feudal europe principality

Feudalism - a socio-economic system that replaced the primitive communal system and preceded capitalism.

The prerequisites for the emergence and formation of the feudal mode of production are the process of decomposition of the primitive communal system, as well as the improvement of agricultural technology, the emergence of arable farming, the spread of the neighboring community, the separation of certain types of crafts from agriculture, the rapid development of trade, the growth of property differentiation, the emergence of proto-cities, and proto-states. All this prepared the socio-economic conditions for the transition to a new, feudal system.

The feudal economy is characterized by the following features:

• - the dominance of large land ownership, which was in the hands of the feudal class;
• - its combination with small individual farms of direct producers - peasants, who often retained the basic tools of labor, livestock, and estate in individual ownership;
• - the peculiar status of peasants who were not owners of the land, but were its holders on various conditions, up to the right of hereditary use;
• - various forms and degrees of foreign economic coercion of peasants - personal and land dependence, judicial subordination to the power of the feudal lord, class incomplete peasantry;
• - the predominance of the agricultural sector over the commercial and industrial sectors;
• - dominance of subsistence farming;
• - mostly low level of technology and knowledge, manual production, which emphasized individual production skills.

Under feudalism, the vast majority of the population was engaged in agriculture. Closely connected with agriculture were animal husbandry, domestic and subsidiary crafts (manufacturing of household and labor items, hunting, gathering, fishing, beekeeping). For a long time, the so-called subsistence economy, focused on self-sufficiency (satisfying basic needs), was maintained. The development of professional crafts, trade, and commodity farming gradually caused the disintegration of feudal relations.

Material production was seen in the feudal period as a means of self-sufficiency rather than accumulation. Wealth was prestigious in the sense that it could and should be spent: given, donated to the church, distributed to vassals, who became morally and legally obliged to the master and served him. The more lands the feudal lord could distribute, the more vassals served him, the higher his social status. The pyramid of feudal subordination was crowned by the head of state - the Grand Duke.

In the social hierarchy of values ​​of the period under review, the priority of military affairs was fixed, and the most capable warriors and their descendants were distinguished as the highest class that ruled the state. Land was received for military, and later for public service. Gradually, the military-feudal class became a closed corporation, which secured exclusive rights to own land and peasants and govern the state. The church, the universal regulator of social life in feudal times, also became the largest feudal lord.

Productive work at that time was seen as an occupation of the lower classes, as a means of self-restraint and suppression of sinfulness, which was believed to be generated by inactivity. Feudalism is characterized by the personal and economic subordination of peasants to landowners. The peasants used the land, had the means of production, but gradually lost the right to dispose of their allotment, and then their personality, fell under the jurisdiction of the feudal lords and became part of their property.

The economic relations of peasants with feudal lords were regulated by feudal rent (obligations), which came in three forms:

• - rent in kind, withdrawn from the products of agriculture, animal husbandry, hunting, fishing, beekeeping; prevailed during the formation of feudal relations;
• - labor rent, expressed in various forms of labor: work on the land, transportation of goods, repair of buildings and roads, protection of property, etc.; was the main form of peasants during the period of developed feudalism and the beginning of its decomposition;
• - cash rent, paid accordingly in money; was characteristic of the period of decomposition of feudal relations.

During the period of feudalism, urban classes were also formed, the basis of which were artisans and traders. The townspeople passed on their profession and social status by inheritance. Unlike the peasants, who increasingly fell into personal dependence on the feudal lords, the townspeople were increasingly freed from it.

In general, at the top level of the class hierarchy of feudal society there were landowners - feudal lords and church ministers, followed by the urban class, and at the very bottom of the class ladder was the most numerous and powerless peasant class. Class corporatism (isolation) made it almost impossible to move from one class to another; class status, as a rule, became hereditary.

Many problems in the history of feudalism are quite controversial, in particular its periodization. Recently, the following stages have become most widespread:

• 1) early Middle Ages -V-IX centuries During this period, the first shoots of feudalism appeared: land was concentrated among the upper strata of society, a layer of dependent peasantry was formed, vassal-feudal relations were established;
• 2) High Middle Ages - X-XIII centuries. This period was characterized by the dominance of the domain economic system, the established feudal hierarchy, and the significant development of crafts and trade. Note that the XIII century. in Western Europe was a kind of peak in the development of feudalism. Until the 13th century. There was a significant economic recovery everywhere, thousands of cities grew, many of which achieved self-government. Craftsmen of hundreds of specialties worked in them, workshops and guilds formed. In agriculture, important improvements in arable tools arose, internal colonization took place: clearing of forests, plowing of wastelands, land reclamation. The economic recovery was accompanied by a two- or three-fold increase in population;
• 3) late Middle Ages - XIV-XV centuries. Under the influence of commodity-money relations, the domain economy was reduced or completely disappeared, an active process of personal emancipation of the peasantry was underway, and the feudal hierarchy was eroded. Crisis phenomena arose in the feudal system, and elements of early capitalism appeared.

Development of feudalism in Western Europe

Traditionally, the evolution of the feudal mode of production begins to be considered with the classic example of Northern Gaul, where the Frankish state arose in 486. (The Franks are one of the confederations of Germanic tribes.) In the V-VII centuries. The Merovingian dynasty ruled here from the end of the 7th to the middle of the 9th century. - Carolingian.

Basic information about the economy of the Franks of the Merovingian period is contained in the law book "Sallicheskaya Pravda". Two-field farming prevailed; rye, wheat, oats, barley, legumes, and flax were cultivated. The fields were plowed 2-3 times, harrowed, crops were weeded, and water mills began to be used. Cattle breeding developed.

In the V-VI centuries. The Franks already had private, freely alienable ownership of movable property; individual family ownership of land was just in its infancy. The land of each village belonged to the collective of its inhabitants - small free farmers who made up the community; houses and personal plots were individually owned, but only the community collective could freely dispose of hereditary plots. Forests, wastelands, swamps, roads, undivided meadows remained in common possession.

At the end of the 6th century. The Franks arose individual, freely alienable land property of individual small families - allod. This led to deepening property and social differentiation, the disintegration of the community, and became a prerequisite for the growth of large feudal property. Community rights extended only to undivided land. She herself turned from a collective of large families into a neighboring community-mark, consisting of individual families. The land was cultivated mainly by free peasants, but Frankish society knew both semi-free (liths) and slaves.

Large landownership was formed in two ways. Firstly, through royal land grants to the secular and ecclesiastical nobility. Secondly, due to the massive ruin of allodist peasants, who were forced to surrender under the protection of large landowners, who became their lords. Often this meant that peasants became dependent on land.

In the VIII-IX centuries. The foundations of the feudal system were formed in Frankish society. The growth of large land ownership accelerated, large landowners began to directly seize peasant plots, and the main classes of feudal society took shape. There was a revolution in land relations: the form of land ownership changed. Allodial property gave way to feudal property. The beneficial reform of Charles Martel (715-741) played a significant role in this. Due to the depletion of the land fund, it was established that land grants - benefices - are not given forever, but for the duration of service or for life, and in the future they can be transferred to another service person. During the 9th-10th centuries. benefices began to turn from lifelong into hereditary ownership and acquired the features of a feud (lena), i.e. hereditary conditional holding associated with compulsory military service.

This reform, firstly, strengthened the layers of small and medium feudal lords, who became the basis of the military organization; secondly, it strengthened feudal land ownership and increased peasant dependence, since the land was usually given along with the people sitting on it; thirdly, it created land ties between the grantor and the beneficiary and contributed to the establishment of vassal relations. Large landowners also began to practice this form of awards, which contributed to the formation of a hierarchical structure of land ownership.

At the same time, a class of dependent peasants was formed. When they went bankrupt, they easily fell into land and personal dependence on large landowners. Nevertheless, the feudal lords were not interested in driving the peasants off the land, which was then the only source of subsistence. Even having lost the allod, the peasants took land from the feudal lords for use, subject to the fulfillment of certain duties. Thus, one of the important means of feudalization was the transfer of land to precaria - a conditional land holding, which a large owner transferred for temporary use to a landless or land-poor person, for which he had to perform corvée or pay quitrent.

Loss of land often resulted in loss of personal freedom. The act of commendation also led to personal dependence. The growing dependence of the peasantry was facilitated by the concentration of political power in the hands of large landowners. Special royal charters transferred judicial, administrative, police, and tax functions from the sovereign to the magnates at the local level. This award was called immunity; it actually formalized non-economic coercion.

The basis of the economic organization of Frankish society in the 8th - early 9th centuries. became a feudal fiefdom - seigneury. Their sizes were different: large, several hundred hectares or more (3-4 thousand peasant holdings), medium (with 3-4 hundred holdings), small (several dozen holdings). As Charlemagne's "Capitulary on Villas" testifies (late 8th century), the land in the estate was divided into two parts: the master's, or domain (accounted for approximately 25-30% of the area), which included the master's plowing; and land that was in use by dependent peasants and consisted of allotments. The lands of the patrimonial owner lay interspersed with the plots of the peasants, so forced crop rotation prevailed. Peasants performed regular corvee labor 2-3 times a week during the agricultural season. Peasant holdings included a courtyard with a house, buildings, an arable plot, and sometimes a garden and a vineyard. Peasants used undivided communal forests and pastures.

The dependent peasantry of the Carolingian fiefdom was divided into three main groups: 1) colons, the majority of them were personally free, but were in land dependence; 2) serf slaves - land and personally dependent; 3) litas, who occupied an intermediate position, were under the patronage of some feudal lord and held the plot for hereditary use.

Gradually, these differences were erased and the peasants merged into a single mass of dependents. They all paid rent and performed corvée.

The economy was subsistence, craft work was combined with agricultural work. All products, with rare exceptions, were consumed within the votchina; periodically only surpluses were sold, and what could not be produced in the votchina was bought. However, trade did not have a serious impact on the general standard of economic life.

In 843, the Carolingian Empire split into the West Frankish kingdom, which was the immediate predecessor of France, the East Frankish kingdom, which laid the foundation for Germany, and Central France, which included areas along the Rhine, Rhone and Italy.

In France in the X-XI centuries. the ruling class completely separated from other strata, monopolizing all land ownership. This was reflected in the legal norm “No land without a lord”. Communal lands came under their power, and dependent peasants now bore certain duties for their use. The banal rights of the lords took shape: monopolies on the oven, grape press and mill, which had previously been the collective property of the community. The feudal hierarchy finally emerged.

In the 11th century The formation of the feudal-dependent peasantry was completed. The main category became serfs, land-based and personally dependent on the lords. A small group of peasant villans survived, who were personally free, but were subject to land and judicial dependence.

For the X-XIII centuries. characterized by progress in the development of productive forces and increased agricultural productivity. Soil cultivation has improved (ploughing up to four times), and three-field farming has spread. The clearing of fallow lands and forests for arable land, the so-called internal colonization, took on a massive scale. The expansion of sown areas and increased yields contributed to increased labor productivity and the creation of surplus product. It became profitable for the lords to receive rent in the form of a part of the peasant harvest. Therefore, in the XII-XIII centuries. They began to eliminate the lordly plowing and practice distributing all domain lands to peasants for their possession.

The so-called pure seigneury spread. Food rent was quickly replaced by monetary rent, because cities began to exert increasing influence on the French countryside.

The peasant became the main supplier of products to the market. This had a number of consequences.

By accumulating funds, peasants already from the 12th century. began to buy themselves free.

The terms of the ransom were very difficult, especially among the church feudal lords. For the use of the land, which remained the property of the feudal lord, the peasant paid a cash rent - a census, so he began to be called a censorium, and his plot - a census. The feudal lord retained judicial power over the peasantry, but as free people - villans - the peasants could appeal to the royal court. In addition, participation in the crusades could lead to personal freedom; The class struggle of the peasants also played a major role.

The differentiation of the peasantry increased. The ability to mortgage or sell a license led to the emergence in the 14th-15th centuries. layers of impoverished peasants. Unable to pay off the debt, they were forced to take work for lords or wealthy neighbors. This is how the category of rural hired workers arose. During the same period, a new type of peasant holding was formed - renting land, often in the form of sharecropping.

