Lectures on the history of the Western European Middle Ages. Characteristics of feudal relations in medieval Europe Features of feudalism as a system in medieval Europe

The development of the feudal economy, the progressive shifts in the productive forces took place at a slow pace. This was due to the fact that landowners did not make any significant investments in agricultural production. Basically, they acquired the means of production necessary for processing the crop (presses, furnaces), built mills, roads, bridges, etc.
Numerous feudal exactions worsened the financial basis of the peasant economy. The peasants were forced to produce the bulk of their products with their own primitive individual tools of labor used in peasant farms (plow, sickle, scythe, hoe, spade, etc.), which could not ensure the growth of production productivity and labor productivity. To use light and heavy plows, draft power was needed, which not all peasant farms had.
The limited financial possibilities of direct producers determined the predominantly extensive type of agricultural reproduction, when the growth in production volumes occurred mainly due to the expansion of the area of cultivated land. At the same time, agricultural technology improved, three-field cultivation became widespread, when one part of the arable land was sown with winter crops, the other with spring crops, and the third part was under fallow and was not used.
The main branch of agriculture was agriculture with the predominant role of grain growing (wheat, millet, barley), the share of legumes is gradually increasing. Industrial crops were also grown on each estate. Much attention was paid to horticulture and horticulture.
A certain progress in the development of the feudal economy was reflected not only in the growth in the area of cultivated land, but also in the increase in grain yields, in the growth of production productivity and the scale of production of excess product. The development of the agricultural sector of the economy and productive forces, the improvement of soil cultivation technology, the increase in productivity, the expansion of internal colonization, the production of excess product became more and more stable. This made possible and necessary the regular exchange of agricultural and handicraft products, the development of commodity-money relations and trade.
The feudal patrimony gradually lost its natural and closed character, becoming more and more involved in commodity-money relations. The development of trade relations, in turn, led to an increase in the need of the feudal lords for the products offered by the market. Handicraft products of their own peasant farms could no longer satisfy the growing needs of the feudal lords. The appearance on the market of expensive weapons, jewelry, luxurious clothes, shoes, fabrics, utensils, etc. led to an increase in the need for cash.
The development of the sphere of circulation led to a change in the forms of feudal dependence of the peasants, which took place for a long time. Initially, it became more profitable for the feudal lords to increasingly replace corvée with quitrents in kind, distribute all the land of the patrimony to the peasants and receive rent payments; develops pure fiefdom. The exchange and the growing need for money led to the fact that quitrents in kind were increasingly replaced by money. The conversion of the natural form of feudal rent into monetary rent is commonly called rent commutation.
The development of trade and the commutation of rent allowed the peasants to accumulate certain funds and redeem themselves to freedom. There is a new form of peasant land tenure - the license. A peasant (censor) cultivating such a plot was considered personally free, could voluntarily move from one place to another and even sell it. For the use of feudal land, the peasant paid a fixed annual cash contribution (rent) - qualification. The transition to a census increased the economic independence of the peasants and led to a property differentiation of the peasantry (Fig. 8).
France is often called the country of classical feudalism, since the process of formation of feudal relations in it was faster than in other states of Western Europe and was more complete. In France, the vassal hierarchy received its final expression, which ensured the redistribution of rental income between the various strata of the ruling class. Royal vassals were the largest feudal lords - dukes and counts, whose vassals, in turn, were considered medium and small feudal lords - barons, marquises, viscounts, etc. An exemplary model for Europe is being created

In the XI-XIII centuries. in France, the economic and political isolation of the regions is gradually disappearing. Conditions are being created for strengthening the centralized royal power, for uniting the country into a feudal state. The monopoly property of the feudal lords in land becomes almost unlimited. The principle is affirmed: “there is no land without a lord”, the existence of free peasant land ownership was excluded.
The main link in the economic system of the country was the lordship. In the French countryside, a system of majorat is being imposed: the seigneury (estate) was inherited in whole or two-thirds only by the eldest son. The peasants became the holders of the land provided to them by the feudal lords, attached to it on the basis of feudal law - personal feudal dependence. The economic power of the feudal lords is strengthened by banality - the monopoly of the lords on the objects used in the processing of agricultural products (oven, press, mill, etc.), which were previously the collective property of the community.

