History is often viewed as a linear process
of transition from one mode of production and socio-economic system to the other. The primitive community transitioned to slavery,
which moved on to feudalism with the transformation of slavery into serfdom, which gave way to
capitalism as a more profitable mode of production. But in practice, this process was more complicated
involving transitionary forms and passing through different stages at different points
in history in different regions. In this episode of Kings and Generals, we
are going to talk about the reasons for the decline of feudalism in Europe. And while you might not have to fight in your
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TACTIDE you’ll get an exclusive bonus: 50 Jason shards, an RPG, and 50000 silver. What is feudalism? Historian Maurice Dobb defines feudalism as
a system “virtually identical with what we usually mean by serfdom: an obligation
laid on the producer by force and independently of his own volition to fulfill certain economic
demands of an overlord, whether these demands take the form of services to be performed
or of dues to be paid in money or in-kind”. He describes the main features of feudalism
as the use of primitive techniques and instruments of production with the unsophisticated division
of labour. In feudalism, demesne-farming was the dominant
type of labour carried out on lands owned by a feudal lord and the vast majority of
produce was used for the immediate needs of the lord and his subjects. These lords possessed almost total superiority
over their serfs and could do almost anything short of executing them. One of the primary features of feudalism was
political decentralization, as while a monarch was a de facto sovereign of all feudal vassals
in the country and exerted control over them through lawmaking, taxation, and use for military
purposes, feudals possessed almost unfettered control over their lands and subjects. Under feudalism, a monarch ruled over the
state, which was divided into lands of various sizes among hereditary feudals, who received
lands and estates in accordance with their services for the kingdom. But around the 13th-14th centuries feudalism
entered the period of decline in Western Europe gradually giving way to capitalism. Historian Henri Martin observed that “Feudalism
concealed in its bosom the weapons with which it would be itself one day smitten”, referring
to the struggle of monarchs to establish more control over the state and its feudal subjects
through the support they had received from an emerging class of townspeople capitalists,
whose rise was possible due to growth of urban centers, towns, and cities as a result of
the expansion of trade. These and other factors have caused the demise
of feudalism and we will discuss them below. Let’s start with the Crusades, which at
first glance do not seem like something that could have had a negative impact on feudalism. The driving force of the Crusades were large
feudal landowners, who would often use their own money and resources to raise armies for
this endeavour. Surviving and returning feudals would often
be so broke that they would accept peasants buying lands and becoming essentially free
from feudal control. The same is true for towns, which used to
be under feudal control and now were able to purchase their freedom for their former
lords. These events led to an increasing portion
of lands and a number of serfs setting themselves free from feudal control. Crusades also played a role in the import
of new military technologies like gunpowder from the East. Gunpowder enabled the production of cannons
and the cannons made feudal castles, one of the key factors behind their autonomy, more
susceptible to military actions. In the pre-gunpowder era, it was extremely
difficult and costly to capture castles and feudal lords were confident in the impenetrability
of their walls and hence their autonomy. Now it was easier for kings to break feudal
resistance and establish more solid control over their lands, which made Western European
states more centralized. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the
Crusades also played a major role in the expansion of trade in Western Europe. Following the collapse of the Western Roman
Empire, there was no major authority in Western Europe to protect and maintain the road network. Along with that, the Caliphate expanded to
important trading regions like Gibraltar, Alexandria, Sardinia, and Malta, hence the
long-distance trade conducted by Western Europeans gradually diminished and became localized. One of the key tenets of feudalism was its
self-sufficiency, as often all of the produce from the feudal lands were used for mostly
the feudal and a small portion of it for the feudal subjects living and working on these
lands. There was a very small surplus left for major
trade operations. Crusades helped to expand the Western European
reach to major cities like Constantinople and Alexandria, along with gaining a temporary
foothold in the Holy Land. Moreover, Western Europeans regained control
of important islands and trade outposts in the Mediterranean. This played an important role in the restoration
