Before discussing the origins or the effects of feudalism
it is well to form a definite conception of the system as we find it in the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when it is the basis of local government, of justice,
of legislation, of the army and of all executive power. In this period the
lawyers have arrived at the doctrine that all lands is held from the King
either mediately or directly. The King is himself a great landowner with
demesnes scattered over the length and breadth of the realm; the revenues of
these estates supply him with the larger part of his permanent income. The King
is surrounded by a circle of tenants-in-chief, some of whom are bishops and
abbots and ecclesiastical dignitaries of other kinds; the remainder are dukes,
counts, barons, knights.
All of these, laymen and churchmen alike, are bound to
perform more or less specific services in return for their lands; the most important
is military service, with a definite quota of knights, which they usually
render at their own charge; but they are also liable to pay aids (auxilia)
of money in certain contingencies, to appear regularly at the King's council
and to sit as assessors in his law court. They hold their lands in fact upon a
contract; but the precise obligations named in this contract do not exhaust
their relation to the King. In a vague and elastic sense they owe him honour (obsequium)
and loyalty (fidelitas). They must do all in their power to uphold his
interests and exalt his dignity. He on his side is bound to consult them collectively,
in all matters of importance, and to maintain them individually in the rights
and possessions which he has granted to them. These personal and indefinite
ties should not be renounced, on either side, without some very serious reason - gross
treachery, gross neglect of duty, gross abuse of power or privilege.
