Feudal Frankish Empire

            The Frankish Empire began showing early Feudalism in 600-700 A.D. The Frankish Empire was a largely rural country with lots of free land. The Frankish nobles decided to give pieces of land as rewards and currency. The earliest example of Feudalism is the giving of property or a fief to a soldier with the expectation that he will provide his own weaponry from the wealth he�s earned from the land. Another great example of feudalism is the poor and weak seeking security in wealthier people who own large estates. Eventually this began a tradition of contracts for protection in return for military service or working land for the wealthy aristocrat. The wealthy aristocrat was called a �Seigneur� (in English Lord) the client �Vassus� (in English Vassal. It means servant.). Another element of feudalism was growing rapidly, the exercise of judicial power by the aristocrat over his vassals (or servants). Little by little these aristocrats gained more power and the king grew to depend on them himself.

            Feudalism was at its height between 1000-1200 AD. By this time traditions of feudalism has ingrained itself into the Frankish society. The contracts now were preformed as a ceremony called "hommage." The vassal would place his hands in his Lords, give an oath, in some cases at this point the Lord kissed the vassal. The vassal was then given a clod of earth, a stick, a charter, a banner, or a staff to symbolize the land or office given to the vassal. When given a piece a property it was called a "fief."  A fief technically does not belong to the vassal although they work it, and depending on their status carry out every day jurisdiction. The Lord who gives the property retains control of it and at any time can enforce dominium onto their vassal. Dominium is the right of the owner to dictate who is on the land and what is done to the land. Depending on their status the vassal is expected to serve a certain amount of time as a heavily armed mounted soldier known as a knight yearly, and also give an amount of the fruit of his labor to his Lord. In some cases these knights work the land themselves and are only a step above the common man. On the other hand the knight may hold a small estate himself known as a ville, and have a number of "fiefs" that he has given for the services of other men to him. In the event of a vassal's death his heir must retake the oath from his Lord to assume office. If there is no heir then the Lord can assign another person to the post, if the heir is too young and another family member is alive then they take care of the fief until the heir is full grown. If the heir is a woman then the Lord has the right to choose her husband and the new vassal. Because the Lord had complete judicial rights there were many abuses such as, heavy taxation, crime unpunished, and unfair seizure of property. The only way the unjust Lord could be brought to justice is by a more powerful Lord or the vassals themselves. Either way though this caused a civil war. Throughout the history of feudalism there were many wars between Lords of their own country. All of the more powerful Lords acted in their own interests frequently. This created a very violent and unstable environment for the Frankish Empire. Public services fell apart because of their Lord's disinterest for the welfare of the people, because of this education suffered greatly. The culture generally dissolved back to the barbarous nature it was before Romanization. Trade suffered as well, there were few Frankish merchants and generally only foreign merchants existed in Francia. Frankish trade mostly revolved around the items that were crafted in the estates and villes, which were mostly products of blacksmithing. There was no education outside of the Church; the only Frankish poet that existed at this time was an Italian who served the queen of Francia.

By 1400 A.D. Feudalism has seriously declined due to various reasons. The most important though is the crusades opened new trade routes to the east and various forms of knowledge inherited from the Greek people. The Spanish libraries proved to be vital in the education of the west. The work of a Greek philosopher Aristotle was found there and his work copied to native languages of the western European nations. His work influenced church officials heavily, and nobles. Particularly a monk named Thomas Aquinas whose work is still considered important. The monks began infusing Aristotle�s philosophy of logic with Christianity and held many conferences in attempts to interpret many a subject. The new trade routes increased the use of money and the income of the western nations. Because there was more money available people no longer had to use land as currency and merely paid soldiers their amounts due. Workers also began being paid for their services instead of being given a piece of property to live on, and work. The very stone and mortar Feudalism sat on slowly began to disintegrate as people became more independent, educated, and wealthy.