Changes also occurred in the position of the ruling class - from the 14th century. The main form of communication between the lords and their vassals was not a conditional land grant, but the so-called rent feud, when the vassal no longer received a specific plot of land for his service, but only rent from it. The system of feudal contracts spread, when a vassal served for a certain period of time for a monetary payment. More and more, the nobility focused its interests not on running the household, but on military and administrative service. Thus, vassal ties were severed from land holdings and turned into purely monetary relations, which led to the collapse of the previous feudal hierarchy.

German duchies in the 9th-11th centuries. lagged behind in terms of development

West Francian state. Although large landowners and a peasantry dependent on them to varying degrees were formed here, the process of feudalization proceeded slowly. Allodial property of different strata of society, including free peasants, was preserved longer, combined with fief holdings. Lenas (similar to Frankish fiefs) remained non-hereditary for a longer time (until the 11th century).

Unlike France, a particularly important role in the process of feudalization of Germany belonged to a single early feudal state with stronger power, so the period of feudal fragmentation began in Germany somewhat later.

Features of agrarian relations in the 8th-9th centuries. was that here it was not the peasants who received land from the feudal lord, but, on the contrary, the early feudal patrimony developed the free village. The peasants were gradually drawn into dependence; villages of a “mixed type” appeared, in which there were the possessions of one or several patrimonial lords, plots of free peasants and farms of dependent serfs. Such a village preserved the routines of the neighboring mark community, which explains the slowness of the agrarian revolution in Germany, which ended only in the 11th century. As in France, large and small secular and church estates were formed here, and the exploitation of the peasantry was carried out more often in the form of corvée and quitrent payments.

The completion of the feudalization of the German countryside was associated with the development of political and legal institutions of immunity and banality. For the peasants, this meant first judicial and then patrimonial dependence on the feudal lord. By the end of the 11th century - the beginning of the 12th century, the mixed village was transformed into a feudal one.

Among the peasants, there were personally dependent mancipia and serfs, some of whom sat on the land, and some were the feudal lord's household servants, land-dependent precarists and personally free owners of their own plots - allodists. The ruling class was also not homogeneous; in the 10th century. the hierarchy of king - princes - free gentlemen was formed in the X-XI centuries. chivalry appeared.

As in France, the development of productive forces and the rise of urban crafts drew the countryside into commodity-money relations, which caused changes in the agrarian system. Population growth created a shortage of land. This problem was solved through internal and external colonization. In the XII-XIII centuries. the old patrimonial system decomposed and a “pure seigneury” appeared. Unlike France, where peasants retained rights to their plots, in the southern and northwestern German states they became short-term tenants-meiers. In Central Germany and the southwestern regions, the so-called “petrified seigneury” with a domain, hereditary peasant holdings and corvée was preserved, although here, too, a partial transition to cash rent took place. This led to the disappearance of the most severe forms of personal dependence of peasants, many received personal freedom, but often this process was accompanied by the loss of hereditary rights to land. The stratification of the peasantry increased.

In the XIV-XV centuries. both peasants and feudal lords were increasingly drawn into connection with the market. But from the beginning of the XIV century. In the economy of Germany, as well as throughout Western Europe, some phenomena of decline were observed. The price scissors characteristic of this period had an unfavorable effect - high prices for handicrafts and low prices for agricultural products, especially grain.

The situation was aggravated by the plague epidemic in 1348-1349, epidemics of the 60-70s, wars, and a number of lean years. Almost 1/5 of the settlements disappeared. With population decline, commercial grain farming on a large scale became unprofitable, which led to a reduction in sown areas.

In the agrarian system of the XIV-XV centuries. Two trends have emerged. The first is typical for the territories east of the Elbe, for previously colonized lands, the second - to the west. East of the Elbe there were many free peasants who owned 2/3 of the arable land. The knighthood, trying to increase the profitability of its holdings (the demand for grain began to grow for export abroad, especially to the Netherlands), began to drive peasants off the land and use them in corvee labor. This led to mass personal enslavement by the end of the 15th century. both the poor and wealthy peasants. West of the Elbe, the restructuring of the estate led to a partial or complete abandonment of the master's plowing.

In North-West Germany, part of the peasantry improved their situation, and a layer of free, wealthy peasant-mayers was formed here. They farmed on large plots of 20-40 hectares, paid large sums and used the labor of impoverished peasants. In South-Western Germany, where the “pure seigneury” reigned, small peasant farms predominated, and the property stratification of the peasantry was particularly advanced. The feudal lords tried to recommute the rent, worsen the terms of the lease, used the personal and judicial duties of the peasants, trying to restore their personal dependence, which caused numerous peasant uprisings.

England is characterized by a non-synthetic path of development of feudalism, which led to a relatively slow feudalization, which ended in the 11th century. At the beginning of the Middle Ages, the Anglo-Saxons lived in communities. Natural conditions and the peripheral position slowed down the decomposition of primitive communal relations. Until the 11th century. The bulk of the population were free communal peasants. They owned fairly large plots of land - guides, usually about 50 acres. This presupposed the presence of large patriarchal families and delayed the emergence in England of freely condemned land ownership such as the allod.

Feudal property arose in the 7th-8th centuries, mainly as a result of massive royal grants of land to warriors and the church or the right to collect taxes from certain areas of the royal estates. The land, the income from which was transferred to someone else, was called bokland. With its advent, large feudal land ownership arose, since the right to receive income soon turned into ownership of this land.

The peasants became dependent, although they retained personal freedom. Large church and secular land ownership was formed in the 9th-11th centuries.

In the 9th century. individual ownership of the allotment with the right of alienation arose. With the allocation of small families, the fragmentation of plots began (instead of 50, 10 acres were allocated), which stimulated property stratification. Many peasants found themselves in land dependence on the lord. If the lord received judicial immunity over a certain territory, then its inhabitants became subject to judicial dependence. Such a territory turned into a feudal fiefdom - a manor.

In 1066 England was subject to the Norman Conquest, which accelerated feudalization as French feudalism was more mature. Having seized land and political power, the conquerors imposed their customary order.

Judging by the all-English land census carried out in 1086 (“Domesday Book”), the feudal estate-manor took a complete form and subjugated the previously free community members. The economy was already based on the corvee labor of dependent peasants. The majority were villans (similar to French serfs), who had a full allotment of land (30 acres) or part of it, performed corvee labor, and made payments in kind and in cash. There were also bordarii - dependent peasants with an allotment smaller than that of a villan (7-15 acres). There were kotters - dependent small peasants with 2-3 acres of homestead land; they also worked as shepherds, blacksmiths, and carpenters.

The lowest category was made up of serfs, as a rule, courtyard people who did not have allotments and performed various hard jobs. There were quite a lot of personally free people left - freeholders. Throughout the 12th century. various categories of the peasantry increasingly turned into dependent villans, whose main duties were corvée 2-3 days a week, quitrents, a number of arbitrary taxes, and church tithes.

In the XII-XIII centuries. The agrarian evolution of England followed contradictory paths.

Agriculture was improved, three-field farming was established, and the area of ​​cultivated land increased. The demand for wool stimulated the development of sheep farming. Under the influence of commodity-money relations from the middle of the 12th century. Two trends have emerged. One is towards the personal liberation of peasants and the commutation of rent. Villans were transferred to the position of copyholders - holders of land by copy, freed from the most severe forms of personal dependence, and transferred to rent in kind or in cash. The owners of some manors focused on using the labor of farm laborers, whose role was played by kotters. Another trend is towards the expansion of the domain economy, the growth of corvee exploitation, and the strengthening of the personal dependence of the villans. This was a consequence of the growth in the export of wool and grain, with the main role in it played by the feudal lords, who received large profits.

In the XIV-XV centuries. Rent commutation became more widespread compared to the previous period, and peasant farming began to compete with the domain economy. The latter became unprofitable; feudal lords increasingly abandoned corvée, which caused a labor shortage.

Controversies intensified due to the plague epidemic. Under these conditions, the state issued a number of laws (1349, 1351, 1361, 1388, known as “labour legislation”), according to which all persons from 12 to 60 years old who did not have the means to live were obliged to hire to work for the wages that existed before the plague; refusal to hire was punishable by prison. This is how the feudal lords tried to fill the labor shortage. The feudal lords who ran a corvee economy recommuted the rent, returning the villans who had gone to the cities to their manors.

This seigneurial reaction led to a sharp escalation of the struggle of the peasants, which resulted in the largest and most organized uprising of the Middle Ages led by Wat Tyler (1381). Having been defeated, the uprising nevertheless contributed to the liberation of the Villans from personal dependence. At the end of the XIV-XV centuries. most of them were bought out.

At the beginning of the 15th century. the domain economy was almost completely liquidated, the lands were leased or leased. Peasant farming became the main supplier of products to the market. At first, it could not compensate for the curtailment of domain production, so until the end of the 15th century. showed some signs of decline. But they coexisted with more progressive forms - small-scale peasant farming and a new type of landowner farming. The top of the peasantry stood out, making up about 15% in England - yeomen; it included not only freeholders, but also rich copyholders. In this environment, farm leases spread. A new nobility also appeared - the gentry, which skillfully adapted to new economic conditions and was closely connected with the market.

Thus, in the V-XV centuries. The agricultural sector of the Western European region was characterized by some common features: the formation of large feudal landownership (English manor, French and German seigneury), processed by the labor of various categories of dependent peasants (servs, villans, cotters, copyholders), a developed system of immunity and vassal-fief relations. There was also a general tendency for the impact of commodity-money relations on the agrarian system: the gradual collapse of the domain economy of the feudal lords, the growing importance of natural and then cash rent, the liberation of peasants from personal dependence, the strengthening of their property stratification, the increasing economic role of the peasant economy. The early emergence of cities was also a common phenomenon.

Cities of Western Europe in the XI-XV centuries. and their economic role

The formation of medieval cities was determined by the growth of productive forces, the separation of crafts from agriculture, the development of commodity production and exchange, and the concentration of the population employed in them in individual settlements. The pace of urban formation was different. The earliest time was in the 11th century. - feudal cities took shape in Italy (Venice, Genoa, Pisa, Florence, Naples, Brie, Amalfi), in the 10th century. - in the south of France (Marseille, Arles, Montpellier, Toulouse, etc.). These regions were influenced by the ancient urban tradition and established trade ties with Byzantium, which was more developed at that time, and the countries of the East. In the X-XI centuries. Cities began to emerge in Northern France, the Netherlands, England, along the Rhine and Upper Danube in Germany, and here most cities arose anew. In the XII-XIII centuries. feudal cities appeared in Trans-Rhine Germany, Scandinavian countries, etc., in these regions the development of feudal relations was slow, cities grew out of market towns and former tribal centers.

The process of the emergence of cities was not completed within the framework of feudalism.

The largest number of city foundations occurred at the turn of the XIII-XIV centuries. - more than 200. Small towns with a population of 1-2 thousand people predominated numerically. Medium-sized cities numbered 3-5 thousand, had developed crafts and trade, a strong market, and a developed municipal organization. A city with 9-10 thousand inhabitants was considered large. There were about 100 cities with a population of 20-40 thousand in all of Western Europe (Lübeck, Cologne, Metz, London, Rome). Only a few cities had a population of more than 80-100 thousand people (Constantinople, Paris, Milan, Cordoba, Seville, Florence).

The lord of the city was the owner of the land on which it stood. The lord had the court, finances, and all power in his hands; he also appropriated a significant part of the city’s revenues. Until a certain time, the lords patronized the market and crafts, but as cities developed, the lordly regime became more burdensome. Coercion on the part of the feudal lord increasingly hampered the development of cities.

The desire of the lords to extract as much income as possible from the city led to the communal movement. This is the name given to what happened in Western Europe in the 10th-13th centuries. struggle between cities and lords. Starting with a movement to reduce taxes and trade privileges, it gradually grew into a struggle for city self-government and legal organization. Self-government was beneficial to cities because it determined the degree of independence of the city, its economic prosperity and political system.

Sometimes cities managed to buy certain liberties and privileges from the feudal lord; more often they were achieved as a result of a long struggle. Communal movements led to different results. In Northern and Central Italy, Southern France in the 9th-12th centuries. cities achieved the status of a commune (Southern France - Amiens, Saint-Quentin, Beauvais, Soissons, Marseille, Montpellier, Toulouse). Somewhat later - in Northern France and Flanders (Ghent, Bruges, Ypres, Douai, Saint-Omer, Arras, etc.).

