Research Paper on:
Definition and Role of European Feudalism

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fiefs and had control over the peasant class. This developed in different stages and with different structures across Europe and is used as a theoretical term or system which was  believed to have existed after the time of chaos and the breakdown of the Roman institutions. The term "feudalism" is used to describe the decentralized and complex social, political and  economic society which existed in Europe starting from around the years 1000 to 1300 A.D. (Nelson, 2002; Abels, 2002). The term was coined in around the 16th century by royal  lawyers to try and explain the society which preceded the modern monarchies but was not used as a term during the actual time of feudalism. The term can be said  to have arisen out of the medieval German word "vieh" or cow, or "fief". "Fief" means something of value which at the time usually meant land ownership (Nelson, 2002).  After the chaos and the downfall of the Roman institutions, European leaders could no longer maintain an overall effective government and the areas of Europe began to develop different types  of institutions within society to create a central management of the lands and the people. The three types of institutions which developed during the post-Roman times were manorialism (an organization  of the peasants), monasticism (an organization of the churchmen), and feudalism (the institution of the aristocracy) (Nelson, 2002). As the different shapes of the organizations began to take over different  parts of Europe, the feudal system gradually began to take a general shape which was relatively consisted throughout those societies which adopted feudalism. The feudal system consisted of five main  elements (Abels, 2002). The personal bond and mutual loyalties between military service and nobles of different ranks was known as the vassalage and lordship. The "fiefs", or tracts of land,