What is feudalism? Did it serve any historical purpose? Has it ever had a good use?

Answer 1

are we in that now???

Answer 2

Feudalism is an Economic System in Which the Lord or the Owner of the Land makes the serfs work and he receive the profit and the serfs only the necessary for their daily existence, besides en medieval times the knights an serfs had to serve and give assistance and protection to the lord, also en certain cases contribute with money or gold to the Lord necessities , the Lord and his family were the only with benefits in the kind of regime, because they have the favor of the king. Sadly in some contries in Latin America that I know still have this system in some rural areas. I am not sure about other areas on earth. Sadly but true

Answer 3

Feudalism was a system of allegiance to one's superiors: the peasants to the landowners, the landowners to the nobles and the nobles to the monarch.

This meant that many powerful noblemen had their own armies which they would lead into battle.

I cannot think of any examples of this system being of any "good use". The main problem with it was that the nobles had their own armies that they could rely upon in case of war, and they were not necessarily on the side of the reigning monarch. Loyalty was not always guaranteed.

During the Hundred Year's War for example, the Duke of Burgundy had his own powerful army and allied himself with the English instead of the French King. He only made peace with the French King when the war went against the English. A later Duke then went to war with the French King over other issues. (One of these issues being that the French King wanted to abolish the Feudal system.)

Furthermore, because the nobles had their own armies, they often engaged in civil conflict with each other or the monarch himself. Because the nobles depended on the peasants to keep their estates going, the peasants were usually the ones to suffer the most. The English civil war known as the War of the Roses is notorious for the number of times nobles switched sides whenever it suited them, even in the middle of battle when their original side was losing the fight.

The feudal system started to die out in the late 15th and early 16th century when the lower members of society became better educated. Feudal armies which pledged their allegiance to a noble were replaced by a standing army which swore a direct loyalty to the monarch.

Answer 4

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feudalism for the explanation.

Well I would tend to guess that back in those days it served to keep the peace and managed things rather well until good education started to become common place. Then it was outdated.

There are still places today that feudalism is still used.

Answer 5

Something about serfs and lords. the lords owned the land, and the poor serfs toiled away on the land and gave the lords the dough that their toil gained. It served the purpose of the lords being rich and not have to do much except be nasty to the serfs and eat goose.

Answer 6

It was a good way to control unruly, ignorant peasant serfs. Who were virtual slaves to the local Lords. It had it's place in the past.
It existed in Russia until the communist revolution.

Royalty and and the aristocracy in Britain should have their wealth confiscated for what they did in the past. The way they got rich would be illegal today.

Answer 7

It was a strict ordering of society, where each person knew their place and stayed there.

It was a very oppressive system designed to maintain the status quo, and collapsed with industrialisation.