The cities of the commune had: 1) elected councilors of mayors (burgomasters) and other officials; 2) their city law, court, finances, the right of self-taxation and distribution of taxes, special city holdings, military militia. City law usually included the regulation of trade, navigation, the activities of artisans and their corporations, sections on the rights of burghers, conditions of employment, credit, rent, and household regulations; 3) the right to declare war, make peace, and enter into diplomatic relations. The city-commune paid the lord a small annual fee.

In Italy, some of the communes actually became city-states (Genoa, Venice, Florence, Siena, Luca, Ravenna, Bologna, etc.) and a kind of collective lords - their power extended to the rural population and small towns within a radius of tens of kilometers.

They occupied a position similar to that of communes in the 12th-13th centuries. in Germany, the most significant of the imperial cities (subordinate directly to the emperor), in fact they were holy republics (Lübeck, Hamburg, Bremen, Nuremberg, Magdeburg, Frankfurt am Main, Augsburg).

In countries with relatively strong centralized power, cities could not achieve self-government. Although they had a number of privileges, elected institutions operated under the control of royal officials. The greatest freedoms of such cities are the abolition of arbitrary taxes, restrictions on inheritance of property, and economic privileges. This was the case in many cities in France (Paris, Orleans, Nantes) and England (London, Lincoln, Oxford, Cambridge, Gloucester). Most European cities in the XI-XV centuries. received only partial privileges, but they were also conducive to their development; the townspeople, as a rule, were freed from personal dependence.

In the XIV-XV centuries. Few new large cities appeared; mostly small and tiny ones arose. The development of large cities led to their specialization in trade (Hamburg, Lubeck, Bruges, Marseille, Bordeaux, Dover, Portsmouth, Bristol) or handicraft production (Amiens, Ypres, Ghent, Nuremberg, Augsburg, Ulm, York). Some cities combined both functions (Paris, London).

Most of the townspeople were employed in the production and circulation of goods: traders, artisans. A fairly high division of labor among artisans was achieved for its time: up to 300 specialties in Paris and at least 10-15 in small towns. The most common branches of urban craft were textile production, smelting and metal processing. The craftsman was almost exclusively a commodity producer, he ran his farm practically without the use of hired labor, his production was small-scale and simple.

A characteristic feature of craft activity is the association of persons of certain professions within each yurod into guilds and brotherhoods. Their appearance was due to the level of development of the productive forces achieved at that time and the entire feudal-class structure of society. Workshops in Western Europe appeared almost simultaneously with cities in Italy - in the 10th century, in France - at the end of the 11th - beginning of the 12th century, in England and Germany - in the 13th century.

Guilds as organizations of independent small craftsmen helped them protect their interests from feudal lords, from competition from rural artisans and craftsmen from other cities, which was dangerous in the conditions of the then narrow market and insignificant demand. The guilds performed a number of functions: firstly, they asserted a monopoly on this type of craft; secondly, they established control over the production and sale of handicrafts; thirdly, they regulated the relations of masters with apprentices and apprentices.

The workshops were not production associations; each artisan worked in his own workshop and had his own tools and raw materials. The craft was passed down from generation to generation and was a family secret. There was almost no division of labor inside the workshop; it was determined by the degree of qualification.

The division of labor within the craft took place through the creation of new professions and workshops. In most cities, belonging to a guild was a prerequisite, and non-guild craft was persecuted.

The workshop was usually staffed by its owner - the master, one or two apprentices and several apprentices, but only the master was a member of the workshop. The relationship between masters, apprentices and journeymen was regulated by the workshop. To become a member of the workshop, it was necessary to go through the lower steps, but advancement along this hierarchical ladder was at first quite free.

The workshops regulated working conditions, production and sales, and all craftsmen were obliged to obey them. The regulations of the workshops prescribed that each craftsman should produce products of only a certain type, quality, color, and use only certain raw materials. Craftsmen were forbidden to produce more products or make them cheaper because it threatened the well-being of other craftsmen. In this way, the small-scale nature of production was maintained. Until a certain time, the guild organization protected the monopoly of urban artisans, created favorable conditions for the development of productive forces, and promoted specialization and qualification of simple commodity urban production. Within its framework, the range was expanded, the quality of manufactured goods was improved and craft skills were improved.

The guild system was not widespread everywhere. In many cities of Northern Europe, in Southern and Southwestern France, there was a “free” craft that was not organized into guilds. Nevertheless, here too the regulation of production was carried out by city government bodies.

Although the socio-economic functions of the guilds were basic, these organizations covered all aspects of the life of artisans. In case of war, the workshop acted as a combat unit. It had its own churches, chapels, and a common treasury, the funds from which were used to help artisans and their families in the event of illness or death of the breadwinner. At the general meeting of the workshop, violations of the charter were considered. Members of the workshop spent all holidays together, ending with a traditional feast.

Around the end of the 14th century. workshops in Western Europe played a progressive role; they corresponded to the level of productive forces achieved at that time. However, from the end of the 14th century. As the domestic and foreign markets expanded, they began to hinder technical progress, as they sought to maintain small-scale production and prevent improvements for fear of competition. Despite all the equalizing measures, competition still grew within the workshops. Individual craftsmen expanded production, changed technology, and increased the number of hired workers. Property differentiation grew. On the one hand, in the workshop there was a wealthy elite and a layer of poor craftsmen who were forced to work for the owner of large workshops, receiving raw materials from them and giving away finished products. On the other hand, a stratification appeared within the craft into “senior”, rich and “junior”, poor workshops. The elders dominated the younger ones, depriving them of economic independence. Most often this happened in large cities.

In addition, in order to narrow their circle and acquire a gifted worker, masters inflated the training period, access to the status of a master was actually closed, the title of apprentice became hereditary, and “eternal apprentices” appeared, i.e. essentially hired workers. The process of “closing workshops” has begun. Only close relatives of the workshop members became masters. For the rest, along with making a “masterpiece,” it was not possible to pay a large fee or provide a rich treat for the members of the workshop. Approximately the same situation has developed in the “free” craft. Thus, in the XIV-XV centuries. the guild system gradually exhausted itself and became a brake on the development of productive forces.

In the XIV-XV centuries. In medieval cities, social stratification intensified, and the burghers were constituted as a special class. Even earlier, this term meant only full-fledged “citizens of the city.” Those who inherited or acquired city citizenship and enjoyed city privileges: the right to residence, to the lands of the city community, and the acquisition of real estate were considered full rights. To become a burgher, one had to be personally free, pay a significant entrance fee, be able to bear taxes on the city and state, participate in city payments, and have property not lower than a certain value. It is clear that only wealthy people could fulfill all these conditions. The burghers gave rise to the first elements of the bourgeoisie.

Thus, cities in the Middle Ages played a significant economic role, became centers for the development of commodity-money relations, and carriers of market elements themselves.

Development of commodity-money relations and the emergence of capitalist production

The growth of cities and craft production in Western Europe in the 11th-15th centuries. stimulated the development of domestic and foreign trade. In terms of the cost of products sold and prestige in society, long-distance transit trade played a more prominent role. Its two most significant regions can be distinguished:

• 1) The Mediterranean Sea, Spain, Southern and Central France, Italy traded among themselves, as well as with Byzantium, the Black Sea region, and the countries of the East. From the XII-XIII centuries. The primacy in this trade was occupied by the merchants of Genoa, Venice, Barcelona, ​​and Marseille. So, Genoa in the 15th century. ranked first in Europe in terms of number of ships, followed by Venice and Florence;
• 2) Baltic and North seas. The trade involved the northwestern lands of Rus', the Principality of Polotsk, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Poland, the Eastern Baltic, Northern Germany, the Scandinavian countries, Flanders, Brabant, the Northern Netherlands, Northern France and England. If in the Mediterranean region the main objects of trade were luxury goods, spices, partly grain, fabrics, gold, silver, weapons, then in the northern region they traded goods of wider consumption: fish, salt, furs, wool, cloth, flax, hemp, wax, resin , forest, from the 15th century. - bread. Both streams of interregional trade were connected with each other along a trade route that went through the Alpine passes, along the Rhine, and also along the Atlantic coast of Europe.

Fairs, which appeared already in the 11th-12th centuries, played a major role in international trade. in England, Germany, Italy, France. Greatest importance in the XII-XIII centuries. purchased six Champagne and Brie fairs. They lasted two months each, filling the entire annual cycle, forming a “permanent market” that had no rivals at that time. Merchants from many European countries came here: from Italy they brought expensive oriental goods, from Flanders - cloth, from Germany - furs, linen, and metal products. In the XIV-XV centuries. fairs in Champagne lost their importance, and Bruges (Flanders) became the main center of European fair trade.

Internal trade, due to the subsistence nature of the feudal economy, played a relatively small role. As a rule, cities formed a local market where exchanges were carried out with the rural district.

The bulk of goods were sold here either by those who produced them, or by lords who sold surpluses in kind or the products of their domain on the market. Mostly items of everyday use were in circulation.

Professional traders were mostly close to the craft environment - these were small shopkeepers and peddlers. The elite consisted of wealthy merchants - merchants engaged in transit trade and wholesale transactions. The merchant environment was united by family and corporate ties. The forms of association were different. Associations of merchants of the same city - guilds - spread, which included people with similar professional interests, for example, those trading in the same goods. Therefore, in large cities there were several guilds. They provided their families with monopoly conditions in trade and legal protection. “Trading houses”—family merchant companies—became common. Marine guarded caravans became a new form of associations; they were called convoys. Share merchant partnerships (warehousing, companionship, etc.) became widespread.

Sometimes merchants from several cities joined the association. The Hansa, a trade and political union of the merchants of Northern European cities, became especially famous. The Hansa arose in the middle of the 13th century. (the name has been used since 1358) as an anti-piracy union of merchants of 60 cities in Northern Germany, led by Lübeck. By the beginning of the 15th century. The Hansa already numbered up to 170 German and West Slavic cities and had several branches.

The leader was the Vendian Hanse, led by Lübeck, later Hamburg, until the 16th century. it dominated northern European trade. The Parisian Hanse is also known.

Thus, in the XI-XV centuries. trade contributed to the economic development of European society, although the market was quite narrow, it covered only a small part of the products produced and labor, almost did not include land property in circulation, and it was characterized by an abundance of personal connections. The development of trade was hampered by the dominance of subsistence farming, the underdevelopment of exchange technology and communication routes, feudal fragmentation and the lawlessness of the feudal lords.

The expansion of trade created the possibility of accumulation of funds in the hands of merchants and moneylenders and the emergence of a money market. Money was minted by kings, lords, bishops, and large cities. Thus, the symbol of the economic prosperity of Genoa, Florence and Venice began in the 13th century. gold genovin, florin and ducat, with the florin being a kind of international equivalent.

The variety of coin systems and units created the need for money exchange operations. This is how the profession of money changers emerged, who were also involved in transferring sums of money and usury. From the 13th century In connection with the ruin of small workers in the city and countryside and the expansion of trade, credit and loan operations gained significant scope, especially in the field of transit and wholesale transactions. Banking offices and banks began to appear. It is characteristic that the separation of financial activities into a special industry took place on Italian soil. For example, in Genoa, the Bank of San Giorgio arose in the 11th century, and in the 15th century. his capital exceeded 10 million liras. The Italians have perfectly mastered such instruments as bills of exchange, credit, trade transactions for a period, loans, etc.

In the 15th century In many cities in Italy, institutions were organized that issued loans against property, charging about 5% for this. Their initiators were Franciscan monks. Initially, these institutions were called “mountain of mercy”, later they began to be called pawnshops, i.e. institutions invented by Italians. The first pawnshop was founded in Perugia in 1462. Then they became widespread - until 1512 they settled in 87 cities in Italy.

It can be said without exaggeration that the oldest free forms of capital are commercial and usurious. For the first time this capital began to penetrate into production in the 14th-15th centuries. Typically, a merchant bought raw materials in bulk and resold them to artisans, then bought finished products from them for sale. The craftsman broke away from the market for raw materials and sales and continued to work for the merchant-buyer as a hired homeworker. This “distribution system” led to the early forms of capitalist production - dispersed manufacturing.