The most common form of personal dependency among French peasants was servage. The serfs had land allotments, ran their own economy and carried out numerous duties. Serves were legally disenfranchised and were completely under the jurisdiction of the feudal lord.
The gradual development and economic expediency of rent switching are connected with the fact that the forced labor of peasants in corvee was ineffective and low-productive. The replacement of the labor system, first in kind, and then with cash rent, actually meant the liquidation of the feudal lords' own domain economy. The liquidation of the corvee, in turn, actually meant the elimination of serfdom. It was a tool for forcing peasants to work on the land of the masters, and the peasant had to pay dues in one form or another as rent for the use of someone else's land.
The commutation of rent finds its final expression in the substitution of dues in kind. Servage as a form of feudal dependence became economically inexpedient. Hereditary holding of land in the form of a license with a fixed amount of cash rent made it possible for the peasants to keep part of the surplus product in their own economy and made the economic situation of the peasants more stable. The peasant could dispose of this plot of land, sell or mortgage it, and the obligation to pay the cash rent passed to the new owner. However, the peasants continued to remain in judicial dependence on the feudal lord. The liberation of peasants from corvée did not mean their liberation from numerous requisitions and taxes.
The main role in trade relations in France was played not by the feudal lords, who considered this occupation unworthy of a nobleman, but by the peasants. The gradual involvement of the peasantry in commodity-money relations allowed them to accumulate certain funds and redeem their personal dependencies from the feudal lord. Documents were drawn up that determined the terms and conditions of the redemption.
Peasants could redeem such basic duties as marriage and posthumous requisitions, production talyu and total requisition.
The development of feudal relations in England was slow and ended by the 11th century. Until this period, the bulk of the population of England were free peasants who owned fairly large plots of land - guides, and the community was the main form of their organization.
Feudal property originated in England mainly on the basis of royal grants of land to combatants or the church with the right to collect fees from it. The lands, the income from which was transferred to a certain person, were called bokland. If the lord received judicial immunity over a certain territory and its inhabitants fell into judicial dependence, then such territory turned into a feudal estate - a manor. The land of the manor was divided into two parts - the feudal lord's own household (domain) and the farms of the peasants. In common use were pastures, meadows, wastelands, which were the property of the community, but were under the control of the feudal lord. Manor subjugated a free rural community, the population of which actually became serfs, his economy was based on the corvée labor of dependent peasants. By the XI-XII centuries. the manorial system covered at least 80% of the territory.
The economic structure of manors in different regions of the country could be different. Some types of manors, which are often called classical, included the master's plowing and land transferred to the peasants for holding. Others included either only domain lands, or only lands transferred to peasants for use.
The manors were served by the dependent peasantry, the various categories of which are gradually forming into two main groups: villans - serf members of the rural community, who are the bulk of the dependent population. The villans owned land, implements, and draft animals. They had to work out the duties for their master not only a certain number of days a week, but also at his first request. By the beginning of the XII century. this category of the population was supplanted by copyholders - feudally dependent peasants, lifelong or hereditary land holders. Copyholders could not independently dispose of this land and were deprived of legal protection; kotters are peasants either completely deprived of land, or owning small plots insufficient to support a family. This forced the cotters to be hired by the feudal lords or wealthy peasants. Most often, kotters performed auxiliary work and were engaged in crafts, giving part of the created products in the form of quitrent.
However, in England, the free peasantry also remains - freeholders - completely free holders land plots. Freeholders were entitled to protection in the royal courts and were free to dispose of their land.
In 1085-1086 in England, by order of William the Conqueror, a land census was carried out and its results, recorded in the Domesday Book, are an important source of information about the economic development of the country of this period. The object of the census was the economic condition of the manors, their economic potential. For each of them, data were recorded on the size of arable land, the number of peasants, the size of pastures, meadows, forests and peasant allotments, the number of mills and places for fishing, and the monetary value of the estate.
This source also contains data on the size of various categories of the population. The entire population of England was 2.5 million people. The most numerous part of the English peasantry were villans, who had 45% of arable land in their use. The next largest category of the population were the Kotters, who used only 5% of the arable land. The smallest was the free peasantry, which owned 20% of arable land. During the XII century. various categories of peasants are increasingly turning into dependent villans, whose main duties were corvée, dues, church tithes and various arbitrary taxes.
From the end of the 13th century, the domestic market began to actively form in England and market relations began to develop. This was facilitated not only by the growth of cities and the urban population, but also by the specialization of the country's agricultural regions, which stimulated the development of commodity-money relations. Subsequently, the development of the country's agriculture went in two directions: the first direction was characterized by the commutation of rent, the transfer of peasants to the position of copyholders - land holders freed from the most severe forms of personal dependence, and the personal liberation of the peasants. In some estates, hired labor was used in the performance of agricultural work; the other direction was characterized by the preservation of feudal forms of dependence, the expansion of the domain economy, the growth of corvee and the strengthening of personal dependence. At the same time, the growth of feudal duties was the only possible way to increase the productivity of the economy and increase the volume of sales of agricultural products on the market. At the same time, the villan, attached to the ground, remained the main figure.
In the feudal economy of England in the XV century. significant changes are taking place. The monopoly of feudal land ownership, land dependence of the peasants, feudal rent and class inequality are preserved. However, rent commutation became more and more widespread, the process of personal emancipation of the peasants continued, the dominal economy was almost completely liquidated, and the land was leased or leased, wage labor was actively used.
Copyholders and freeholders become the main category of the peasantry. The scale of peasant farms grew, they could already compete with the farms of large feudal lords and became the main supplier of marketable products to the market. During this period, a new nobility was formed in England - the gentry, who ran their household exclusively on the use of hired labor.
Germany in the 11th century feudal relations developed at a slower pace than in other European countries, and reached their maturity in the XII-XIII centuries. Here, the allodial form of land tenure was preserved longer, but large-scale land tenure was gradually formed. Germany of this period was characterized by significant feudal fragmentation, when there were many independent states of various sizes on this territory and separate parts of the country were economically separated from each other. The political and economic fragmentation of Germany led to the fact that in fact there was no single German market.
A feature of agrarian relations in Germany in the VIII-IX centuries. was that it was not the peasants who received land from the feudal lord, but the early feudal patrimony embraced the free peasantry. The peasants were gradually drawn into relations of feudal dependence, villages of a mixed type were formed, in which feudal possessions were combined with the land of free peasants and dependent serfs.
The feudal lord had power over land and personally dependent people, who also enjoyed judicial rights in relation to them. The yard people who lived in the master's yards sometimes owned small plots of land, but the personal lack of freedom of these peasants was hereditary. Peasants - holders of land, in contrast to householders, remained dependent on this seigneur as long as they used this land.
Feudal landed property in Germany (grundgershaft) was built mainly on the principle of seigneury in France, when one part of the land was a lordly economy and a domain plowing, and the second part was peasant farms, the owners of which cultivated the lordly lands and rented dues. A judicial-political form of seniors (banngershaft) was also formed, in which a large feudal lord appropriated or received from the hands of the king the right to judge the peasants and dispose of the lands of the community.
Initially, the system of non-economic coercion to work in Germany was based on banality, when the feudal lords appropriated the means of processing the harvest and, at the same time, the very right to process the products of the peasant economy. In the future, the dependence of the peasants was formed on the basis of coercion to perform feudal duties for their plots of land, mainly in the form of labor rent. Judicial dependence also played a role in strengthening non-economic coercion.
The development of feudal relations in Germany changed the structure of the rural population. The following main groups of the peasantry were formed: mancipia - peasants who are personally dependent on the feudal lord; serfs - peasants who either "sat" on the land of the lords, or performed various types of work in the feudal patrimony and were actually courtyard people; precaria - personally free peasants who were in land dependence on the feudal lord; allodists - personally free peasants who owned their own allotments. However, the rights of this group of peasants to dispose of their land were limited. So, before alienating their land, they had to report it to the county court.
An important feature of the economic development of Germany, which determined the direction of the development of its economy in later periods, was a kind of reaction to the development of the marketability of production, trade and commodity-money relations. While in other countries of Western Europe, at the same time as these processes, rent commutation develops and the position of the peasantry changes, in Germany the growth in the marketability of production led to the strengthening of serfdom and the power of the feudal lords.
The strengthening of serfdom was due to a number of economic processes. Feudal fragmentation hindered the development of the country's domestic market; insufficient domestic demand stimulated the sale of surplus products mainly in foreign markets. For the implementation of export trade, not the peasants, but the feudal lords had significant opportunities. In this regard, the feudal lords were more involved in trade relations. To increase the volume of production, the feudal lords expanded their plowing, increased the corvée, and the condition for this was the strengthening of serfdom. This process in Germany is often referred to as the second edition of serfdom.
There was an ambiguous situation: the development of commodity-money relations and trade, characteristic of capitalist relations, led to the strengthening of serfdom in Germany. However, at the same time, the strengthening of serfdom and feudal exploitation meant a peculiar form of decomposition of feudal relations, since commodity production developed on feudal estates, which created the basis for the development of trade.

