What is feudalism?

Answer 1

I assume you mean feudalism in Europe. There were other forms of feudalism in other parts of the world.

Feudalism in Western Europe started somewhere around the 8th to 9th centuries. It basically was a political system. A lord gave a vassal land or fief, while the vassal gave the lord military and judicial service. Sometimes the vassal gave money to the lord too. In turn, the vassal gave land to sub-vassals, so that the vassal could train for military service. This was the development of knights. This also created the system known as the manorial system.

The manorial system was a community of peasants. The lord as the authority, but treats the peasants, more or less, well. The land was divided into strips. There were strips for the lord and strips for the peasants. For 3 days, the peasants worked for the lord and then the peasants can work for themselves.

This all collapsed starting around 1000 CE, when political centralization started, as well as, agricultural and commercial "revolutions" started.

Answer 2

Feudalism is a politico/economic system where a king or a lord's source of power is from owning land with farmers and fisherman. Feudalism is deriving power from the land (mostly through farming).

Thus under Feudalism a Baron might be in charge of a huge amount of land which farmers or peasants work. A knight or squire might be in charge of a singe farm where all the farmers must pay him taxes and provide sons to fight wars. All the knights might work for a duke and the dukes work for the Baron. But all the power essentially lies with the land and its proper management.

Feudalism was replaced by Mercantilism which was replaced by Capitalism. Communism was supposed to replace capitalism but communism doesn't work and it failed.

Answer 3

Feudalism: a lord owns a domain, the people who live their are automatically his servants, and must give him a portion of what they produce. They have no vote or control of the domain. They are slaves.

see: modern corporatism.