In the most favorable conditions in the XIV-XV centuries. turned out to be cities in Southern Europe. The most urbanized was Northern and Central Italy, where the distance between cities often did not exceed 15-20 km. The economic recovery was facilitated, firstly, by the rather early development of medieval cities compared to other European countries - from the end of the 9th century. Secondly, in the course of communal movements, powerful city-states arose here, subjugating the entire district. They were not subject to feudal lords; rather, they themselves became such. Feudal relations of the classical type were weakened here; the city actually pulled the backward village to a higher level of commodity production. Thirdly, by the end of the 13th century. the majority of the peasants of Northern and Central Italy were personally free, the process of social stratification was rapidly progressing, which made it possible to satisfy the growing needs of handicraft production in working hands. Fourthly, it was in the holy fools of Northern Italy and Tuscany back in the 11th-13th centuries. craft activity increased. In Milan, Florence, Pisa, Siena, fine cloth was produced, in Lucca - silk fabrics, in Cremona - linen fabrics. Ships were built in Pisa, Genoa, and Venice. Milan became a center for the production of metal products. Fifthly, the convenient geographical location contributed to vibrant domestic and international trade. Fairs in Milan, Venice, and Ferrara became famous. In the 13th century Italian merchants were the first to receive trading privileges from the French monarchs at fairs in Champagne. Italian cities established direct contacts with Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt; they were leaders in relations with the East. Venice alone annually invested 10 million ducats in trade, and the rate of profit from long-distance trade was fabulously high - up to 40%. Sixthly, all this contributed to considerable monetary savings. Already in the 14th century. trading companies had huge funds for their time, for example in the 40s. The account of the Kingdom of Naples in Florentine companies reached 200 thousand gold florins, the credit transactions of the companies of Bardi and Perutia reached 1.7 million gold florins. Budget of Venice at the beginning of the 15th century. ranked first among all European budgets - 1.62 million gold ducats, while the French budget was only 1 million gold ducats.

These processes stimulated the formation of manufactories. The most typical example of the development of early capitalist relations is given by Florence. The senior guilds ruled here - Lana (producers of fine cloth), Kalimala (producers of coarse cloth) and Seta (silk weavers). Note that cloth making in the Middle Ages played approximately the same role as metallurgy played somewhat later. Already in the 30s. XIV century in Florence there were from 200 to 300 large cloth workshops, producing annually at least 1.6 million m of expensive fine cloth. About 30 thousand people were employed in wool processing operations, several thousand were engaged in dyeing and finishing of coarse imported fibers, each worker performed a separate production operation.

Hired workers were replenished from two sources - from yesterday's peasants and impoverished artisans and apprentices. In addition, the city elite increased their wealth. This is how new social groups were formed: the “fat” people, who turned into the early bourgeoisie, and the “smaller” people, who later became the proletariat.

It is also important that the workshops of Italy, although they were built according to the pan-European model, had their own differences: 1) in the workshop hierarchies of Europe there were three levels - master, journeyman, apprentice; in Italian workshops this was the exception rather than the rule; usually the second link, the journeyman, fell out; 2) the Italian workshop included collective members representing social groups with different rights. The highest category of the workshop - the organizers of production and the owners of fixed capital - were the senior members of the workshop, the lower, subordinate categories were the junior ones. This structure indicated a complex organization of workshops, a more effective division of labor than under the usual workshop system, when there are small corporations; 3) there was no workshop monopoly, the manufacturer of commercial products was not necessarily part of the workshop; 4) unlike ordinary medieval structures, there was no division into merchant guilds and craft guilds. The leading members of the workshop were the organizers of both production and trade. For example, the Lana workshop was a commercial and industrial enterprise: wool was purchased here, production was financed, banking transactions were carried out, and cloth was traded in almost the entire European world.

All this contributed to a freer development of the production process and trade. Similar phenomena were observed in Bologna, Lucca, Perugia, Siena and other cities in Italy. Somewhat later, new relationships appeared in silk weaving and shipbuilding.

It is obvious that the emergence of early capitalist relations in Italy played a significant role in its and world economic history. It led to a sharp increase in labor productivity and general economic development, made Italy the most advanced country in Western Europe in the 14th century, and its cities one of the sources of Renaissance culture.

Thus, V-XV centuries. were the most important stage in the development of the Western European region. During this period, the feudal structure was formed and improved, and progress was observed in the agricultural sector. Major successes were achieved by cities that became dynamic centers of the national economy, in which the beginnings of capitalist production arose.

With the fall of the Roman Empire under the onslaught of barbarian tribes, a new form of social organization began to take shape in Europe. The slave system is being replaced by feudal relations. It is important to remember that feudalism is a form of organization of society where power belongs to those who have personal land ownership and extends to those who live on this land.

Structure of medieval feudal society

The feudal system was an inevitable process for its time. The barbarians, who did not know how to manage vast territories, divided their countries into fiefs, which were much smaller than the country. This, at one time, caused a weakening of royal power. Thus, in France, already by the 13th century, the king was only “first among equals.” He was forced to listen to the opinions of his feudal lords and he could not make a single decision without the consent of the majority of them.

Let us consider the formation of a feudal society using the example of the Frankish state. Having occupied vast territories of the former Gaul, the kings of the Franks allocated large land plots to their prominent military leaders, famous warriors, friends, prominent political figures, and subsequently ordinary soldiers. This is how a thin layer of landowners began to form.

Land plots, which the king allocated to his associates for faithful service, were called fiefs in the Middle Ages, and the people who owned them were called feudal lords.

Thus, by the 8th century a feudal system had been formed in Europe, which finally took shape after the death of Charlemagne.

Rice. 1. Charlemagne.

The key features of the formation of feudalism include:

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• the predominance of subsistence farming;
• personal dependence of workers;
• rental relations;
• the presence of large feudal landholdings and small peasant land use;
• the dominance of the religious worldview;
• clear hierarchical structure of estates.

An important feature of this era is the formation of three main classes and the basing of society on agriculture.

Rice. 2. Hierarchy of classes in Europe

Table “Estates of feudal society”

Thus, representatives of the working class had their own personal farms, but at the same time remained dependent, like slaves. This was expressed in the fact that they were forced to pay rent to the feudal lords for the land in the form of corvée (compulsory work on the lands of the feudal lord), quitrent (products) or money. The amount of duties was strictly established, which made it possible for workers to plan the management of their farms and the sale of their products.

Rice. 3. Peasants working in the fields.

Each feudal lord allocated to his peasants those forms of duties that he considered necessary. Some feudal lords abandoned the slave attitude towards the peasants, collecting only symbolic taxes in the form of products for the use of land.

Such relationships could not but affect the development of agriculture. Peasants were interested in increasing the level of cultivation of the land in order to obtain a larger harvest, which affected their income.

What have we learned?

The feudal system was a necessary element in the development of society. It was possible to increase the level of production in those historical conditions only by using the labor of dependent peasants, offering them a personal interest in labor.

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the class-class structure of society, characteristic of a collective that is agrarian in nature and predominantly leads a subsistence economy. In some cases, in the ancient world comes to replace the slave system, in others (in particular, in Rus') is associated with the birth of a class-stratified society as such.

Feudalism is also called the era when the system, in which the main classes were landowners and the peasantry dependent on them, dominated and determined the socio-economic, political, and cultural parameters of society. Etymologically feudalism goes back to the terms fief(Latin feodum, in French version fief fief the same as linen – Lehen in German practice, i.e. hereditary land holding received by a vassal from a lord on the condition of performing military or other service), feudal lord(bearer of rights and obligations associated with his place in the military system). It is believed that in Europe the genesis and development of feudal relations took approximately a millennium from the 5th century. (conditional milestone the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476) until the beginning of the 16th century. However, the system-forming features of feudalism and the nature of the social evolution that took place in its depths are interpreted ambiguously in the scientific tradition.

Feudalism as a scientific term came into use in the early modern period. From the very beginning there was no unity in its use. C. Montesquieu and a number of other authors were guided by such signs of the phenomenon as the hierarchical structure of the full part of society, the resulting division of power and rights to land holdings between the lord and his vassals (among which, in turn, their own subordination could develop, and in some places The principle was in force: “my vassal’s vassal is not my vassal”). But the word was often used in a broad sense: any socio-political institutions based on noble privileges and discrimination against the “third estate” were called feudal.

The science of the Enlightenment was mostly contemptuous of feudalism, identifying it with the reign of violence, superstition and ignorance. On the contrary, romantic historiography tended to idealize feudal orders and morals. If, when studying the feudal system, jurists and historians for a long time concentrated attention on the nature of social connections in the upper strata of society, on personal and land relations within the noble class, then throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. the center of gravity is shifting towards the analysis of relationships between classes.

The problem of feudalism has given rise to a huge literature. It aroused interest among historians, sociologists, cultural experts, philosophers, and publicists. The largest contribution to its development was made by French historiography, primarily Fustel de Coulanges and Marc Bloch.

When conducting an in-depth study of feudal institutions and the sociocultural processes behind them, scientists, as a rule, prefer to refrain from strict, exhaustive definitions. This may be considered a disadvantage. But the point, obviously, is not so much in the miscalculations of individual historians, but in the extreme complexity and diversity of the object of research, which makes it difficult to reduce its characteristics to a few basic parameters.

Marxist historical thought went further than others in formulating clear, unambiguous definitions of feudalism, at the same time filling the old term with new content. The development of Russian science took place under the sign of Marxism throughout almost the entire 20th century. There were many followers of Marxist methodology in other countries.

Developing Hegel’s world-historical concept and at the same time considering the entire historical process from the angle of class struggle, Marxism included the feudal mode of production in its stage-typological scheme of the social evolution of mankind (primitive communal system slavery feudalism capitalism communism). The basis of the feudal socio-economic formation was recognized as the ownership of the feudal lords in the means of production, primarily land, and incomplete ownership of the production worker, the peasant. At the same time, the presence, along with feudal property, of the feudal-dependent peasant’s private ownership of his tools and personal household was established, as well as the coexistence of several socio-economic structures within the feudal formation.

The development of the question of the forms of land rent and other aspects of the feudal mode of production occupied a particularly important place in that modification of the teachings of K. Marx, which was called Marxism-Leninism. Having formed in the conditions of Russia, where pre-bourgeois socio-political institutions were not only especially tenacious, but also had significant originality, Lenin’s doctrine attributed the centuries-old history of the Russian people, starting from the times of Kievan Rus and up to the abolition of serfdom, to the period of feudalism. Having acquired the status of a monopolist in the Soviet Union and sharply limiting the field of discussion in science, Marxism-Leninism, even when it came to the essence of feudal relations, unconditionally cut off any deviations from the letter Short course or other directives.

If the founders of historical materialism, when creating their model of the world-historical process, showed certain hesitations when deciding the place of feudal society in it (this was most clearly expressed in Marx’s hypothesis regarding the so-called Asian mode of production), then V.I. Lenin and his followers, actively using feudal themes for propaganda purposes, gave the formation model complete certainty and completeness. They paid little attention to the discrepancies that arose.

As a result, serfdom, intuitively or consciously understood in the Russian manner, was included in the generally accepted definition of feudalism in the USSR. Not only non-professionals, but also some experts, who knew from school years from the works of N.V. Gogol and M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, considered serfdom to be the standard of feudal society, not knowing or ignoring the fact that under feudalism the bulk of the rural people in the countries Western Europe remained personally free. The ideological situation in Russia contributed to the introduction of vulgarized or simply incorrect positions into Soviet historical science, for example, the thesis about the “revolution of slaves” and “revolution of serfs” proclaimed in 1933 by J.V. Stalin in a speech at the First All-Union Congress of Collective Farmers-Shock Workers and which became indisputable for years ”, allegedly respectively opening and closing the period of feudalism.

The understanding of feudalism as a socio-economic formation, which certainly ends in a revolutionary breakdown of the old order, forced Soviet scientists to significantly expand the chronological boundaries of the object. On a scale throughout Europe, they chose the Great French Revolution as the upper formational boundary. The idea was not new at all. The thesis that the 18th century was the time of the “overthrow of feudal oppression” by the French Revolution was repeatedly repeated by historians, for example, N.Ya. Danilevsky, the founder of the theory of cultural-historical types. However, in the context of rigidly monistic, dogmatized Marxist-Leninist teaching, the periodization shift acquired new meaning. In addition, since the identification of the era of feudalism with the Middle Ages was preserved, a renaming was needed: the period of the 17th-18th centuries, formerly called early modern, in Soviet literature became the period of late feudalism, or in other words, the late Middle Ages.