Numerous feudal exactions worsened the financial basis of the peasant economy. The peasants were forced to produce the bulk of their products with their own primitive individual tools of labor used in peasant farms (plow, sickle, scythe, hoe, spade, etc.), which could not ensure the growth of production productivity and labor productivity. To use light and heavy plows, draft power was needed, which not all peasant farms had.

The limited financial possibilities of direct producers determined the predominantly extensive type of agricultural reproduction, when the growth in production volumes occurred mainly due to the expansion of the area of cultivated land. At the same time, agricultural technology improved, three-field cultivation became widespread, when one part of the arable land was sown with winter crops, the other with spring crops, and the third part was under fallow and was not used.

The main branch of agriculture was agriculture with the predominant role of grain growing (wheat, millet, barley), the share of legumes is gradually increasing. Industrial crops were also grown on each estate. Much attention was paid to horticulture and horticulture.

A certain progress in the development of the feudal economy was reflected not only in the growth in the area of cultivated land, but also in the increase in grain yields, in the growth of production productivity and the scale of production of excess product. The development of the agricultural sector of the economy and productive forces, the improvement of soil cultivation technology, the increase in productivity, the expansion of internal colonization, the production of excess product became more and more stable. This made possible and necessary the regular exchange of agricultural and handicraft products, the development of commodity-money relations and trade.

The feudal patrimony gradually lost its natural and closed character, becoming more and more involved in commodity-money relations. The development of trade relations, in turn, led to an increase in the need of the feudal lords for the products offered by the market. Handicraft products of their own peasant farms could no longer satisfy the growing needs of the feudal lords. The appearance on the market of expensive weapons, jewelry, luxurious clothes, shoes, fabrics, dishes, etc. led to an increase in the need for cash.

The development of the sphere of circulation led to a change in the forms of feudal dependence of the peasants, which took place for a long time. Initially, it became more profitable for the feudal lords to increasingly replace corvée with quitrents in kind, distribute all the land of the patrimony to the peasants and receive rent payments; develops pure fiefdom. The exchange and the growing need for money led to the fact that quitrents in kind were increasingly replaced by money. The conversion of the natural form of feudal rent into monetary rent is commonly called rent commutation.

The development of trade and the commutation of rent allowed the peasants to accumulate certain funds and redeem themselves to freedom. There is a new form of peasant land tenure - the license. A peasant (censor) cultivating such a plot was considered personally free, could voluntarily move from one place to another and even sell it. For the use of feudal land, the peasant paid a fixed annual cash contribution (rent) - qualification. The transition to a census increased the economic independence of the peasants and led to a property differentiation of the peasantry (Fig. 8).

