Feudalism

FEUDALISM IS A TERM generally used to describe the political, economic, and social life of Europe from the fall of the western Roman Empire in 476 c.e. up to the rise of the modern nation-states in the 15th century. Feudalism can roughly be defined as a social system in which a strong warlord was able to provide protection for weaker citizens in his region. In return for providing protection from roving bandits, the warlord would receive military service, or agricultural or other economic support. Given this definition, feudalism actually first emerged in England after the Roman legions were withdrawn in 410 c.e. to defend Rome and the continental empire from the onslaught of the Germanic tribes and later the Huns.

According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the ...