In its own way, the change in nomenclature, not without logic, created new difficulties. Within the framework of a very extended in time and, nevertheless, seemingly preserving its identity of a single formation, qualitatively heterogeneous social processes and phenomena were practically put on the same level, starting with class formation among Germanic or Slavic tribes emerging from the stage of barbarism and ending with the formation and crisis of the absolute monarchy, which Marxists considered as a state-political superstructure, owing its emergence to a certain balance of power achieved by that time between the nobility and the bourgeoisie. Moreover, as a result of such a “prolongation” of the Middle Ages, mutual understanding between historians of the old and new, Marxist-Leninist, schools became even more difficult. Finally, the new periodization came into conflict with the established tradition; it seemed unusual to classify Montesquieu or Voltaire as medieval authors.

After the war, Soviet historians were allowed to slightly lower the upper limit of the Middle Ages. Marxist-Leninist thinking demanded that the line between the feudal and capitalist formations be necessarily marked by a political revolution, and therefore the English bourgeois revolution of the mid-17th century was declared the end of the Middle Ages for a long time. Then the question will be repeatedly raised that since in the advanced countries of Western Europe in the 17th century. Since the transformation of feudal society into bourgeois society has already gone far enough, it would be more correct to take the Dutch bourgeois revolution or the German Reformation as a formational line (at the same time they referred to Friedrich Engels, who wrote about the Reformation as an unsuccessful bourgeois revolution).

Specific historical and conceptual shortcomings, aggravated by the dogmatic approach to the subject characteristic of the Soviet system, did not prevent the fact that domestic historiography of the 20th century. made a huge contribution to the study of the Middle Ages. Through the works of B.D. Grekov, E.A. Kosminsky, A.I. Neusykhin, A.D. Lyublinskaya, L.V. Cherepnin, M.A. Barg, Yu.M. Bessmertny, A.Ya. Gurevich, many Other researchers advanced the elucidation of individual phenomena and events in the history of the medieval world, and the theoretical understanding of the problems of feudalism progressed.

When Soviet ideological censorship became a thing of the past, domestic historians returned to the traditional understanding of the Middle Ages. Bringing the use of terms into line with generally accepted practice in the world was not so difficult. The substantive side of the problem continues to cause and continues to cause much more difficulties. It was necessary to revise a number of approaches to it, clarify the chronological and territorial limits of feudal social system(as many historians began to put it, having demonstratively abandoned the concept too closely associated with Marxist-Leninist dogmas socio-economic formation).

Disputes continued about the place of non-economic coercion. It is present to one degree or another at all stages of the development of society, but, according to a number of researchers, there is reason to believe that under feudalism this factor was especially significant. Indeed, in conditions of complete predominance of small-peasant farming, the feudal lord did not act as an organizer of production. At best, he only ensured its uninterrupted functioning by protecting it from external enemies and from local violators of law and order. The feudal lord actually did not have economic tools to confiscate part of the surplus product from the peasant.

The attention of historians is also drawn to the mechanism of interaction between various forms of socio-economic organization of society. On the one hand, along with land holdings of the feudal type, medieval sources testified to the presence of other forms, ranging from completely natural, self-contained peasant allodial ownership as a legacy of pre-state life, and right up to a completely bourgeois type economy based on hired labor and operating on the market.

On the other hand, it is obvious that feudal personal and property relations, their refraction in the mass consciousness of their era, are also observed beyond the chronological limits of that approximately thousand-year interval (from the 5th to the 15th centuries), which is recognized in science as the period of feudalism. For a long time, scientists have made attempts to consider the history of the ancient world from a “feudal angle.” For example, the history of Sparta with its helots gave reason to consider the social system of Lacedaemon as serfdom, finding close analogues for it in medieval Europe. The history of ancient Rome with its colonation and other phenomena that suggested parallels with the Middle Ages also provided well-known grounds for this approach. In the classic monograph by D.M. Petrushevsky Essays on the history of medieval society and state almost half of the text was devoted to the consideration of “the state and society of the Roman Empire.” In a similar way, signs of feudal type relations are found in industrial society not only in modern times, but also in modern times. Among the many examples are the absence of passports for Soviet collective farmers for decades, their actual attachment to the land, and the obligatory minimum of workdays. Not in such painful forms, but the relics of the Middle Ages made and are making themselves felt in Western Europe. The famous French historian Jacques Le Goff said in the early 1990s: “We live among the last material and intellectual remnants of the Middle Ages.”

A lot of disagreement and controversy is caused by the question of how universal feudalism is. This question inevitably returns the researcher to polemics regarding the complex of those features, the presence of which is necessary and sufficient for recognizing a society as feudal. The legal monuments of Northern France (more precisely, the Paris region) or the code of feudal law of the crusader states in the Middle East The “Jerusalem Assizes,” which once served as the main support of historians and lawyers who reconstructed the appearance of the medieval seigneury and elucidated the structure of the hierarchical ladder, are obviously unique. The relationships they depict should not be taken as a universal or widespread norm. Even other regions of France, outside of Ile-de-France, had their own regulations.

Official Marxist-Leninist science without hesitation gave an affirmative answer to the question whether feudalism is a stage through which all humanity passes. In Russian historiography, the universalist point of view was confidently defended, in particular, by Academician N.I. Conrad, although he himself, like other orientalists, faced intractable problems when considering feudalism on a world-historical scale. It was impossible not to take into account, for example, that in the European version of feudal society (although it is sometimes difficult to draw the line between full and divided property, between property and hereditary holdings) one of the main indicators was land relations, while in those Asian regions, where irrigation dominated, ownership of water rather than land was of great importance. The predominance of nomadic pastoralism across vast areas of Asia made it even more difficult to draw parallels between European and Asian agricultural practices of past centuries. Even in areas where agriculture was not much different in nature from European farming, it was not always possible to detect a division of property rights between levels of the hierarchical ladder. Often, on the contrary, eastern despotism demonstrates the concentration of power functions at the top of the social pyramid. Such obvious facts, which were difficult to ignore, forced supporters of the world-historical scheme to introduce numerous amendments to the specifics of natural conditions, the peculiarities of local mentality, the influence of religious ideas, etc.

A detailed analysis of the arguments of supporters and opponents of the universalist point of view on feudalism from the position of orthodox Marxism-Leninism was undertaken back in the 1970s by V.N. Nikiforov. The interpretation he defends, which still finds adherents not only among Marxists, “feudal society in world history was a stage that naturally followed the slave society” of course, has every right to exist. In his opinion, at one of the early stages of its development, society inevitably goes through a stage that is characterized by: 1) the growth of exploitation based on the concentration of land ownership in the hands of a few; 2) rent as a form associated in that era with non-economic coercion; 3) transfer of land plots to direct producers and their attachment to the land in various forms. This theory does not contradict the modern state of historical knowledge. But such an understanding of feudalism turns out to be extremely impoverished, reduced to a meaningless sociological abstraction.

European feudalism, which still remains the basic model for almost all researchers, had a number of additional and essentially important features, a significant part of which was due to a unique synthesis of ancient and barbarian principles in world practice. Of course, in comparison with bourgeois society, feudalism, as it was realized in European countries, appears as an inert structure, difficult to undergo progressive changes. However, if we compare it with what (according to, say, V.N. Nikiforov) feudalism was on other continents, then the European version looks completely different. It's not just more dynamic. Its development reveals qualities that have no analogues in other regions. Even in the most sedentary times in the “dark ages” of European history deep social processes were observed here, leading not only to the emergence of trade and craft centers, but also to the city’s conquest of political autonomy and other changes that ultimately led to the recognition of rights by society human personality.

Such a burden of connotations certainly prevents the reduction of rather heterogeneous social phenomena under one general sign of “feudalism”. It is not surprising that discussions constantly flare up on this issue both in Russia and abroad. Not considering it possible to sacrifice empirical wealth in the name of an abstract formula, many modern researchers give preference to the civilizational approach over the world-historical (in other words, formational) approach. Feudalism is understood as one of the stages in the history of European civilization. This interpretation, as far as one can judge, seems to be the most acceptable today.

Galina Lebedeva, Vladimir Yakubsky

Konrad N.I. . West and East. M., 1966
Nikiforov V.N. East and world history. M., 1977
Febvre, L. Fights for history. M., 1991
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Find "FEUDALISM" on

The concept of “feudalism” arose in France before the revolution, around the end of the 18th century and designated at that time the so-called “Old Order” (that is, the monarchy (absolute) or the government of the nobility). Feudalism at that time was seen as a social and economic reformation, which was the predecessor of the well-known capitalism. In our time, in history, feudalism is considered such a social system. It existed only in the Middle Ages, or rather in Central and Western Europe. However, you can also find something similar in other eras and in other parts of the world.

The basis of feudalism includes relationships that are called interpersonal, that is, between the lord and the vassal, the overlord and the subject, the peasant and the person who has a lot of land. In Feudalism there is legal injustice, in other words, inequality that was enshrined in law, and a knightly army organization. The main basis of feudalism was religion. Namely, Christianity. And it showed the whole character of the Middle Ages, the culture of that time. Feudalism was formed in the fifth to ninth centuries, when the barbarians conquered the well-known Roman Empire, which was very strong. The heyday, somewhere in the twelfth-thirteenth centuries, then large cities and their entire population were politically and economically strengthened, so-called estate-representative communities were formed, for example the English parliament, and the estate monarchy was forced to pay attention not only to the interests of the nobility, but also all other members of society.

The worldly monarchy opposed the so-called papacy, and this created the opportunity to create and assert all their rights and their freedom, and over time, so to speak, they undermined feudalism, that is, its structure and main concepts. The city's economy developed quite quickly, and this undermined the basis of the government of the aristocracy, or rather the natural and economic foundations, but heresies grew into the reformation, which took place in the 16th century, and it was due to the growth of freedom of thought. In connection with the updated ethics and the new value system of Protestantism, he helped all entrepreneurs develop with their activities, which were of a capitalist type. Well, the revolution that took place in the 16th-18th centuries helped end feudalism.

The emergence of feudalism

It is generally accepted that feudalism as a special socio-economic formation arose in Western Europe on the basis of the collapse of the slave system of the ancient world and the fall of the Roman slave state as a result of the slave revolution and the conquest of the Roman Empire by the Germans. The usual idea that the slave system is directly replaced by the feudal system is not entirely accurate. More often, the feudal system arose anew from the primitive communal system. The peoples who conquered Rome were at the stage of a primitive communal system and did not adopt the Roman slave-owning system. Only a few centuries later they developed a class society, but in the form of feudalism.

