  Fantasy
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"If men were angels, no government would be necessary."
-James Madison, 4th American president |
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Welcome to part II of government systems. This month's topic is...
Of Lords, and Lieges: Feudalism.
What is Feudalism?
Feudalism is the system that we think of being associated with the warrior nobility in medieval Europe. It's a structured class system with the nobility being the powers in the land as opposed to a strong central authority like in a monarchy or dictatorship.
There are three primary compenents to a feudal society: lords, vassals, and fiefs. The whole structure of feudalism can be seen these three elements and how they interact.
A lord was a member of the nobility who owned land. A vassal was a person who was allowed to live on land granted by the lord; this land is called a fief. The vassal agreed to provide military service (or other service, but more on that below) in return for the loan of the land. (Becoming a vassal usually occasioned an important ceremony with oaths of fealty on both sides; the lord/vassal relationship is one with mutual obligations.)
The land-holding structure of feudalism always had the fief at its core. Depending on how powerful the granting lord was, fiefs could range in size from small farms to much bigger areas of land. Thus, you could have different circles of lordship and vassaldom. In a feudalistic monarchy, for example, the King was a lord who loaned fiefs to noblemen, who were his vassals. But these noblemen were also in turn lords to their vassals, peasants, who worked their land. Peasants, unlike their noble counterparts, could not lend military service. Their service was physical labor, farming and upkeeping the land in return for protection from those who did have the right to bear arms.
You don't have to have a King if you choose to use a feudal system. Some feudal societies were much like little countries unto themselves with each high lord competing with other lords for land and military strength.
 Some conflict areas to be aware of
 This relationship between lord and vassal can be tenuous in hard times. Famine, plague, war are all situations that can test the strength of the lord/liegeman relationship to its limits.
Large fiefs become unwieldy and you run the risk of other rival lords taking over your land. Also, there's the risk of keeping large parcels of land protected. This might call for a lord to make more vassals or other changes.
Class stratifiction. Some good ideas for conflict in your story could come from class clashes: what if a nobleman falls in love with a serf? What if a knight/warrior fails to follow his oath of fealty? What if the peasants revolt after a bad winter and the lord of the fief does nothing?
Related to class stratification... in medieval Europe, feudal societies had hereditary land-owning nobility which meant all the power, judicial and otherwise, rested in small families. Perhaps in your fantasy feudal society, the land-owners don't pass on their land through hereditary means? Or what if land-owning societies were required to marry a peasant once every generation or so?
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Other resources:
Feudal Society by Marc Bloch
A Writer's Guide to Medieval Europe |
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From: River Song  
Thank you for your interesting and helpful hints about fictional government. The governing system can be the whole basis of a story (as in Orwell's "1984") and should not be overlooked. Good call! However, I think you forgot to mention Co-monarchy in this letter. There is only one current example of this in Andorra where there are two princes co-ruling. And of course you can't forget usurping; whoever kills the king gets to be king next! Other than that, you covered the different types of monarchies nicely. Thanks!
River
Ooo, very good points River. Thank you for bringing those up! I hadn't thought of a co-ruling, what an interesting idea!
From: dizzyduck
I thought this newsletter addressed an interesting facet of fantasy stories that few ever seem to think about. Sure there are monarchies - that's all there ever seem to be - but no one ever gets interesting about it. Hopefully, this newsletter will give some people some ideas. I know it gave me some! Thanks for picking this topic, it's a great one.
You're welcome  . Thanks for reading!
From: alissaameth
Excellent newsletter! I've been pondering the governments of my world and how I could potentially use them lately, and this article has been very helpful. I'm looking forward to learning more!
Glad I was helpful .
From: dusktildawn
A very informative Newsletter, Erin. I have a governmental system in my own novel, and although I touch upon the details of the appointments of the next ruling monarchs, I did not go into too much detail. Hmmm ... I wonder if I should? Btw, I completely forgot about the Dragonbone Chair. I have this book somewhere here - you've tempted me to pick it up and read it again. Thanks!
If detail is necessary to the story, by all means, include it! Otherwise, I wouldn't worry about it . A lot of what I've said can be background info that only the author has to know for their story.
From: cwiz
>All the picks for the "Book of the Month" are books >that I've read
Well then, how do I get you to read my book?
I have books for many more newsletters already lined up, but I'll keep your book in mind. |
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Fantasy: May 03, 2006 Issue [#1009]
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