| Description |
Feudalism is a term used to describe the economic, social, and political aspects of Western Europe from A.D. 1000 (or sometimes earlier) to 1350. The term was unknown to contemporary society but was introduced into England in the seventeenth century by Sir Henry Spelman. In a broad sense, the term also applies to stages in the cultures of societies other than Western Europe. The comparative studies in the bibliography of Marc Block's Feudal Society demonstrate the wide connotation feudalism has come to have. In American history, "feudal" is used to describe the plantation economy of the Pre-Civil War South as well as the "Robber Barons" of the Gilded Age. In the area of English feudalism, Frank Barlow points to the existence of feudalism in Anglo-Saxon England. On the other hand, the iconoclasts, Richardson and Sayles, tear down the feudal edifice erected by previous and contemporary historians. The term "feudal" is too systematic in their view as the vagueness o the term really cannot describe any stage of a given civilization. Feudalism cannot apply even to the situation in Western Europe because of the regional variations involved. |
