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Feudalism, Bastard Feudalism, and Dynasticism & Le roi est mort, vive le roi! HIST 1016 11/5/14 The Story So Far… • Charlemagne – Building kingship in the post Roman world. Challenge of church, state, and empire. • Salah al-Din – Building kingship in the face of foreign invasion. Domestic politics vs. foreign conflict. • Khubilai Khan – Building kingship in a foreign land. Personal identity and culture vs. identity and culture of conquered peoples. The War of the Roses • 1450-1509 – England sees 3 revolts, 13 full-scale battles, 10 coups d’état and coups attempts, 15 invasions, 5 usurpations, 5 kings (2 of whom had 2 reigns each), and 5 changes of dynasty… When We Left Europe… • Carolingians – Empire until 888 – Dynasty until 987 • Kingdom of the Franks and the Holy Roman Empire • The Crusades (1095-1291) Feudalism • Network of obligations • Holding of land in exchange for service or labor • Lords, vassals, and fiefs • Not seen as a formal system by contemporaries • There is no one feudalism… Honor and Fealty • Vassalage involves a commendation ceremony • Homage and investiture – Vassal pledges reverence and submission – Vassal receives symbolic title – Hommage – lit. “his man” • Oath of Fealty – Fidelity owed to the lord – Makes commitments explicit • What’s a man without honor? Feudal Society • Manoralism • Manors – self-sufficient land holdings • Serfs – unfree peasant labor, exchange labor for protection • Potential for religious and other institutions as well as military fiefs • What’s wrong with hereditary manors? • Liege Lords Knights and Feudalism • ~12th century – Heavy cavalry becoming backbone of Western European militaries • Knight – title granted by a monarch to a mounted warrior • Knights vs. men-at-arms • Chivalry – code of professional ethics • Horses and grooms; armor and weapons and blacksmiths and squires – all expensive • Fiefs provide needed finances Feudal Levy • Infantry and the long bow • Conscription of peasants • Number depends on size of manor • Obligation of peasant to vassal to lord • Outside of the codes of chivalry The Feudal System Bastard Feudalism • Modified form of feudalism that developed in the late 13th century • Identified by historians interested in the disorder of the War of the Roses • Shift from feudal levy to paid retainers • Feudal vassals paid money to lord • Lord paid money to soldiers Edward I (r. 1272-1307), father of bastard feudalism Bastard Feudalism • Is it all about armies and money? • Service in exchange for good favor – Offices, grants, etc. • Affinities – groups of gentry who support a particular nobleman • Use lord’s influence in local and national politics • Livery badge or livery collar Livery badge of Henry V and Sir Thomas Moore in the livery of Henry VIII Bastard Feudalism • Not just between kings and gentry • Affinities among nobles and lesser gentry • Influence of lord can be extra-legal – From the court to the streets • Is it possible for a lord to build an affinity larger than his own lord’s? • Dynasticism – Family based noble affinities stronger and more central than state affinities Primogeniture • The right of succession belonging to the firstborn son by which the whole real estate of an intestate passed to the eldest son. • Male-preference cognatic primogeniture • Sons -> grandsons -> daughters -> granddaughters • Eldest brother -> nephews -> Grandnephews -> nieces -> grandnieces • Second eldest brother, etc. Primogeniture • When daughters inherit… – Jure uxoris – by right of his wife – Husband holds the titles of his wife • Or when sons of daughters inherit… – By patrilineal descent, daughter’s son is not in your family – Titles and lands move to new family • Why does marriage involve politics? • Remember Frederick II, Isabella II made him King of Jerusalem Entail or Fee Tail • To limit the passage of a landed estate to a specified line of heirs, so that it cannot be alienated, devised, or bequeathed. • “to A and his heirs” • “to A and the heirs of his body” • “fee tail male” • “fee tail female” • Land associated with such an agreement is “in tail” or entailed. Entail or Fee Tail • Keep land in the family • Limits economic options – Mortgage – Land is inherited, not debts • “Failure of Issue” – No heir meeting requirements – Return to rules of primogeniture • That’s why you have a lawyer among your affinities! How tricky can all this get? • 1337 – Edward III of England (r. 1327-1377) refuses to pay homage to Philip VI of France (r. 1328-1350) • Charles IV of France (r. 1322-1328) dies with no heir • Edward is closest male heir (his mom was Charles’s sister)… • If you discount female descent, Philip is the closest (his father was Charles’s uncle) • 1337-1453 – The Hundred Years’ War Homage of Edward I to Philip IV (1286) England before the War of the Roses • House of Plantagenet (r. 1154-1485) • Henry II – Angevins – Counts of Anjou – Duke of Normandy – taken from his brother, Robert II, in war – Duke of Aquitaine – marriage to Eleanor of Acquitaine – King of England – maternal grandson of Henry I of England • Rule of England as a foreign colony Henry II Lands of Henry II in 1172 Remember Richard the Lionheart Plantagenets • Richard, Philip II, and John • Continental and English lands separated • Magna Carta (June 15, 1215) – Weakened position of John led to revolt of vassals – Imposes limits on monarch – Guarantees rights of vassals • Treaty of Paris (1259) – retain some continental holdings as vassal of the King of France Plantagenets • 1264 – Second Barons’ War and the Great Parliament • Use of Parliament to raise taxes to fund wars in France • 1337 – Start of the Hundred Years’ War • 1377 – Richard II becomes king at age 10 • John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, uncle of Richard II • “Continual Councils” excluding John