Feudalism

Feudalism is a term that was invented by 16th century English lawyers to describe the decentralized, social, political and economic society common in the middle ages. Feudalism has come to mean two quite different things; it is sometimes used to describe the complex set of oaths and obligations which bound the aristocracy to the Crown or State, but the meaning of the word which is now used most commonly in mainstream society refers to the social society in which peasant agriculture is the dominant economic activity and peasants are tied to the land and the system is dominated by a small elite. Feudalism first came into being as a reaction the dis...