Feudalism is defined in the dictionary as "A political and economic system of

medieval Europe by which a landowner granted land to a vassal in exchange for

homage and military service." Feudalism arose in Europe and began to mature

near the 8th century. Feudalism peaked around the 13th century then started to

slowly decline. Feudalism was caused by many factors such as the weakness and

breakdown of governments. The lack of government order forced the local nobles

to take on the responsibility of providing necessities such as security for the

common people. The decline of feudalism was greatly caused by the crusades.

The deaths of numerous nobles made Kings increasingly powerful. Other reasons

for the decline are due to the augmentation of commerce made independent of the

manor less essential.

Feudalism was not brought on by choice. During an extreme tax period,

many freemen were forced to forfeit their land to rich landowners and had to

continue to work on it as tenants. They were to pay their rent in labor and harvest.

Consequently, the majority of the land was owned by a small number of wealthy

nobles.

Secondly, the rapid growth of feudalism in Europe was because many of the

rights were being passed down to the nobles. Since they were able to do these jobs

well, they started to take over full government control in their own wards.

Feudalism peaked around the 13th century, then slowly after the 13th

century. This was caused from many contributing factors. The Crusades greatly

weakened the Feudal system. The deaths of many nobles resulted in giving the

kings back an immense amount of their power.

Perhaps one of the greater controlling factors toward the downfall of

feudalism is the "Black Death Plague" of the 14th century. The particular plague

greatly reduced the population consequently reducing the population of serfs,

thereupon this empowered the surf who had survived the plague to get better

provisions for their work on account of the scarcity of men.

In Conclusion feudalism was bound to breakdown from the very beginning.

It was a system of government based on one ruler who controlled all. It was

efficient for the little time it did last, though the majority of the people were

miserable and had very little to look forward to.