By the ninth century, many knights and nobles held estates fiefs granted by greater lords in return for military and other service. This feudal system from the medieval Latin feodum or feudum , fee or fief enabled a cash-poor but land-rich lord to support a military force. But this was not the only way that land was held, knights maintained, and loyalty to a lord retained. Lands could be held unconditionally, landless knights could be sheltered in noble households, and loyalties could be maintained through kinship, friendship, or wages.
Mounted armored warriors , or knights from the Old English cniht , boy or servant , were the dominant forces of medieval armies. During and after the fourteenth century , weapons that were particularly effective against horsemen appeared on the battlefield, such as the longbow, pike, halberd, and cannon.
The magnificence of their war games—called tournaments—also increased, as did the number of new knightly orders, such as the Order of the Garter. Norris, Michael. Before a lord could grant land a fief to someone, he had to make that person a vassal. This was done at a formal and symbolic ceremony called a commendation ceremony, which was composed of the two-part act of homage and oath of fealty. During homage, the lord and vassal entered into a contract in which the vassal promised to fight for the lord at his command, while the lord agreed to protect the vassal from external forces.
Roland pledges his fealty to Charlemagne. Roland right receives the sword, Durandal, from the hands of Charlemagne left. From a manuscript of a chanson de geste, c. Once the commendation ceremony was complete, the lord and vassal were in a feudal relationship with agreed obligations to one another. Using whatever equipment the vassal could obtain by virtue of the revenues from the fief, he was responsible for answering calls to military service on behalf of the lord. This security of military help was the primary reason the lord entered into the feudal relationship.
At the level of the manor this might be a fairly mundane matter of agricultural policy, but could also include sentencing by the lord for criminal offenses, including capital punishment in some cases. These are only examples; depending on the period of time and location in Europe, feudal customs and practices varied.
Power in this period became more personal and decentralized. Skip to main content. Search for:. Feudalism Learning Objective Recall the structure of the feudal state and the responsibilities and obligations of each level of society. A king or lord ruled large areas of land.
To protect his land from invasion, the king gave parts of it to local lords, who were called vassals. In return, his vassals promised to fight to defend the king's land. Vassals ruled lands granted to them by their king. Those lands were called fiefs. Within a fiefs, a vassal acted as a local lord and could give portions of it to vassals of his own.
Someone might be the vassal of one person, but the lord of another. Knights were warriors who fought on horseback. In return for land, they pledged themselves as vassals to the king.
Only the sons of lords could become knights. Candidates for knighthood began training as pages at the age of 7, learning social graces and skills such as fencing and hunting. At 13 or 14 they became squires and began to practice fighting on horseback. Squires served as assistants to knights both in the castle and on the battlefield. At 21 a squire could become a knight himself, kneeling before the lord of the manor to be "dubbed" on the shoulder with a sword.
Kings, local lords, and knights were all part-of a ruling class that called itself noblemen. Noblewomen were the wives and daughters of noblemen. They were in charge of the household servants and supervised the upbringing of children. They also helped take care of the sick and the poor. In certain cases, noblewomen themselves could own land.
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