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The adjective feudal was in use by at least 1405, and the noun feudalism was in use by the end of the 18th century, [4] paralleling the French féodalité.. According to a classic definition by Ganshof, [1] feudalism describes a set of reciprocal legal and military obligations of the warrior nobility that revolved around the key concepts of lords, vassals and fiefs, [1] though Ganshof himself ...
English feudalism began to decline during the Anarchy (1135–1153), a civil war between the supporters of Empress Matilda and Stephen of Blois. Matilda, the daughter of Henry I of England, was Henry’s only legitimate heir, but many barons who had sworn to support her claim instead backed Stephen, Henry’s nephew. This division led to ...
In medieval Europe, an oath of fealty (German: Lehnseid) was a fundamental element of the feudal system in the Holy Roman Empire. It was sworn between two people, the feudal subject or liegeman (vassal) and his feudal superior (liege lord). The oath of allegiance was usually carried out as part of a traditional ceremony in which the liegeman or ...
Middle English literature is written, then, in the many dialects that correspond to the history, culture, and background of the individual writers. While Anglo-Norman or Latin was preferred for high culture and administration, English literature by no means died out, and a number of important works illustrate the development of the language.
Courtly love (Occitan: fin'amor; French: amour courtois [amuʁ kuʁtwa]) was a medieval European literary conception of love that emphasized nobility and chivalry. Medieval literature is filled with examples of knights setting out on adventures and performing various deeds or services for ladies because of their "courtly love".
Medieval serfdom really began with the breakup of the Carolingian Empire around the 10th century. [citation needed] During this period, powerful feudal lords encouraged the establishment of serfdom as a source of agricultural labour. Serfdom, indeed, was an institution that reflected a fairly common practice whereby great landlords were assured ...
English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world.The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. [1] The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the fifth century, are called Old English.
The social class of franklin, meaning (latterly) a person not only free (not in feudal servitude) but also owning the freehold of land, and yet barely even a member of the "landed gentry" [2] [3] [4] (knights, esquires and gentlemen, the lower grades of the upper class), let alone of the nobility (barons, viscounts, earls/counts, marquis, dukes), evidently represents the beginnings of a real ...