of long-distance trade in Europe. The Belgian historian Henri Pirenne argued
that long-distance trade not only enabled economic development and growth of civilizations,
but was also a major driver of exchange of ideas, exposure of civilizations and cultures
amongst each other. Lack of these led to ruralization of Europe,
a decrease of the significance of cities, less contact and exposure within Europe and
between Europe and other civilizations. Expansion of trade led to the accumulation
of money by merchants and a gradual transition from an exchange-based economy to a money-based
economy. The merchant class was made up of commoners
and was the predecessor of bourgeoisie class, which would in the upcoming centuries upend
the European aristocracy. The emergence of major cities was another
important factor causing the crisis of feudalism. We already talked about how dropping revenues
forced feudal lords to give up control over a large number of serfs, some of whom moved
to cities for employment and new life. While the exploitation of labour and the general
hardship of course existed in cities as well, urban centers were attractive to peasants
for, at least, being safe from feudal arbitrariness and oppression, along with providing them
with certain rights and freedoms. Towns and cities would often offer refuge
to runaway serfs and peasant rebels, especially during the 14th century, when peasant rebellions
got widespread in Western Europe. The emerging class of rich urban dwellers
was also active in trying to attract peasants to cities as cheap labor force and more soldiers
to their militaries. It is important not to over-exaggerate the
significance of the impact of the growth of cities on feudalism, since most of the peasant
and serf migration was still within the countryside. The growth of cities in Europe between the
thirteenth and fifteenth centuries was major, but the overall urban population of Europe
was no more than 10% in that period. But the mere fact that now there was an alternative
for peasants to leave for cities put additional pressure on feudal landowners and feudalism. The growth of cities and the increase of manor-city
trade were also linked to the gradual transformation within the manor system itself. Feudal lords would assign bailiffs amongst
their peasants to manage and oversee the cultivation, storage, and disposal of the produce made
on their lands. Naturally, not all dealings between lords
and bailiffs had been honest, as bailiffs tended to keep some of the produce and money
made from trading it for themselves. Gradually bailiffs accumulated enough money
to start renting parts of the lands owned by their feudal lords. They would employ peasants to work on rented
lands in exchange for wages or produce, since serfs were obliged to work only for their
feudal lords. This paved the way for the gradual emergence
of capitalist relations in the countryside and the class of capitalist farmers. Such farmers would usually become better managers
of lands, since they were driven by the motivation to pay the rent and accumulate more profit
by selling the surplus produce in town markets, which enhanced trade between the countryside
and cities further boosting the process of decline of feudalism. The decrease of population in Western Europe
also played a major role in the demise of feudalism. In the mid 14th century the bubonic plague
reached Europe and devastated the whole continent over the next decades. There are different estimates of the bubonic
plague casualties in Europe ranging from 24 million to 70 million. Some claim that 60% of the European population
was wiped out during the pandemic. Whole towns and communities would disappear. It brought chaos and social disruption to
European states. Many serfs would run away from the countryside,
hoping that the bubonic plague would not catch them in the cities. Trade, enterprise, economic relations - all
collapsed and it had to be rebuilt again. There were fewer people to employ due to a
drastic decrease in population. Therefore, enforcing serf labour was not as
easy anymore, since serfs now had more leverage and often used it to do wage labour instead. This was a further blow to feudalism. The Hundred Years’ War between England and
France had a similar impact on feudalism. This long-lasting conflict had major implications
on military strategy, the organization of armies, the emergence of national identities
in Europe, and the increase of the role of commoners against the nobility, which all
had a negative influence on feudalism. Longbows were used extensively during the
war and proved to be an effective weapon against mounted knights, one of the key components
of feudal armies. Cannons were also used during the Hundred
Years’ War. They would penetrate castle walls making feudals
vulnerable to the power of the state, where the role of the monarch was gradually growing. France would be the first country since Roman
times to use a standing army in 1445, making the monarch less dependent on levies and mercenaries,
which were the key components of the feudalism era armies. Standing armies would consist of commoners,
which helped to boost their value in society and decrease their feudal dependence. Many losses suffered by them during the war
