1. A landholding system, particularly applying to medieval Europe, in which all are bound by their status in a hierarchy of reciprocal obligations of service and defense. • The lord was obligated to give the vassal (1) some land, (2) protection, and (3) justice. The lord guaranteed the quiet occupation of the land by the vassal and guaranteed to do right if the vassal became involved in a dispute. In return, the vassal owed the lord some type of service, called “tenure” (literally “means of holding”), because the different types of service were the methods by which the vassals held the property.
2. The social, political, and economic system of medieval Europe.
— Also termed feudal system; feodal system. — feudalistic, adj.
“What do we mean by feudalism? Some such answer as the following is the best that I can give — A state of society in which the main social bond is the relation between lord and man, a relation implying on the lord’s part protection and defence; on the man’s part protection, service and reverence, the service including service in arms. This personal relation is inseparably involved in a proprietary relation, the tenure of land — the man holds land of the lord, the man’s service is a burden on the land, the lord has important rights in the land, and (we may say) the full ownership of the land is split up between man and lord.” F.W. Maitland, The Constitutional History of England 143 (1908; repr. 1955).
“Modern historical research has taught us that, while it is a mistake to speak of a feudal system, the word ‘feudalism’ is a convenient way of referring to certain fundamental similarities which, in spite of large local variations, can be discerned in the social development of all the peoples of western Europe from about the ninth to the thirteenth centuries.” J.L. Brierly, The Law of Nations 2 (5th ed. 1955).