Elements of feudalism began to take shape in the depths of the economic system of the late period of the Roman Empire and in the society of the ancient Germans of the 2nd-3rd centuries. But feudalism became the dominant type of social relations only from the 5th-6th centuries. as a result of the interaction of the socio-economic conditions that existed in the Roman Empire with the new conditions that the conquerors brought with them. Feudalism was not at all transferred ready-made from Germany. Its origin is rooted in the military organization of the barbarian troops at the time of the conquest itself, which only after the conquest, thanks to the influence of the productive forces found in the conquered countries, developed into real feudalism. New forms of socio-economic system that arose in place of the Roman slave society had deep roots both in the old society of Rome itself and among the peoples that conquered it. In the Roman Empire, the crisis of a large slave economy already by the 1st-2nd centuries. n. e. reached its greatest strength. While large land ownership remained in the hands of a small number of Roman magnates, the latter, due to the extremely low productivity of slave labor, began to divide their lands into small parcels and plant slaves and free farmers on them. Instead of a large slave-owning economy, a colony thus arises as one of the earliest forms of new social relations - relations of small agricultural producers who still retained some elements of personal and economic freedom compared to slavery, but were attached to the owner's land and paid rent to the landowner in kind and in labor. . In other words, the columns "...were the forerunners of the medieval serfs." Due to the economic collapse of Rome's slave economy, its economic and political system was finally destroyed by the uprisings of millions of slaves. All this facilitated the conquest of the empire by the Germans, putting an end to the slave society. But new forms of social relations were not brought by the Germans “ready-made”, but, on the contrary, their “form of public” had to change in accordance with the level of productive forces of the conquered country. Even in the time of Tacitus (1st century AD), the Germans retained significant remnants of their ancestral building. But, already by the time of their first penetrations into Rome, the Germanic tribes were losing their tribal way of life and moving to a territorial community-mark. Military movements and conquests led to the establishment of a military-tribal aristocracy and the formation of military squads. The former communal lands were seized by vigilantes, private land ownership arose, and slaves were exploited and planted on the land. These new relationships began to intensify and transfer to Roman soil when Germanic tribes began to settle in various parts of the former empire. The Germans “... as a reward for liberating the Romans from their own state...” not only began to occupy free lands, but also took away two-thirds of their land from the previous Roman owners - huge Roman latifundia with the masses sitting on them slaves and colons. The division of land took place according to the orders of the clan system. Part of the land was left indivisibly in the possession of the entire clan and tribe, the rest (arable land, meadows) was distributed among individual members of the clan. This is how the German community-mark was transferred to new conditions. But the separation of the military-tribal aristocracy and military squads, which captured large expanses of land and large slave-owning Roman latifundia, contributed to the disintegration of communal ownership and the emergence of large private land ownership. At the same time, the Roman landed nobility began to unite with the military nobility of the German warriors and leaders.

In some parts of the former empire, as in the Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy, the assimilation of the conquerors with the vanquished was most widespread and led to the assimilation by the Germans of socio-economic relations, the beginnings of serfdom and latifundia. Vast estates were called, specializing in export areas of agriculture: growing grain, producing olive oil and winemaking.) economy of the former empire. In the Frankish state, where Roman influence was weaker and where the newcomer Frankish tribes were less quickly assimilated with the Roman population, for some time there remained a large layer of free peasantry, and before the development of feudal-serf relations “between the Roman colony and the new a free Frankish peasant stood as a serf.” German land orders were most fully preserved where, as in Britain, the German conquerors almost completely destroyed the former Celtic population of the country and introduced their own rules for using the land, with rapidly growing, however, inequality in it, with the separation of tribal nobility (earls) and simple freemen farmers (curls). With all the diversity in the development of feudal relations in different localities and countries, the further process everywhere consisted of the gradual enslavement of the remaining mass of the free rural population and the development of the foundations of the feudal-serf economic system. With the fall of the slave economy and the decomposition of communal land forms on the basis of the emergence of property and land inequality in the land community, and then personal and economic dependence and, finally, with the seizure of land by conquerors, a complex and developed system of feudal-land relations was created in the kingdoms of Western Europe . The entire social structure, all social relations and the place of each individual person in them are determined on the basis of land ownership and land “holding”. Starting from the overlord, the king, his associates and larger and more powerful owners, all vassals dependent on them receive land as a fief, as a fief, that is, as a hereditary conditional possession, as an award for service. A complex system of vassalage and vassalage, the hierarchy of the highest and “noble” ruling classes permeates the entire society.

The development of feudal production relations ensured, first of all, the partial emancipation of the direct producer: since the serf can no longer be killed, although he can be sold and bought, since the serf has a farm and a family, he has some interest in work, shows some initiative in work required by new productive forces. The basis of feudal production relations was the ownership of feudal lords in the main means of agricultural production, land, and the lack of ownership of land among workers. Along with this main feature, the feudal form of ownership of the means of production is also characterized by the incomplete ownership of the feudal lord over the worker (non-economic coercion) and the ownership of some of the tools and means based on personal labor by the production workers themselves, i.e. peasants and artisans. The feudal form of ownership resulted in the position in production and the relationship between the main classes of feudal society: feudal lords and peasants.

The feudal lords, in one form or another, allocated land to the peasants and forced them to work for themselves, appropriating part of their labor or products of labor in the form of feudal rent (duties). Peasants and artisans belonged in the broad sense of the word to the same class of feudal society; their relations were not antagonistic. Classes and social groups under feudalism had the form of estates, and the form of distribution of production products entirely depended on the position and relationship of social groups in production. Early feudalism was characterized by the complete dominance of subsistence farming; with the development of crafts, commodity production became increasingly important in town and countryside. Commodity production, which existed under feudalism and served it, despite the fact that it prepared some conditions for capitalist production, cannot be confused with capitalist commodity production.

The main form of exploitation under feudalism was feudal rent, which increased through the successive change of its three forms: labor (corvee labor), food rent (in-kind rent) and money (monetary rent). The late feudal corvee system in the countries of Eastern Europe is not a simple return to the first form, but also carries the features of a third form: production for the market. With the emergence of manufacture (16th century), an increasingly deeper contradiction began to develop in the depths of feudal society between the new nature of the productive forces and feudal production relations, which became a brake on their development. The so-called primitive accumulation prepares the emergence of a class of wage workers and a class of capitalists.

In accordance with the class, antagonistic nature of the feudal economy, the entire life of feudal society was permeated with class struggle. Above the feudal base rose its corresponding superstructure - the feudal state, the church, the feudal ideology, a superstructure that actively served the ruling class, helping to suppress the struggle of the working people against feudal exploitation. A feudal state, as a rule, goes through a number of stages - from political fragmentation (“estate-state”), through class monarchy to absolute monarchy (autocracy). The dominant form of ideology under feudalism was religion

The intensified class struggle made it possible for the young bourgeoisie, leading the uprisings of peasants and plebeian elements of the cities, to seize power and overthrow feudal relations of production. Bourgeois revolutions in the Netherlands in the 16th century, in England in the 17th century, in France in the 18th century. ensured the dominance of the then advanced bourgeois class and brought production relations into line with the nature of the productive forces.

At present, the remnants of feudalism are supported and strengthened by the imperialist bourgeoisie. The vestiges of feudalism are very significant in many capitalist countries. In people's democracies, these relics have been decisively eliminated through democratic agrarian reforms. In colonial and dependent countries, peoples are fighting feudalism and imperialism at the same time; Every blow to feudalism is at the same time a blow to imperialism.

Feudalism - social - economic system in medieval Europe.

Concept of estates:

Churchmen, clergy (mental work, science, culture, religion)

1. Peasants

   Citizens (business)

In Western Europe, feudalism was formed on the basis of the synthesis of the decaying slave system of the Roman Empire and the early class social system of barbarians, mainly Germans, which was at the stage of formation.

The transition to feudalism from a slave-owning system can be considered a progressive phenomenon in world history. Under feudalism, small peasant production and parcel farming took shape. The peasant, unlike the slave, was interested in his work.

Characteristic features of the feudal system:

The dominance of large landed property, which everything is concentrated in the hands of the feudal class and is the basis of medieval feudal society.

Combination of large land ownership with small individual farming direct producers, i.e. peasants to whom feudal lords distributed land under various conditions.

Peasants, receiving land from the feudal lords, never became its full owners.

The essence of the production relations of feudalism was that all land was divided between landowners and they allocated land to the peasants. The allocation of land to peasants by feudal lords was a unique form of their exploitation. Land was a type of natural salary; it gave the peasant surplus products, which went to the landowner.

Non-economic coercion of the peasant. The first forms of non-economic coercion were limited only to to the judicial dependence of the peasant on the feudal lord.

Feudal rent was economic mechanism for implementation feudal lord's ownership of land.

In feudal society, rent came in three forms:

corvée, or labor rent;

food rent, or quitrent in kind;

cash rent, or cash rent.

Organization of the feudal class:

1. Dukes – heads of large regions

   Counts – heads of small areas

   Barons - commanders of local military militias

   Knight - mounted warrior

Everyone was given a definition of the war. number of peasants and land.

The peasants had to support the military elite, because the peasant cannot afford to buy uniforms, so the wars protected them. Mutually beneficial cooperation and all that.

Feudal fragmentation. Its causes and results. European countries in the era of feudal fragmentation,IX- XIcenturies (tell about any country of your choice).

X-XII centuries are a period of political fragmentation.

Feudal fragmentation is political and economic decentralization of the state, the creation on the territory of one state of independent state entities practically independent from each other, formally having a common supreme ruler.

Causes:

The established monopoly ownership of land by feudal lords was reflected in the rules of law.

Having received a monopoly on land, the feudal lords also acquired significant political power: transferring part of their land to vassals, the right to justice and minting money, maintaining their own military force, etc.

Privatization of power leads to the fact that the need for central government disappears.

During the collapse, small states developed better.

It is known that in the territory that collapsed in the middle of the 9th century. Charlemagne's empire created three new states: French, German and Italian(Northern Italy), each of which became the basis of an emerging territorial-ethnic community - a nationality. Then the process of political disintegration engulfed each of these new formations, but now these were patrimonial seigneurial formations.

Results:

Feudal fragmentation - completion of the process of formation of feudal relations and the flourishing of feudalism in Western Europe. This was a natural and progressive process, due to the rise of internal colonization and the expansion of the area of ​​cultivated land.

France/Frankish Empire in the era of feudal fragmentation:

The period of feudal fragmentation - IX - XIII centuries.

During the period of feudal fragmentation, the nominal single kingdom was actually divided into many almost independent fiefs, and fragmentation also continued within individual duchies and counties.

The formation of the two main classes of feudal society - lords and dependent peasantry- generally completed by the 10th century . A feudal hierarchy was formed, headed by a king, with its characteristic system of vassalage. The vassalage relationship was based on the hierarchical structure of land ownership: nominally, the king, the supreme lord, or overlord, was considered the supreme owner of all land in the state, and large feudal lords, receiving land from him, became his vassals.

During the period of feudal fragmentation, the king, the nominal head of state, was elected by large landowners - the king's vassals and the highest hierarchs of the church.

Local government is characterized by that the king's authority was recognized only in his own domain, and the land holdings of large feudal lords had their own systems of local government.

In the judicial system under the seigneurial monarchy there was seigneurial justice - the judicial power was shared among the seigneurs, and the scope of powers was determined by the level of the hierarchical ladder on which they were located.

The army consisted from the knightly militia of vassals who performed military service, which they owed to their lords. During wars, people's militia were convened.

Medieval cities. Reasons and ways of their formation. Workshops and guilds. "Communal Revolution". Unions of cities. Tell about a city-state or a union of cities (choose from Italian city-republics, Hansa, etc.)

Medieval cities are the center of civilization. Fortifications – military fortifications, fortresses.

Synthesis zone. Even in the early Middle Ages, urban-type settlements existed, primarily on the sites of former ancient cities.

Number of cities in Western Europe was uneven. Most cities are concentrated in the Romanized areas of Europe - primarily in Italy. In cities intracity and foreign trade developed.

Non-synthesis zone. The settlements of non-Romanized Western Europe at the beginning of developed feudalism were extremely sparsely populated and practically had no economic significance in the life of feudalizing Europe.

The phenomenon of the medieval city is a consequence of the isolation and development of crafts.

With the evolution of developed feudalism, craft became more and more independent and the leading industry in the city.

The craft developed in stages:

craft production to order.

connecting crafts with the market; the artisan already becomes a commodity producer.

Cities arise where it was convenient to sell products + in case of war it was possible to take refuge in the fortress of the feudal lord, so artisans tried to settle near the feudal lords.

After the emergence of cities, social life took shape. compound:

Craftsmen

Merchants (traders-wholesalers). They traded to distant countries. Prestigious, but dangerous. They paid rent to live in cities. They were the business elite.

Craft production, which formed the basis of urban production, had a special form of organization in the first stages of developed feudalism - guilds, or craft guilds. Workshop or guild at first they were an organization of small urban artisans, and the guild was more often a merchant organization. There was strict control over workshop production, as well as over the sale of handicraft products. At the head of the workshop was a master. The workshop was also a military structure that supplied warrior-artisans to the king or seigneur. Thus, the workshop was a very complex system - production, life-determining, spiritual-religious, cultural, military etc.. In the XIV-XV centuries. there is a process of “transformation of workshops”, or “guild transformation”, which leads to the emergence of rich, or senior workshops, and poor, or junior workshops. The junior workshops, as a result of competition with the rich senior workshops, are gradually going bankrupt, and the members of the junior workshops are gradually turning into hired workers - the prototype of the future pre-proletariat and the proletariat, which would emerge two centuries later.

