Why does feudalism decline

It may be observed that according to the existing feudal laws, a serf could become a freeman if he stayed away from the manor for more than one year. The Crusades or the Holy wars also greatly contributed to the decline of the feudal system in the following ways:.

To succeed, feudalism required considerable manpower. Vassals and serfs worked the manor year in and year out, bound by law to a lifetime of labor. But when war broke out between England and France in , both nations undertook an unprecedented military buildup. In both countries, the army swelled its ranks with feudal laborers, undermining the manorial system while increasing the value of commoners by teaching them much-needed military skills.

With the young men of France and England off at war, agricultural output was already declining. Now there was a new challenge facing feudalism. Manor after manor suffered devastating losses.

Conditions were so severe, in fact, that waves of laborers ran away to larger cities, an act that would have once been punishable by law. Feudalism was a coercive system that granted few individual liberties. Ancient laws kept peasants tied to the land, making their labor compulsory.

Yet over time, concepts of individual rights gradually gained footing, especially in England. The 12th century reforms of Henry II, for instance, expanded the legal rights of a person facing trial. In , King John was forced to approve the Magna Carta, a document obligating the crown to uphold common law.

Eighty years later, Edward I finally extended parliamentary membership to commoners. These developments gradually made the concept of agricultural servitude appear inexcusable. Yet conditions for the serfs themselves remained largely unchanged. They were still heavily taxed on wages kept artificially low.

After an English revolt in , Richard II promised to abolish serfdom. Though he later failed to keep his word, serfdom nonetheless died out in the next century. The end of serfdom meant the end of feudalism itself. Life changed and Mercenaries were hired from all over Europe.

The Mercenaries had few allegiances, except to money, and these paid fighting men were feared throughout Europe. The threat of the Mercenaries led on to the employment of professional, trained soldiers - the Standing Armies and ultimately the end of Middle Ages feudalism in England.

This led to the establishment of the Church of England and the Dissolution of the Monasteries. It was the final 'nail in the coffin' of the Medieval Feudal System, feudalism, in England. Decline of Feudalism Each section of this Middle Ages website addresses all topics and provides interesting facts and information about these great people and events in bygone Medieval times including Decline of Feudalism. After the plague, there was a shift in power from nobles to the common people.

One reason for this was a desperate need for workers because so many people had died. The workers who were left could, therefore, demand more money and more rights. In addition, many peasants and some serfs abandoned feudal manors and moved to towns and cities, seeking better opportunities. This led to a weakening of the manor system and a loss of power for feudal lords. After the plague, a number of peasant rebellions broke out. When nobles tried to return things to how they had been, resentment exploded across Europe.

The English rebels succeeded in entering London and presenting their demands to the king, Richard II. The leader of the rebellion was killed, however, and after his death, the revolt lost momentum.

Still, in most of Europe, the time was coming when serfdom would end. Between and , England and France fought a series of battles for control over lands in France. English monarchs had long claimed lands in France. This was because earlier English kings had actually been feudal lords over these French fiefs.

French kings now disputed these claims. Despite often being outnumbered, the English won most of the early battles of the war. The French had a feudal army that relied on horse-mounted knights. French knights wore heavy armor, and they could hardly move when they were not on horseback. Their weapons were swords and lances. Some of the infantry, or foot soldiers, used crossbows, which were effective only at short ranges.

In contrast, the English army was made up of lightly armored knights, foot soldiers, and archers armed with longbows.

Some soldiers were recruited from the common people and paid to fight. The longbow had many advantages over the crossbow. Larger arrows could be fired more quickly.

The arrows flew farther, faster, and more accurately, and could pierce the armor of the time. The French slowly chipped away at the territory the English had won in the early years of the war. This time, the English met with stronger resistance. One reason was that the French were now using more modern tactics. The French king was recruiting his army from commoners, paying them with money collected by taxes, just as the English did.

Another reason for increased French resistance was a new sense of national identity and unity. In part, the French were inspired by a year-old peasant girl, known today as Joan of Arc.

Joan claimed that she heard the voices of saints urging her to save France. Putting on a suit of armor, she went to fight.

The English pushed certain Church leaders to accuse Joan of being a witch and a heretic and to burn her at the stake. Almost years later, the Roman Catholic Church made Joan a saint. During the struggle, monarchs on both sides had collected taxes and raised large professional armies. As a result, kings no longer relied as much on nobles to supply knights for the army. The longbow proved to be an effective weapon against mounted knights. Castles also became less important as armies learned to use gunpowder to shoot iron balls from cannons and blast holes in castle walls.

The new feeling of nationalism also shifted power away from lords. Previously, many English and French peasants felt more loyalty to their local lords than to their monarch. The war created a new sense of national unity and patriotism on both sides. In both France and England, commoners and peasants bore the heaviest burden of the war.

They were forced to fight and to pay higher and more frequent taxes. Those who survived the war, however, were needed as soldiers and workers. For this reason, the common people emerged from the conflict with greater influence and power.

In , a teenage girl named Joan of Arc helped a prince to become king of France. Joan lived at a time when the feudal system in Europe was beginning to weaken. The visions and the voices came without warning, like a flash of lighting. In , Joan of Arc, the daughter of northern French peasants, had just turned Until then, she had had a normal childhood.

She attended mass regularly and prayed frequently to God. Then the voices and visions started. Saints Michael, Catherine, and Margaret suddenly came to her. Joan lived in a religious time.

They directed her to help Charles, the dauphin DOE-fehn , or French heir to the throne, to become king. They also wanted her to free France from the English, who had conquered parts of the country. In , English king Henry V took the French throne.

His claim led to even bloodier fighting between the English and French. France itself was deeply divided. The feudal lords of the powerful province of Burgundy helped the English seize northern France.