1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:07,360 Feudalism is a term invented in the 19th century to describe how society was structured during the High Middle Ages, 2 00:00:07,759 --> 00:00:10,599 that's between 1000 and 1300 AD. 3 00:00:13,419 --> 00:00:16,699 The feudal system was based on the exchange of land and services. 4 00:00:17,559 --> 00:00:21,219 Under the feudal system, all the land in the kingdom belonged to the king. 5 00:00:21,500 --> 00:00:26,539 He would then parcel out large estates to great lords known as tenants-in-chief 6 00:00:26,539 --> 00:00:29,079 in exchange for their military and political support. 7 00:00:29,079 --> 00:00:35,859 These great lords then parceled out smaller portions of the land to lesser lords on similar terms 8 00:00:35,859 --> 00:00:39,340 who did the same to local lords, who did the same to peasants 9 00:00:39,340 --> 00:00:43,670 The feudal system had its own vocabulary 10 00:00:43,670 --> 00:00:48,829 A king or lord who gave land to a lesser lord became the latter's overlord 11 00:00:48,829 --> 00:00:54,350 The person receiving the land became the vassal of the person who granted it 12 00:00:54,350 --> 00:00:56,530 and the land itself was called a fief 13 00:00:56,530 --> 00:01:01,049 A vassal was not necessarily a minor figure. 14 00:01:01,509 --> 00:01:06,329 Everyone in the feudal system below the king was a vassal, even the greatest lords in the land. 15 00:01:07,310 --> 00:01:12,170 Even the king of England was a vassal to the king of France, for the lands he had inherited there. 16 00:01:14,390 --> 00:01:18,609 By the later Middle Ages, though, feudalism had largely disappeared from Europe. 17 00:01:19,010 --> 00:01:20,969 This was the result of a number of factors. 18 00:01:22,170 --> 00:01:27,609 Firstly, medieval kings grew less reliant on their great lords to provide soldiers for their armies, 19 00:01:27,969 --> 00:01:30,450 turning instead to professional paid soldiers. 20 00:01:30,450 --> 00:01:35,590 This weakened the bonds of feudalism built on the obligation to provide military service. 21 00:01:37,849 --> 00:01:41,629 Secondly, the Black Death, which arrived in England in 1348, 22 00:01:42,069 --> 00:01:45,769 significantly reduced the population available to work the land. 23 00:01:46,189 --> 00:01:50,370 Those who were lucky enough to survive the epidemic had increased bargaining power 24 00:01:50,370 --> 00:01:54,650 and could increasingly choose where they worked and demand higher wages. 25 00:01:55,409 --> 00:02:00,709 This meant that the nobility gradually lost their control over the lower and middling ranks in society, 26 00:02:00,969 --> 00:02:02,989 who could now afford to buy their own land. 27 00:02:04,390 --> 00:02:10,629 Finally, increasing urbanization and a greater reliance on a money economy rather than a land economy 28 00:02:10,629 --> 00:02:13,849 also contributed to the decline of feudalism. 29 00:02:15,430 --> 00:02:21,569 So to recap, the great lords were no longer expected to provide military service to the king, 30 00:02:21,569 --> 00:02:25,650 the peasants were increasingly free to live and work where they wanted, 31 00:02:26,069 --> 00:02:30,449 and money replaced manpower as the key agent of economic and political power. 32 00:02:31,349 --> 00:02:35,229 Whilst feudalism declined in England from the 14th century onwards, 33 00:02:35,689 --> 00:02:40,030 it was not formally abolished until the Ten Years' Abolition Act of 1660. 34 00:02:40,889 --> 00:02:44,930 In other European countries, the end of feudalism came much later. 35 00:02:45,629 --> 00:02:49,210 France abolished feudalism after the 1789 Revolution, 36 00:02:49,210 --> 00:02:54,189 and Russian peasants had to wait until 1861 to be made free. 37 00:02:55,629 --> 00:02:59,310 Amazingly, the last remaining traces of feudalism in the British Isles 38 00:02:59,310 --> 00:03:01,669 made it into the 21st century, 39 00:03:02,189 --> 00:03:05,629 until finally abolished by the Scottish Parliament in June 2000 40 00:03:05,629 --> 00:03:10,969 with the Abolition of Feudal Tenure Act to take effect in November 2004.