12-13 centuries - communal revolution.

For self-government in cities, against dependence on feudal lords.

The communal movement that led to urban independence gave rise to another phenomenon - folding of the urban patriciate, which did not exist at the early stage of development of the medieval city. Court, finance, city administration are gradually beginning to focus in the hands of the patrician. As a result, in the XIII-XV centuries. in almost all countries of Western Europe, the struggle is already unfolding within the city - the struggle of the townspeople against the patriciate. Despite some peculiarities in different cities of Western Europe, this struggle ends with the victory of the rich artisans and trading strata of the city, who establish urban oligarchic government, practically merging with the urban patriciate. The oligarchic government acts in the interests of wealthy citizens.

The social struggle that unfolded in the city went through three stages. The first stage is the communal movement, the second stage is the struggle against the patriciate, and the third is the struggle of the urban craft plebeians against the rich craftsmen and merchants who merged with the patriciate, and against the urban oligarchy.

With the growth of cities, handicraft production increases, and trade also grows. The city and the market that has arisen around it become the basis for the formation of a single internal market. At the same time they begin to take shape largest trading merchant companies, which were important not only for trade itself and the formation of merchant capital, but also played a huge role in the political conflicts of Western Europe, being the focus of its wealth and thereby determining its political life. The most famous of them was a company created by merchants of the German lands - the Hansa, or Hanseatic Trading Society. The Hansa included merchants from Novgorod and Pskov. The Hansa actively intervened in the political conflicts of Western Europe. In the XII-XIII centuries. Another new phenomenon is emerging - fairs as large wholesale trade centers. The largest fair center at that time was Champagne. Banks, proto-capitalism and other crap emerge. Well, you understand.

Union of Cities - Hansa. I am copying Kostin’s version, because it delivers: The totality of the cities of the Hanseatic League, a totality about which one can simultaneously talk about fragility and strength. The fragility stemmed from the instability of the association, which brought together a huge “crowd” of cities (from 70 to 170), which were located far from each other and whose delegates did not meet in full at general congresses. Behind the Hansa there was neither a state nor a tightly knit union - only cities, on occasion, competing with each other, fenced with powerful walls, with their merchants, fleet, craft shops, with their wealth. Strength stemmed from a community of interests, from the need to play the same economic game, from a common civilization, “involved” in trade in one of the most populous maritime spaces in Europe - from the Baltic to Lisbon, from a common language, and finally, which was by no means an insignificant element of unity. And this was the language of “the power elite... the wealth elite, which presupposed membership in a certain social and professional group. All these bonds gave rise to cohesion, solidarity, common habits and common pride. The restrictions common to all did the rest. In the Mediterranean, with a relative abundance of wealth, cities could each play their own game and vie with each other fiercely. In the Baltic, on the North Sea, this would be much more difficult. Income from heavy, high-volume, low-priced cargoes remained modest, while costs and risks were significant. In the West, having better armed partners, the Hansa still managed to maintain its privileges, in London to an even greater extent than in Bruges. In London the Hanseatics were exempt from most of the fees; they had their own judges, and they even guarded one of the city gates, which was an undoubted honor.

From 1370, the Hansa prevailed over the king of Denmark on terms and occupied fortresses on the Danish straits; in 1388, as a result of a dispute with Bruges, she forced the wealthy city and the government of the Netherlands to capitulate through an effective blockade. Price movements in the West played against the Hansa. Indeed, after 1370. grain prices fell and then, starting in 1400, fur prices fell while manufactured goods prices rose. This opposing movement of both blades of the scissors had an adverse effect on the trade of Lübeck and other Baltic cities. German historians explain the decline of the Hanse by the political infantilism of Germany.

Crusades. Reasons, directions of campaigns, events, leaders, results.

In historical science, it is customary to consider the Crusades as wars of Western European feudal lords, townspeople, peasants, unleashed by Western Europe in the Middle East (Syria, Palestine, North Africa) against the “infidels” (Muslims) and for the liberation of the Tomb from the power of the “infidels”. of the Lord, Christian shrines and the Holy Land - Palestine.

This movement was organized with the blessing of the Roman Catholic Church, which ideologically shaped all eight Crusades. The Crusades lasted from 1096 to 1270. Subsequently, i.e. after 1270, attempts were made to revive the Crusader movement. The participants in the Crusades themselves called themselves not crusaders, but pilgrims (pilgrims), and their campaigns were called pilgrimages, or the “sacred road.”

Population explosion in Europe

According to the law, all the money goes to the eldest son. Therefore, the younger sons of feudal families were actively included in the Crusader movement in huge numbers. In addition to them, impoverished peasants and townspeople joined the first Crusades. Like the desire for profit and all that. (The first; the rest are more with knights and kings, but the essence does not change - loot). + there was still famine, plague, there was a crisis in Europe... why not plunder the East, damn it?

Well, religious thoughts also crossed my mind. The difficult situation in Europe during this era gave rise to apocalyptic sentiments. The population eagerly listened to the calls of preachers to visit the Holy Land and achieve salvation through this religious feat. + Pope Urban 2 promised absolution from sins to all participants. Whores, money and blackjack for free!

How it was:

Means, in 1095 Pope Urban 2 gives his tearful speech about how bad life is for Christians in the East - in terms of faith, and how good it is materially. Therefore, you need to come, defend the Holy Sepulcher, shed a lot of their blood and your own, and you can grab something. For this, all sins will be forgiven and it’s generally awesome. Well, everyone went - God wants it.

Pilgrims flocked to Lorraine, Champagne, and the Rhine region. Here the detachments united and moved to the East to find the promised land, in order to wash away their sins in the waters of the Jordan, where the Savior was baptized. But since everyone was poor and generally didn’t know what geography was, they asked in every city if it was Jerusalem and moved on to the East. Well, because... The path is long, but I want to eat, they robbed everyone. These detachments were led by Peter the Hermit.

And so they came to Constantinople. The king saw how they were robbing everything, went crazy and sent them to the Turks. There the first wave of crusaders was killed.

Then the militia came out, already knights - they even knew where to go. But they still robbed. The knights who came to Constantinople were received in the palace of the basileus. Alexey 1 decided to get rid of them, as with the first detachment, and sent them to the Turks. But the knights were cunning - he had to take on certain obligations, provide them with military, diplomatic and material assistance. Therefore, when the crusaders crossed to Asia Minor, quite numerous, well-equipped detachments of the Byzantine army were with them. Nicaea surrendered to the Byzantine army. As the European knights advanced across the territory of Asia Minor, their assistance from Byzantium was reduced. At the same time, the crusading knights won victories over the Seljuk Turks. Crusader troops entered Syria. The rich city of Edessa was captured, and 1098 The first crusader state was founded - the County of Edessa.

After a long and difficult siege of the first-rate Byzantine fortress of Antioch, the Crusaders captured it. However, after the capture of Antioch, they themselves found themselves besieged there by the approaching fresh forces of the Seljuk Turks. The fortress was recaptured (story about the spear)

Then the knights remembered why they were going and in 1090 they took Jerusalem. After the capture of Jerusalem, it was created third crusader state - Kingdom of Jerusalem. The folder, through the legates, controlled all activities. Since 1099, the Kingdom of Jerusalem becomes the overlord of all the states of the Latin East - Latin Romania. The vassal-fief structure of feudal Western Europe was transferred to the Latin East.

In addition to the states mentioned above, as a result of the First Crusade, another one was created, fourth state - County of Tripoli. In all the states created by the crusaders there were feudal order was established according to the northern French model. All these states turned out to be short-lived.

Since the West was far away and could not provide real assistance to the new states, spiritual knightly orders began to be created in them to help the crusading movement and the states of Latin Romania. Templar Order, St. Mary, Hospitallers, etc.

In 1145 Pope Eugene III calls for the Second Crusade. The second campaign, led by the French king Louis 7 and German Emperor Conrad 3, began in 1147 and ended in 1148. It was short-lived and unsuccessful. Moreover, this campaign contributed to the strengthening of contradictions between the crusaders and Byzantium. In the same year 1187 Pope declares the Third Crusade(1189-1192), which was led by the King of England Henry II Plantagenet. During the campaign, Henry II died, and the campaign was led by his son Richard the Lionheart. This campaign was also led by other kittens and the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa. They dreamed of creating a single Latin universal state in the East, as an outpost of the West in the eastern lands, but fuck it.

Frederick I Barbarossa tried to capture Constantinople, which contributed to the strengthening of contradictions between the West and the Byzantine Empire, but failed. Cyprus is captured (thanks to Richard for that). As a result of Richard's active actions, the interests of the British and French collide. King Philip II of the French leaves with his army for France, and the campaign ends I, and the Anglo-French war begins in Europe. So you went on a hike. But one plus - the Third Crusade strengthened the position of the Latin states in the East, and moreover, a new crusader state was created, Kingdom of Cyprus .

Pope Innocent III announces Fourth Crusade, The campaign began in 1202 and ended in 1204 d. Officially, this campaign was directed against Egypt (as announced in the papal bull), and in fact - against Byzantium. In short, everyone wanted to drink water. unstable Byzantium. But they fell asleep. And now I wish I could sit on my ass straight, BUT! In the West, the idea is spreading that the liberation of the Holy Sepulcher Only pure, sinless children's souls can do it. In 1212, in the north of France and in the Cologne region they began groups of teenagers (militant shkolota otake) gather to go to the Holy Land. Some detachments went to Marseille, a port city in the south of France, to sail from there to the Holy Land. This route ended tragically: Instead of the Holy Land, the children fell into the hands of slave traders. Another detachment moved to Genoa, and there traces of it were lost. Thus the children's crusade ended tragically.

In 1217 it was announced Fifth Crusade, which lasted until 1221. Like the previous one, this campaign was also directed against the Egyptian Sultan. It was led by the king of Hungary and the rulers of the crusader states. And again a failure: his only achievement was the capture of an important fortress - Damietta.

At the head Sixth Crusade(1228-1229) stood the German Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, who was excommunicated from the Church at that time. He turned out to be a clever diplomat who managed to achieve an alliance with the Sultan and conclude an agreement with him, according to the articles of which Jerusalem returned to Christians. It seemed that access to the Holy Land was open, but then The Pope intervened. He declared that the king, who was under excommunication, had no right to sign a treaty with the Egyptian Sultan. Dad imposed a treaty mid-13th century Jerusalem was recaptured by the Muslims. Spent.

Seventh Crusade(1248-1254) was prepared by the French king Louis 9th Saint. Louis understood that it was up to him to fight the Sultan, who had a huge army. it'll be hard. He entered into negotiations with the Mongol-Tatar Khan, hoping for military assistance against Egypt. The Crusaders took several strategically important fortresses in Northern Egypt. The king and numerous knights were captured.

In 1270, Louis 9 organized Eighth Crusade against Egypt. This campaign was unsuccessful from the very beginning. After the landing of the crusader army in Tunisia, a fire broke out a plague epidemic that killed numerous crusaders and King Louis IX.

New Western attempts to liberate the Holy Land were unsuccessful. Crusader states in the Middle East by the end of the 13th century. ceased to exist. The era of the Crusades, which lasted 74 years, ended.

Church in the Middle Ages. Its role and significance in politics, culture, ideology. The struggle between popes and secular authorities. Mendicant orders. Heresies and the Inquisition.

Christianity is the established religious ideology of the feudal society. The ruling class of this society, adapting Christianity to the conditions of the new feudal system throughout the Middle Ages, sought to strengthen the church in every possible way economically, politically and ideologically. The Christian religion in Western Europe - Catholicism - was the dominant form of ideology. It dominated in all areas of social, ideological, cultural life, subjugated morality, science, culture, education, clothed it in its forms and permeated all aspects of the medieval worldview. The exceptionally large role of religion and the church in the feudal era, their strongest influence on the minds of people, was determined by the fact that the worldview of medieval man was predominantly theological.

Church feudal lords occupied a prominent place in the emerging feudal hierarchy. Being vassals of kings and other secular sovereigns, they themselves had numerous not only spiritual, but also secular vassals. Large church feudal lords had broad immunity rights. Monasteries were of great importance in strengthening the economic and social influence of the church.

