In its narrow, fief-holding sense, feudalism emerged in 11th-century France as a set of
private arrangements that filled a void left by the breakdown of public institutions of
government and justice. Its roots were both Roman and Frankish, but it took hold most
strongly in the regions of greatest Frankish influence, roughly what became known as the
Languedoil. Notwithstanding the lamentable cliché “feudal anarchy,” feudalism actually
prevented the worst excesses of lawlessness and political anarchy, which tended to be
most severe in regions, mainly the south, where institutions based on the fief developed
only belatedly and incompletely.
As traditional public institutions proved inadequate to maintain public order and
achieve nonmilitary resolution of disputes, regional rulers like counts made increasing
use of private contractual arrangements to enforce their authority. The rise of the fortified
castle, however, often undercut this authority, producing a group of castellans who
usurped some of the counts’ powers and restricted the geographical area in which they
could compel obedience. In this unsettled situation (early 11th century), those who were
weak came under the protection of the strong, willingly or otherwise, and those who were
strong sought to build up enough military might to protect themselves and their
dependents. Both developments gave rise to feudal institutions. A lesser noble with a
modest lordship who lacked a fortified house could best find protection by becoming the
“man” of a powerful castellan, giving homage and fealty to this lord, and holding his
lands henceforth as a fief. The castellan, in building up his own forces, gradually found it
expedient to have his military retainers (vassals) supported by lands of their own, so he
granted them fiefs subject to homage, fealty, and service. These fief holders generally
were far inferior to their lords in wealth and power, but as landlords living off the labor of
others they were nonetheless members of a small elite at the top of the social order, and
the relationships of fief holding carried some presumption of social equality. This fact
gave feudalism great flexibility, because it could be used as a device for making alliances
and resolving conflicts between lords of roughly equal power. A potentially explosive
property dispute could be settled by having one lord hold the land as a fief from the other.
Thus the fief-holding men of a particular castellan might have several different
origins: lesser landlords who had chosen, or been forced, to hold their lands as fiefs;
fighting men who had been granted fiefs to support them as knights; and neighboring
castellans who held fiefs as a result of a transaction that resembled a treaty more than
anything else. At the highest level of power were those “territorial princes” whose men
included all these types but who also built castles and installed their own castellans, who
held them as fiefs. A sufficiently powerful prince could sometimes compel existing
castellans to render homage for their substantial possessions and hold them as fiefs.
Because the men who held fiefs from a lord varied greatly in their de facto power, it
has been difficult to describe accurately the obligations attached to fief holding, and
conditions also varied according to period and to local custom. The “classic” formulation
of feudal obligations described them as consisting of aid (auxilium) and counsel
(consilium). The former included mounted military service, garrison duty, ceremonial
gifts on certain occasions, and the obligation to assist financially if the lord were captured
and forced to pay a ransom. “Counsel” referred to advice, sought and given according to
custom, and service at the court that important lords maintained to deal with cases
involving their men.
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