France is often called the country of classical feudalism, since the process of formation of feudal relations in it was faster than in other states of Western Europe and was more complete. In France, the vassal hierarchy received its final expression, which ensured the redistribution of rental income between the various strata of the ruling class. The royal vassals were the largest feudal lords - dukes and counts, whose vassals, in turn, were considered to be medium and small feudal lords - barons, marquises, viscounts, etc. A model for Europe vassal hierarchy of French lords was created with a fairly clear delineation of their rights and duties.

The main link in the economic system of the country was the lordship. In the French countryside, a system of majorat is being imposed: the seigneury (estate) was inherited in whole or two-thirds only by the eldest son. The peasants became the holders of the land provided to them by the feudal lords, attached to it on the basis of feudal law - personal feudal dependence. The economic power of the feudal lords is strengthened by banality - the monopoly of the lords on the objects used in the processing of agricultural products (oven, press, mill, etc.), which were previously the collective property of the community.

The gradual development and economic expediency of rent switching are connected with the fact that the forced labor of peasants in corvee was ineffective and low-productive. The replacement of the labor system, first in kind, and then with cash rent, actually meant the liquidation of the feudal lords' own domain economy. The liquidation of the corvee, in turn, actually meant the elimination of serfdom. It was a tool for forcing peasants to work on the land of the masters, and the peasant had to pay dues in one form or another as rent for the use of someone else's land.

The commutation of rent finds its final expression in the substitution of dues in kind. Servage as a form of feudal dependence became economically inexpedient. Hereditary holding of land in the form of a license with a fixed amount of cash rent made it possible for the peasants to keep part of the surplus product in their own economy and made the economic situation of the peasants more stable. The peasant could dispose of this plot of land, sell or mortgage it, and the obligation to pay the cash rent passed to the new owner. However, the peasants continued to remain in judicial dependence on the feudal lord. The liberation of peasants from corvée did not mean their liberation from numerous requisitions and taxes.

The main role in trade relations in France was played not by the feudal lords, who considered this occupation unworthy of a nobleman, but by the peasants. The gradual involvement of the peasantry in commodity-money relations allowed them to accumulate certain funds and redeem their personal dependencies from the feudal lord. Documents were drawn up that determined the terms and conditions of the redemption.

Peasants could redeem such basic duties as marriage and posthumous requisitions, production talyu and total requisition.

The development of feudal relations in England was slow and ended by the 11th century. Until this period, the bulk of the population of England were free peasants who owned fairly large plots of land - guides, and the community was the main form of their organization.

Feudal property originated in England mainly on the basis of royal grants of land to combatants or the church with the right to collect fees from it. The lands, the income from which was transferred to a certain person, were called bokland. If the lord received judicial immunity over a certain territory and its inhabitants fell into judicial dependence, then such territory turned into a feudal estate - a manor. The land of the manor was divided into two parts - the feudal lord's own household (domain) and the farms of the peasants. In common use were pastures, meadows, wastelands, which were the property of the community, but were under the control of the feudal lord. Manor subjugated a free rural community, the population of which actually became serfs, his economy was based on the corvée labor of dependent peasants. By the XI-XII centuries. the manorial system covered at least 80% of the territory.

The economic structure of manors in different regions of the country could be different. Some types of manors, which are often called classical, included the master's plowing and land transferred to the peasants for holding. Others included either only domain lands, or only lands transferred to peasants for use.

The manors were served by the dependent peasantry, the various categories of which gradually develop into two main groups:

Villans are serf members of the rural community, who are the bulk of the dependent population. The villans owned land, implements, and draft animals. They had to work out the duties for their master not only a certain number of days a week, but also at his first request. By the beginning of the XII century. this category of the population was supplanted by copyholders - feudally dependent peasants, lifelong or hereditary land holders. Copyholders could not independently dispose of this land and were deprived of legal protection;

Kotters are peasants either completely deprived of land, or owning small plots that are insufficient to support a family. This forced the cotters to be hired by the feudal lords or wealthy peasants. Most often, kotters performed auxiliary work and were engaged in crafts, giving part of the created products in the form of quitrent.

However, in England, the free peasantry also remains - freeholders - completely free holders of land. Freeholders were entitled to protection in the royal courts and were free to dispose of their land.

In 1085-1086. in England, by order of William the Conqueror, a land census was carried out and its results, recorded in the Domesday Book, are an important source of information about the economic development of the country of this period. The object of the census was the economic condition of the manors, their economic potential. For each of them, data were recorded on the size of arable land, the number of peasants, the size of pastures, meadows, forests and peasant allotments, the number of mills and places for fishing, and the monetary value of the estate.

This source also contains data on the size of various categories of the population. The entire population of England was 2.5 million people. The most numerous part of the English peasantry were villans, who had 45% of arable land in their use. The next largest category of the population were the Kotters, who used only 5% of the arable land. The smallest was the free peasantry, which owned 20% of arable land. During the XII century. various categories of peasants are increasingly turning into dependent villans, whose main duties were corvée, dues, church tithes and various arbitrary taxes.

