The Feudal System

Question 1

Vassal

Answer 1

Someone who owns land on condition of being loyal to the Lord of the land.

Question 2

Homage

Answer 2

To pay Homage is to recognise a person as your Overlord on matters.

Question 3

Fealty/ Oath of Fealty

Answer 3

Declaration of loyalty to someone.

Question 4

Forfeiture

Answer 4

When you lose your land from wrongdoing.

Question 5

What is the order of the Feudal System?

Answer 5

King
Barons
Knights
Peasants

Question 6

Who is at the top of the Feudal System?

Answer 6

The King

Question 7

Who is at the bottom of the Feudal System?

Answer 7

Peasants

Question 8

What is a Baron?

Answer 8

Barons served the KIng by providing knights for the KIng’s army and they also served as advisors. In return for their services they were awarded land

Question 9

What is a Knight?

Answer 9

Knights provided their fighting skills for the King’s army. In return they were granted land by Barons.

Question 10

What is a Peasant?

Answer 10

Peasants had little power and were at the bottom of the Feudal System. They worked the land for the Knights.

Question 11

What did a landholder have to do in return for being granted land?

Answer 11

Pledge homage to his Lord by swearing an oath of fealty. When this happened he became a vassal. It was treason to break the oath and punishable by death.

Question 12

How was land shared out?

Answer 12

Shared between tenants-in-chief (Barons). They kept some for their own needs and then sub-divided the rest to Knights who became their vassals. The Knights then subdivided it to peasants who would work the land in exchange for protection.

Question 13

What was the Royal Demesne?

Answer 13

The land the King kept for himself and did not share out to his Barons.

Question 14

What was Knight Service?

Answer 14

Knight Service was the duty that the knights owed their Lord in return for gaining land. Knights agreed to serve in the king’s army for at least two months at their own expense, including providing their own horse and weaponry. Furthermore, Knights agreed to perform 40 days guarding a Lord’s castle. The amount of Knights a Lord owed the King depended on how much land they had been granted. If a Baron had more land, they owed the King more Knights. This quota (or amount) was known as servitium debitum. In England there were up to 5,000 men who owed Knight service in return for land. Knights became Knights in an official ceremony where they were presented with a sword and gently struck on the back of their neck. Knights also presented their loyalty to God and their Overlord. Rents provided Knights enough money but they were not necessarily rich

Question 15

What was Labour Service?

Answer 15

The peasants carried out labour service. Peasants were either freemen, villeins or cottars. The peasants produced all the food for the country. In return for their land, villeins had a feudal duty to perform labour for the Knights and the Tenants-in-Chief (Barons). The villeins had to work for the Lord on certain days of the week and during harvest (this was known as ‘boon-work’). The cottars worked for one day a week and freemen did not work for the lord of the land, they just paid rent.
Unlike Knights, Peasants did not have to do military service.

Question 16

How did forfeiture help the Feudal System operate properly?

Answer 16

It helped the feudal system to function properly because if a vassal did not perform his service as he was supposed to because of his oath, the lord could take their land away. For example, if a knight did not turn up to fight when he was summoned to, he would forfeit his land back to the Lord who would give the land away to a loyal and reliable vassal.