would increase their value in peacetime as labourers, making it less and less likely
that they would work for free as serfs. Moreover, the large-scale nature of the Hundreds
Years’ War and participation of different strata of English and French societies increased
the sense of patriotism, national identity, and loyalty to the state and the king, rather
than the feudal lord, like it used to be. This process led to the emergence of more
centralized territorial states, where feudal aristocracy was still prominent but was gradually
losing its rights to absolutist monarchs. Territorial states or nation-states paved
the way for the further progression of the urban-based bourgeoisie and capitalism in
Western Europe. While feudal aristocracy still enjoyed political
influence well into the Modern Era, the economic power was shifting to bourgeoisie and capitalists
mirroring the process of transformation of the mode of production in Western Europe from
feudalism to capitalism. Whereas the processes described above logically
should have led to more rights for peasants and commoners in Western Europe, as is usually
the case in history, the change did not come without popular movements and social unrest. In the 14th century, Europe was a ground for
numerous major peasant rebellions in England, Flanders, France, Italy, Germany, and Spain. The 1381 peasant revolt in England is especially
notable in that respect. In the initial phase, the revolt was so successful
that rebels advanced to London and forced King Richard II to meet with the rebels and
promise them to abolish serfdom. The rebellion was eventually defeated and
Richard II reneged on his promise, but it definitely pushed the English landowners and
nobility to think hard and long about necessary changes, eventually leading to the disappearance
of serfdom, the key pillar of feudalism, by the 15th century and its substitution with
wage labour. The political struggle between monarchs and
the nobility also played its part in the decline of feudalism. Particularly in England, the period of the
12th-13th centuries was a time of adoption of laws expanding individual liberties, including
for commoners. In the 12th century, Henry II strengthened
the role of royal courts as new laws stipulated that an individual could not be jailed or
executed for no legal reason, which in theory weakened the position of feudal lords against
their subjects. In 1215, during the reign of his successor
King John Magna Carta was adopted. While in short term Magna Carta strengthened
positions of the nobility, in the long run, it contributed to ideas on individual rights
in England, which was incompatible with a key pillar of feudalism - serfdom. It should be noted that some historians are
less keen on Magna Carta as the reason feudalism declined, and offer the devastation of the
Wars of the Roses and the economic impoverishment of the lower classes via enclosures as more
important factors. Essentially, most of the factors negatively
impacting feudalism trace their roots to the human factor. Many of these factors caused and enabled the
flight of serfs and peasants from the countryside. Why were they so keen to leave their homes
once the opportunity arose? The answer according to historian Maurice
Dobb is simple - over-exploitation. The greed and desire for ever-increasing profit
were so high for feudal landlords that peasants were overworked and exhausted and as soon
as better opportunities emerged on the horizon they fled the countryside en masse causing
the gradual decline of feudalism. This is not to say that over-exploitation
ended together with feudalism, as it in fact turned into capitalist exploitation instead,
but it was different in its nature and undoubtedly progress for humankind, manifesting if not
in better living and economic standards, then at least, in terms of civil and political
rights, which they utterly lacked in the feudal era. Over-exploitation was also a cause for peasant
rebellions, dropping economic productivity and gradual recognition that serf labour would
have to be substituted by wage labour. It is necessary to remember that the decline
of feudalism and the emergence of capitalism as the dominant mode of production was not
a rapid process. It took centuries and numerous crises for
capitalism to upend feudalism. In major Eastern European powers like Russia
serfdom existed until the 19th century and the economy was primarily feudal and agrarian
for a very long time. What is described in this video is the decline
of feudalism in Western Europe, where the process of decline of feudalism started and
finished earlier. But it still took a lot of time. According to Dobb, there were three decisive
moments in the process of transition from feudalism to capitalism. First, the crisis of feudalism in the 14th
century. Second, the beginning of capitalism in the
late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Third, the victory of capitalism through the
Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Based on Maurice Dobb’s theory, it took
5 long centuries for feudalism to give way to capitalism. We are planning more videos on the economic
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