From the end of the 13th century, the domestic market began to actively form in England and market relations began to develop. This was facilitated not only by the growth of cities and the urban population, but also by the specialization of the country's agricultural regions, which stimulated the development of commodity-money relations. In the future, the development of agriculture in the country went in two directions:

The first direction was characterized by the commutation of rent, the transfer of peasants to the position of copyholders - holders of land, freed from the most severe forms of personal dependence, and the personal liberation of the peasants. In some estates, hired labor was used in the performance of agricultural work;

The other direction was characterized by the preservation of feudal forms of dependence, the expansion of the domain economy, the growth of corvee and the strengthening of personal dependence. At the same time, the growth of feudal duties was the only possible way to increase the productivity of the economy and increase the volume of sales of agricultural products on the market. At the same time, the villan, attached to the ground, remained the main figure.

In the feudal economy of England in the XV century. significant changes are taking place. The monopoly of feudal land ownership, land dependence of the peasants, feudal rent and class inequality are preserved. However, rent commutation became more and more widespread, the process of personal emancipation of the peasants continued, the dominal economy was almost completely liquidated, and the land was leased or leased, wage labor was actively used.

Copyholders and freeholders become the main category of the peasantry. The scale of peasant farms grew, they could already compete with the farms of large feudal lords and became the main supplier of marketable products to the market. During this period, a new nobility was formed in England - the gentry, who ran their household exclusively on the use of hired labor.

Germany in the 11th century feudal relations developed at a slower pace than in other European countries, and reached their maturity in the XII-XIII centuries. Here, the allodial form of land tenure was preserved longer, but large-scale land tenure was gradually formed. Germany of this period was characterized by significant feudal fragmentation, when there were many independent states of various sizes on this territory and separate parts of the country were economically separated from each other. The political and economic fragmentation of Germany led to the fact that in fact there was no single German market.

A feature of agrarian relations in Germany in the VIII-IX centuries. was that it was not the peasants who received land from the feudal lord, but the early feudal patrimony embraced the free peasantry. The peasants were gradually drawn into relations of feudal dependence, villages of a mixed type were formed, in which feudal possessions were combined with the land of free peasants and dependent serfs.

The feudal lord had power over land and personally dependent people, who also enjoyed judicial rights in relation to them. The yard people who lived in the master's yards sometimes owned small plots of land, but the personal lack of freedom of these peasants was hereditary. Peasants - holders of land, in contrast to householders, remained dependent on this seigneur as long as they used this land.

Feudal landed property in Germany (grundgerschaft) was built mainly on the principle of seigneury in France, when one part of the land was a lordly economy and a domain plowing, and the second part was peasant farms, the owners of which cultivated the lordly lands and rented dues. A judicial-political form of seniors (banngershaft) was also formed, in which a large feudal lord appropriated or received from the hands of the king the right to judge the peasants and dispose of the lands of the community.

Initially, the system of non-economic coercion to work in Germany was based on banality, when the feudal lords appropriated the means of processing the harvest and, at the same time, the very right to process the products of the peasant economy. In the future, the dependence of the peasants was formed on the basis of coercion to perform feudal duties for their plots of land, mainly in the form of labor rent. Judicial dependence also played a role in strengthening non-economic coercion.

The development of feudal relations in Germany changed the structure of the rural population. The following main groups of the peasantry were formed:

Mancipia - peasants who are personally dependent on the feudal lord;

Serves - peasants who either "sat" on the lord's land, or performed various types of work in the feudal patrimony and were actually courtyard people;

Precaria - personally free peasants who were in land dependence on the feudal lord;

Allodists are personally free peasants who owned their own allotments. However, the rights of this group of peasants to dispose of their land were limited. So, before alienating their land, they had to report it to the county court.

An important feature of the economic development of Germany, which determined the direction of the development of its economy in later periods, was a kind of reaction to the development of the marketability of production, trade and commodity-money relations. While in other countries of Western Europe, at the same time as these processes, rent commutation develops and the position of the peasantry changes, in Germany the growth in the marketability of production led to the strengthening of serfdom and the power of the feudal lords.

The strengthening of serfdom was due to a number of economic processes. Feudal fragmentation hindered the development of the country's domestic market; insufficient domestic demand stimulated the sale of surplus products mainly in foreign markets. For the implementation of export trade, not the peasants, but the feudal lords had significant opportunities. In this regard, the feudal lords were more involved in trade relations. To increase the volume of production, the feudal lords expanded their plowing, increased the corvée, and the condition for this was the strengthening of serfdom. This process in Germany is often referred to as the second edition of serfdom.

There was an ambiguous situation: the development of commodity-money relations and trade, characteristic of capitalist relations, led to the strengthening of serfdom in Germany. However, at the same time, the strengthening of serfdom and feudal exploitation meant a peculiar form of decomposition of feudal relations, since commodity production developed on feudal estates, which created the basis for the development of trade.

