, so they did not have to work. They had a good quality of life and could access luxury goods. Maybe you should definitely read about Origin of Life once!
Relationships between feudal lords
Some feudal lords were more powerful, owners of large armies at the service of the king (who in practice was another feudal lord). Others, of lesser power, were in turn subject to other stronger lords, in a pyramidal system, with the king at the head.
The relationships between the different feudal lords were crossed by feudal-vassal ties. Two nobles established a pact between themselves, in which one was the lord and the other was the vassal. The lord, who was the noble with the greatest power, promised to militarily protect his vassal and gave him a fief. In exchange, the vassal promised loyalty to his lord through an oath of fidelity.
Mutual commitments between lords and vassals
Commitments of the vassal:
- Guarantee loyalty and fidelity to the lord.
- Be part of his court.
- Provide military aid.
- Provide financial aid on specific occasions.
Commitments of the lord:
- Protect the vassal and his family.
- Give him a fief.
- Educate the vassal’s son in his own court.
Secular and ecclesiastical feudal lords
Feudal lords could be secular or ecclesiastical. Secular lords were nobles whose lineage was associated with landowning families of the kingdoms of the past. The condition of nobility was hereditary and was only obtained by blood ties.
Secular nobility had to fulfill security functions. The feudal lord and his entourage constituted a group of knights and had to be prepared for combat in case of war.
Ecclesiastical lords were members of the Christian Church who also owned land as fiefs. They were mostly part of the regular clergy; That is, they belonged to religious orders and lived in monasteries or abbeys.
The highest ecclesiastical authority of the fief acted as feudal lord in the same way as the lay lords did.
Feudal lords and serfs
Feudal lords ruled over all the inhabitants of their fief. The population of the fief was made up of peasant families. Each family unit worked the lands that the feudal lord had granted them for their use and, in addition, they worked the “seigniorial lands”, the production of which remained in the hands of the lord.
Feudal peasants were serfs. This means that they were neither free nor slaves. Serfs had a debt to the feudal lord and were not free to live in another territory. The condition of being a serf was also hereditary and could only be annulled by the feudal lord.
The feudal lords benefited from this unequal bond, as it allowed them to appropriate the product of peasant labor. For their part, they were responsible for the security and survival of the peasants.
The properties of the feudal lords
Each feudal lord had his fief and managed it for his survival and that of all the inhabitants. The basis of the feudal economy was agriculture. Agricultural production was organized around the manor, which was the territory that included the farmland and the common land (which were the forests, rivers and grazing areas).
The most fertile lands were reserved for the feudal lord and constituted the “seigniorial reserve.” The rest of the farmland was divided into “mansos” and given to peasant families for their use.
