The basis of feudal society was usually the landed estate.
Here lived the feudal noble, surrounded by dependents over whom he exercised
the rights of a petty sovereign. He could tax them; he could require them to
give him military assistance; he could try them in his courts. A great noble,
the possessor of many estates, even enjoyed the privilege of declaring war,
making treaties, and coining money. How, it will be asked, did these rights and
privileges arise?
FEUDAL TENURE OF LAND
Owing to the decay of commerce and industry, land had
become practically the only form of wealth in the early Middle Ages. The king,
who in theory was absolute owner of the soil, would pay his officials for their
services by giving them the use of a certain amount of land. In the same way
one who had received large estates would parcel them out among his followers,
in return for their support. Sometimes an unscrupulous noble might seize the
lands of his neighbors and compel them to become his tenants. Sometimes, too,
those who owned land in their own right might surrender the title to it in
favor of a noble, who then became their protector.