Abstract on the discipline "History of State and Law foreign countries»

Topic: Early Middle Ages: the beginning of feudalism in Europe

Completed by: Sapronova Daria Alexandrovna

Lecturer: Bogadeev Alexander Vladimirovich

INTRODUCTION

The Middle Ages are considered the dark ages of history. And, on the one hand, this is true. However, important processes of cultural, economic, social and political development took place during this period. After the fall of the Roman Empire, countries that had serious development potential came to the fore in world history. Of course, these countries adopted a lot from ancient state(legal system, religion, etc.), but fundamentally new intrastate relations began to take shape in them: between the royal power, land owners and peasants. Depending on the nature of these relations, various forms of monarchies consistently arise and replace each other: early feudal, seigneurial, class-representative and absolute. This evolution of state power demonstrates the gradual complication of the socio-economic structure and social relations.

The form of government is changing as the need for better regulation increases. Thus, the improvement of the state system goes hand in hand with development in other equally important spheres of life. The right of private property, inherited from ancient countries and acting in the Middle Ages in the form of feudal estates, became a catalyst for the economy, and the Christian faith significantly contributed to the formation of the national culture of states. Economic growth led to the expansion and increase in the number of cities, which indicates the emergence of capitalist relations associated with an increase in the share of small-scale production. Differentiation also took place in the social sphere: in addition to the feudal system, the slave-owning and communal way of life was also preserved, and estates were formed.

Medieval society remained multi-structural for a very long time, and this multi-structural structure took place both in the industrial sphere, and in the public, and in the political. According to one of the opinions, it testified to the immaturity of the class structure of society, the incompleteness of the process of its formation. However, there are other points of view in science.

A. Gurevich in his work “Problems of the Genesis of Feudalism in Western Europe” argues that “neither slavery, in any of its forms, nor feudal dependence - again in its endless modifications, both synchronous and stadial, were such systems production relations that would be capable of subjugating the entire mass of direct producers and radically transforming and unifying the relations of property and production everywhere. That is, neither the slaveholding nor the feudal system was an ideal system. The need for an auxiliary, balancing mechanism, which capitalism acted as, is obvious. During this period, personal relations are transformed into real ones, when material, production, social relations are carried out not in a direct form, but through things-commodities.

Thus, the transition from one way of life to another is accompanied by a considerable number of difficult changes, and in each state they take place in their own way, as evidenced by a certain dissimilarity, unevenness in the development of various European countries.

However, they also have common features. The European countries of this period are the most interesting and inexhaustible object of study. Many scientists write scientific works that help to understand the nature of medieval society and assess the significance of this period in world history. Of course, the opinions of the authors do not always coincide, moreover, there are not always enough sources to study some historical processes, and the problem of unresolved certain issues will attract researchers for a long time to come.

A. Gurevich considers the issue of property to be one of the most important, since the relations of land ownership in a pre-industrial society are connected with production relations.

In the process of the formation of feudalism, an important role was played by the transformation of the allod (initially the inseparable and inalienable possession of a large family) into an individual possession, a freely alienable “commodity”. This happened as the tribal structure decayed. However, despite the collapse of a large family, these possessions retained their allodial nature, because after subjugation, the farmer did not tear himself away from his plot.

What is the point of joining the feudal lords (including the clergy) more and more land? A. Gurevich proves that the reason here is not so much in the economic income of the landowner as in social benefits. By annexing the land, the magnate also annexes the people living on it. With the increase in the number of people dependent on him, his social status, power. Moreover, only those who had a certain capital for this could become a knight, which would be most convincing if it were serfs. But the peasant also has some benefit: in the conditions of feudalization, falling under the rule of a magnate is the only way to save land and earn a living.

According to K. Marx, the medieval peasant is “the traditional owner of the land”. A. Gurevich calls "a fiction of the legal thinking of the new time" the so-called split property, in which the feudal lord disposes of the land, and the peasant uses it. In his opinion, in the early Middle Ages there was no serfdom yet. A peasant could own land and leave the master. But due to the fact that he was bound by strong interpersonal ties with his master, did not do this, "his" body "still belonged to his old master." Similar connections developed between the lord and the vassal in medieval society. They were often based precisely on personal respect, loyalty, patronage. A. Gurevich argues that lord-vassal relations could take place without land grants. Moreover, political power also assumed a patrimonial character: the sovereign's subjects were in the position of his vassals.

However, this situation in society did not last long, and gradually relations took on an increasingly economic character. In the end, the feudal lords demanded independence from the crown, and after revolutions (firstly in France and England), limited, seigneurial property turned into personal, free.

WEALTH AND GIVING IN A BARBARIAN SOCIETY

In a pre-class society, giving was a special ritual: it could indicate respect or disrespect, competition, it was often obligatory and required a response. Some of these characteristics were transferred to the early feudal society.

In the Middle Ages, it was necessary for noble persons to give gifts to subjects and guests in order to maintain their power and prestige, loyalty and devotion of subjects. The most important role in shaping the relationship between the seigneur and the vassal was played by feasts, and the transfer of children of noble parents to less noble guardians for education also played a large role. With the help of this ritual, they showed their patronage and, in a sense, respect and trust. The subjects felt not only economic, but also interpersonal, even kinship with their lord, and this was a key moment in the early Middle Ages.

Probably, such an attitude towards donation developed due to a specific attitude towards personal property, which was considered as a continuation of its owner, "contained a part of his personality." Therefore, the transfer of one's property to someone was of great importance for both people. However, often giving a gift was perceived as an attempt to subdue, addict or demonstrate an advantage.

Thus, feasts, festivities, the exchange of gifts are all the most important means of social communication, which, in turn, is inextricably linked with the political, economic, and cultural systems of the medieval state.