The Church increasingly acquired the character of a powerful centralized and at the same time hierarchical organization. The popes' claims to political influence in Italy and the rest of Western Europe encountered resistance both within the church and from secular rulers. Then in the 9th-11th centuries. the decline of the papacy occurred. The Church became more and more “secular,” moving further and further away from the ideal of poverty and asceticism, which undermined her authority and influence on the masses. In this regard, a movement arose among monasticism aimed at strengthening the moral prestige of the church and its independence in relation to secular authorities, at creating a strong church organization, in particular at strengthening papal power. This movement began at the beginning of the 10th century. headed the monastery of Cluny, which soon became the center of a large association of monasteries. The abbot of Cluny reported directly to the pope.

The Cluny movement was also used by part of the large feudal nobility as a means in the struggle against royal power and the bishops who supported it, on the one hand, and against popular uprisings and heretical movements that were intensifying at that time, on the other. Having become pope (1073-1085), Gregory VII in his treatise “ Pope's dictate“unfolded a program of papal theocracy, asserting the supremacy of papal power over the power of secular sovereigns. This decisive and unyielding politician directed all his activities towards the implementation of his program. Gregory VII achieved significant strengthening the authority of the papacy and the Catholic Church. However, his theocratic ideas and plans for creating a universal papal monarchy were not implemented. In the XII-XIII centuries. further happening strengthening the influence of the Catholic Church and the papacy. This process was due to the fact that at that time most of the countries of Western Europe were experiencing a state of feudal fragmentation. In the absence of strong centralized states, the church, which had strengthened its power by this time, turned out to be for some time the only force whose authority was recognized in all countries.

Papacy in the XII-XIII centuries. used all the most important political events of the time to strengthen its influence. It acted as the organizer of the crusades in the East. The papacy was actively involved in suppressing popular anti-feudal movements and heresies. The political influence of the church and its head - the pope - was based also on the financial power of the Roman Curia. The strengthening of the power of the church and papacy in Western Europe was also facilitated by the fact that it continued to maintain power over the entire mental and ideological life of society.

Pope Boniface VIII (14th century), trying to further raise the prestige of the papacy, organized the celebration of “ church anniversary”, on the occasion of which he announced “absolution of sins” to all those present at this celebration and issued special indulgences - letters of absolution, which were sold for money. Since that time, the very profitable sale of indulgences has become widespread in all Catholic countries.

The process of state centralization was carried out during this period by royal authority within the framework of national states - France, England, etc. Papal policy found itself in irreconcilable contradiction with this progressive process.

Heresies

In essence, pan-European heresies were not homogeneous. Conventionally, there are two types of heresies: burgher (i.e. urban) and peasant-plebeian. Both types of heretical trends required liquidation of the political claims of the papacy, the land wealth of the Church, the special position of the Catholic clergy. The ideal of medieval heretical teachings was the early Christian Apostolic Church. Heretics opposed indulgences, they denied the oath on the Bible, separate communion for laity and clergy . In practice they denied the entire church organization of Catholicism.

At the same time, heretics were divided into two clearly defined groups. Some, while criticizing the priesthood, indulgences, the pope and the church organization, still remained within the bosom of the Catholic Church and believed that with their new teaching they were contributing to its renewal. This position was typical for the moderate wing of the heretical movement. But there was another direction - radical extremist, whose representatives broke with the official Catholic Church and, in opposition to it, created their own church organizations.

Many Western European heresies were characterized by mystical sentiments. Interpreting biblical texts in their own way, heretical mystics most often turned to the Apocalypse

The rise of the heretical movement in Western Europe during the high Middle Ages was, first of all, associated with the emergence and growth of cities. Class disadvantaged position of townspeople in feudal society, the severity of social contradictions Finally, the relatively (compared to the village) active social life made cities genuine centers of heresies. Northern Italy, Southern France, Rhineland, Flanders, Northeastern France, Southern Germany were

The growth of cities contributed to the spread of heresies in the countryside. The historical role of heresies in the Middle Ages was that they undermined the authority and spiritual dictate of the Catholic Church and the feudal-church worldview it defended.

One of the first creators of independent heretical teaching was Arnold Breshiansky, who headed in the middle of the 12th century. antipapal revolt in Rome. Sharply criticizing the contemporary church, he turned to the Gospel, from which he derived the demand for the transfer of power into the hands of secular persons. The sect he created (Arnoldists), representing the early burgher heresy, continued to exist even after the execution of its leader; only at the beginning of the 13th century. it dissolved in the mass of other heretical movements.

Among the most widespread heretical movements of the 12th century. refers to the Cathar heresy. The Cathar teachings were anti-feudal character; they refused to recognize the power of the state, rejected physical violence and the shedding of blood . They considered the Catholic Church, as well as the entire earthly world, to be the creation of Satan, and the pope as his viceroy; therefore, they rejected the dogma and cult of the official church, its hierarchy and opposed the wealth and power of the church.

Evangelical ideas were especially widespread among the heretics. Among the many sects that dreamed of reviving the orders of the early Christian church, of particular importance in the 13th century. Acquired by the Waldensians - the Waldensians, along with sharp criticism of the priests, put forward ideas challenging church dogma: they denied purgatory, most sacraments, icons, prayers, the cult of saints, the church hierarchy, their ideal was the “poor” apostolic church. They also opposed church tithes, taxes, military service, the feudal court and denied the death penalty.

Inquisition

The Inquisition played a special role in the fight against heresies. Originated at the end of the 12th century. as a form of church court, carried out at first by bishops, the Inquisition was gradually removed from the control of bishops and became in the first half of the 13th century. into an independent organization that had enormous powers and was subordinate directly to the pope. Gradually, the Inquisition created a special system of search and judicial investigation in cases of heretics. She widely introduced espionage and denunciations into practice. She extracted confessions from her victims through intricate sophistical tricks, and sophisticated torture was used against those who persisted. The zeal of the inquisitors and their informers was rewarded by the division among them of part of the property confiscated from the condemned. Already in the 13th century. along with heretics the Inquisition began to persecute scientists and philosophers who showed free-thinking. The Inquisition hypocritically proclaimed the principle of “non-shedding of blood”, therefore, those convicted of heresy were handed over to the secular authorities for punishment I. The most common punishment for heretics was burning at the stake, often in groups; torture like the iron maiden was also not uncommon.

Mendicant orders

The Church tried to undermine the heretical movement from within. To this end, she legalized some sects, directing their activities in the direction she wanted. and gradually turning them into ordinary monastic orders. This is how the orders of the Hermits and some others arose. Seeing the great popularity among heretics of the ideas of asceticism and poverty, as well as the practice of free preaching, the papacy introduced a new type of monasticism - Order of mendicant monks-preachers.

Franciscan - arose as a result of the church’s skillful use of the popular preaching of poverty, led by the Italian Francis of Assisi (12-13 centuries). called for renunciation of property and repentance, demanding from his followers simplicity of morals and engagement in useful work. But Francis did not speak out sharply against the church; he preached humility into obedience. The papacy took advantage of this relatively moderate position of Francis and, trying to bring the discontent of the popular masses under its control, in 1210 it established the monastic order of the Franciscans (Minorites), and the Francis was later canonized. Gradually the order moved away from its original ideals of poverty and asceticism. In a short time the minorities turned into one of the richest monastic orders; many of their monasteries (the number of which reached 1100 in the mid-13th century) began to play a prominent political role.

Dominicans (1216) – by Dominican fanatic monk. The Dominicans attached particular importance to the art of preaching and scholastic theological debate. The “Brother Preachers,” with the support of the pope, soon captured theological departments in the largest universities in Europe, and from among them came famous theologians and scholastics of that time - Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinecius, and others. The Dominicans soon gained enormous influence, which was used to the advantage of the papacy in its conflicts with monarchs, cities, universities and individual bishops. But his main They considered the goal to be the fight against heretics. The overwhelming majority of inquisitors were Dominicans.

“mendicant orders" were an important tool of Catholic expansion to the East; Thus, the Dominicans founded their monastery near Kiev (1233), penetrated into China (1272), Japan and other Eastern European and Asian countries.

European countries inXII- XV centuries Estate-representative monarchy, reasons for its emergence and essence. Talk about any country of your choice.

Estate-representative monarchy is a form of feudal state in which, along with relatively strong royal power, concentrating in its hands all the threads of government, there is an estate-representative assembly, which has advisory, financial (tax authorization), and sometimes some legislative functions.

Prerequisites for occurrence:

Urban development

Folding of the domestic market

Intensification of the class struggle due to the intensification of feudal exploitation of the peasantry.

The main support of the class monarchy was the lower and middle strata of the feudal class, who needed a strong centralized apparatus to strengthen their power over the peasantry. The estate monarchy was supported by townspeople who sought to eliminate feudal fragmentation and ensure the security of trade routes - conditions necessary for the development of the internal market.

The centralization of the feudal state under the class monarchy was expressed in the concentration in the hands of the king of his apparatus of judicial and military power to the detriment of the political independence of large feudal lords.

Greatest development and clear formulation received estates under feudalism, the classes were divided into “higher” privileged and “lower”.

Using the example of France

The further growth of cities and commodity production entailed not only an increase in the size and activity of the urban population. It caused a restructuring of the traditional feudal economy and forms of exploitation of the peasantry. In connection with the development of commodity-money relations, the feudal lords began replace part of natural duties and payments with monetary rent. It is preferable for the lord to become a personally free peasant holder of an hereditary land plot. The bulk of the peasantry represents personally free censors obligated to pay the lord a cash rent.

In the XIV-XV centuries, the restructuring of the estate system was completed in France, expressed in the internal consolidation of estates:

clergy. It was recognized that the French clergy must live according to the laws of the kingdom and be regarded as an integral part of the French nation.

the nobility, although in fact in the XIV-XV centuries played a leading role in the social and political life of France. This class united all secular feudal lords, who were now considered not just as vassals of the king, but as his servants.

By the 14th-15th centuries, the formation of the “third estate” was basically completed, which was replenished due to the rapidly growing urban population and the increase in rent-seeking peasants. This class was very variegated in class composition, and practically united the entire working population and the emerging bourgeoisie.

The formation of an estate-representative monarchy:

the process of political centralization (by the beginning of the 14th century, ¾ of the country’s territory had been united),

further rise of royal power, elimination of the arbitrariness of individual feudal lords. The seigneurial power of the feudal lords essentially lost most of its independent political character.

Seigneurial legislation gradually disappeared, and by expanding the range of cases constituting a “royal case,” feudal jurisdiction was significantly limited. In the 14th century, the possibility of appealing against any decision of the courts of individual feudal lords to the Paris Parliament was provided for, and this finally the principle was destroyed, according to which seigneurial justice was considered sovereign.

There were also assholes- legalists(graduate lawyers) who supported, saying and saying that in Roman law it is written “the king is the highest law.”

The emergence of an estate-representative monarchy and the gradual concentration of political power in the hands of the king did not subject the central governing bodies to significant reorganization. The Great Council, created on the basis of the royal curia, occupied an important place in the system of central government. This council included legalists, as well as 24 representatives of the highest secular and spiritual nobility (princes, peers of France, archbishops, etc.). The Council met once a month, but its powers were purely advisory.

In an effort to centralize local government, the king introduces new positions of governors. Local centralization also affected city life. Kings often deprived cities of the status of communes, changed previously issued charters, and limited the rights of citizens. A system was installed over the cities administrative guardianship. In 1445, having received the opportunity to levy a permanent tax (royal tag), King Charles VII organized a regular royal army with centralized leadership and a clear system of organization.

Minor court cases were decided by the provost, but cases of serious crimes (the so-called royal cases) were tried in the court of the bailiff, all judicial power was in the hands of the king and his administration.

The estate-representative monarchy served the interests of the bulk of the feudal lords. It was an important stage on the path to the political unification of the country. In this period the power of patrimonial lords weakened, since the main functions of suppressing peasants were transferred to national bodies.

Instead of the States General, the king began to convene the Council of Notables. The highest representatives of the three classes sat in it. Formally, the decision of the Council of Notables was not binding on the king. However, he was forced to take into account the opinion of the nobility. With the consent of the notables, new taxes began to be introduced, which were collected by the king's officials. A large army appeared. As the power of royalty increased the local government system was centralized.