CUSTOM AND RITUAL ACCORDING TO BARBARIAN TRUTH

According to A. Gurevich, for the most complete characteristics early feudal period, it is necessary to establish the ways of interaction of individuals with society, as well as the style of their thinking in the social and legal aspect, since it is "an important part of the social structure."

To resolve this issue, it is necessary to study the monuments of that time found by researchers. Such monuments are the barbarian Truths, in which mainly folk customs were recorded. These customs were perceived by contemporaries as unchanging, having the highest authority of establishment, and were obligatory for all. Observing them, the individual was included in the social system. They corresponded over many centuries, changing depending on the needs of the people, and moved from the pre-feudal era to the early feudal one.

Introduction

Conclusion

Introduction

Feudalism - a type of society based on the feudal mode of production. In the IV-V centuries in the advanced countries of Europe there is a transition to feudalism.

The Middle Ages is a centuries-old period of the birth, domination and decay of feudalism. In Europe, it lasted 12 centuries. The remains of the Middle Ages in some countries have not disappeared so far.

This topic is important for research, since it was feudalism that marked the progress in social development. The peasant, endowed with land, was interested in the growth of labor productivity, and this interest increased with the development of feudal relations and the weakening of personal and land dependence. The era of feudalism was marked by the flourishing of small commodity production in the cities, which became the center of freedom and centers of culture.

During the Middle Ages, ethnic communities and public entities. Tribes merged into nationalities, and modern nations began to form from them. Instead of primitive barbarian states and isolated seigneuries, large centralized states were formed on a national or international basis. Culture has risen incomparably.

The object of research is the feudal economy.

The subject of research is the formation, types and features of feudal systems.

Purpose: to analyze the formation and development of the feudal economy.

To achieve the goal, you need to solve the following tasks:

.To reveal the main types and features of feudal systems.

2.Analyze the genesis and development of the feudal economy in the Frankish state.

.To characterize the classical model of the feudal economy in France.

.To reveal features of feudalism in Russia, England.

To achieve the goal and solve problems, the following methods of scientific knowledge were used: comparison of the opinions of several authors on one issue; historical (historical-genetic) for a comprehensive study of the feudal economy; analysis of training and scientific literature; generalization of the results of the analysis.

feudalism western europe russia

1. The birth of feudalism in Western Europe

1.1 Main types and features of feudal systems

The period that followed slavery was called feudalism. Feudal relations developed unevenly in various regions of Europe, Asia, and Africa. The process of the genesis of feudalism, unified in its essence, in each region the globe had its own local characteristics. But the main criterion for distinguishing the main types of feudalism is the intensity of maturation of feudal elements in the bowels of the previous stage of development and the formation of its basic institutions.

The rise of feudalism in Europe proceeded in two ways.

The first path consisted in the formation of feudal, socio-economic and political institutions on the basis of a synthesis of elements of late antique society with feudal relations that arose among the barbarian peoples. At the same time, synthesis means not just a gradual merging of two structures, but also interaction, interpenetration, transformation of elements of a slave-owning society and the communal-tribal system of barbarians. Byzantium, Gaul, the countries of the Mediterranean region passed this way.

The second way was based on the transformation of tribal relations. This is how most of the peoples of Northern Europe, Scandinavia, the Baltic states, and the Slavic peoples developed.

In both cases, the genesis of the feudal system ended with the formation of two poles - landowners-feudal lords, headed by the supreme feudal lord (king, tsar, emperor, caliph, etc.) and dependent landowners attached to the land, who paid rent.

The main wealth in pre-industrial societies was land. Therefore, all social relations, including economic ones, revolved around land relations. Under feudalism, the land was at the complete disposal of the feudal lords, who concentrated in their hands not only economic, but also political, military and religious functions.

During the period of early feudalism, the nature of production was natural, the low level of development of the productivity of forces is associated with the use of primitive tools, the absence of cities. With the development of cities, the improvement of tools, trade began to develop in the XI-XV centuries. commodity production began to predominate. By the end of the XV-XVII centuries. With the development of technology, scientific knowledge, great strides have been made in production. Massively manual labor was replaced by machine. The growth of production, geographical discoveries led to the expansion of trade relations.

The producer of basic material values was a farmer, a peasant. He was not the owner of the cultivated land, but only its holder on terms that were formalized legally or were the result of "customary law" - unwritten laws, traditions, customs, etc. On this land, the farmer independently ran a household: he had a house, livestock and tools, with the help of which he not only cultivated the plot of land at his disposal, but also the land of the feudal lord. Thus, the material basis of feudal society was the work of the farmer and his small farm.

At the beginning of the feudal period, the positive role of the feudal lords as the ruling class was that, being a class of warriors, they protected the economy of small producers from robberies by other feudal lords and foreigners, maintained order, which was necessary condition regular business.

The economic dependence of the farmer on the feudal lord was expressed in work and payments in favor of the owner of the land, i.e. in the form of rent. Three types of rent are known.

Labor rent is a form of economic dependence, in which the farmer worked for a certain time on the land of the feudal lord and performed some duties in his favor. Grocery rent - a part of the crop harvested by the farmer, which was given to the owner of the land for the use of the plot. Monetary rent - the money that the farmer gave to the feudal lord for the use of land.

Under feudalism, the owner of the land and the direct producer acted as mutually interested partners, although they were in an unequal position. Without the peasant, the land of the feudal lord would be dead capital. Self-management of the economy and the availability of their own tools of labor gave the peasant relative economic independence.

Only with the help of non-economic coercion, i.e. violence, the owner of the land could force the farmer to work for himself. Non-economic coercion is a means by which the feudal lord implemented rental relations. Its degree in different periods and in different societies varied - from serfdom, a rigid form of personal dependence to class inferiority, i.e. restrictions on property and personal rights.

The characteristic features of feudal land ownership were its conditional character and hierarchical structure. The first form of land ownership in Western Europe was the allod - freely alienable individual-family private property on an allotment of communal land. It was replaced by benefices - a form of land ownership of the feudal lord, due to certain obligations (payments and military service) and a term (usually for life). Then it was replaced by a feud (or fief - from the German Lehn) - a conditional land grant to a vassal, which was inherited. The land was transferred to the vassal as a reward for military service and the fulfillment of certain obligations in favor of a superior lord. The feud was considered a privileged, "noble" possession. On this basis, a hierarchical structure was formed among landowners, connected by vassal-fief relations. It was formalized in the form of a personal contractual relationship. However, this type of relationship is typical for societies with dominance of private land ownership over state ownership.

A distinctive feature of feudal societies was their class organization. A person could exercise his rights only as a member of any estate: a peasant - the right to hold and own tools of labor - within the framework of a rural community; feudal lords - conditional (hereditary) property within the framework of vassal ties of their community - the feudal estate; artisan and merchant - the right to work and ownership of tools - within the framework of the workshop and guild.

Another important feature is the sectoral structure of the feudal economy. The basis of feudalism as a system was the agrarian economy (a combination of agriculture, cattle breeding and various crafts). From the XI-XV centuries. such industries as handicrafts (clothing, metallurgy, gunsmithing), and trade began to appear.

The corporatism of feudal society was reflected in the social structure of society. Each estate, i.e. feudal corporation, had a certain social, legal and legal status, secured its position and rights in the form of written charters. A man of feudal society exercised his legal, political and economic rights through class affiliation. The corporatism of property was a characteristic feature of feudal society.

Most researchers (G.B. Polyak, M.V. Konotopov, T.M. Timoshina) distinguish two main types of feudal systems: European and Eastern feudalism.

In the textbook M.V. Konotopova it is said that the most important feature of European feudalism was the gradual strengthening of the role of the state in public life. At all stages, it performed two functions - violence and maintaining order. The implementation of violence was connected with the interests of landowners. The state provided them with a monopoly on land, the status of nobility and "nobility", which were secured by special political and legal privileges. Through state institutions distributed in favor of the ruling class taxes that came to the treasury from the taxable population. As a guarantor of social peace and order, the monarch entered into a dialogue with various social forces. These functions were closely intertwined in the politics of the feudal states.

During the period of developed feudalism, the state outlined the features of a formulated and consistently pursued economic policy - state patronage of the handicraft industry and trade, which was dictated by the needs of the treasury, since they served as the most important sources of income.

A distinctive feature of Western European feudalism was the legal formalization of social, including economic, relations. Significant influence was exerted by the legal norms that developed in the Roman Empire. Various regulatory documents that appeared already in the period of the early Middle Ages not only fixed the formed relations, but also established the legal norms of emerging social relations. They showed a combination of the public, i.e. public and private law. In the era of mature feudalism, developed forms of legal registration of economic relations appeared in the form of royal (imperial) legislation: ordinances in France and England, privileges, patents and mandates in Germany, short stories in Byzantium. These laws were binding on all subjects.

The second type of feudalism is Eastern feudalism. This form developed on the basis of the "Asiatic mode of production" and inherited a high degree of state centralization, specific forms of communal organization of the peasantry, the predominance of state land ownership, and special forms of organization of the ruling class. The rulers and people involved in power lived off rent - a tax from the farmer-producer. Feudal lord in the Western European sense, i.e. a person separated from the state was not here.

In the East, the state opposed the private owner, seeing in its excessive strengthening a threat to its existence and the stability of the structure as a whole. Therefore, measures were taken aimed at a clear regulation of relations everywhere was unambiguous - the state is primary, and the private is secondary, moreover, it is mediated by the same state.

In accordance with this, an Eastern mentality was formed, similar to that which existed in the ancient Eastern despotisms. The desire for wealth was nipped in the bud, and the initiative, enterprise, and innovation behind it had no ground for manifestation.

In all non-European societies, the state represented the highest and unlimited power. His authority was supported by force and tradition. Ultimately, a strong state was necessary for the society itself, accustomed to conservative stability. A number of institutional factors contributed to the development of such behavior and psychology. The system of social corporations (family, clan, caste, workshop, etc.) adapted to the needs of the state. It was no longer early forms of religion that stood guard over these norms and stability, but developed religious systems.

Official Confucianism, medieval Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism in various modifications contributed to the strengthening of conservative stability. Religiously sanctioned ethical norms were the law for "medieval" Eastern society. The law itself was also religious in this society.

Summing up the above, we can single out the main features of feudal systems: the basis of the feudal economy was agriculture; all land is at the complete disposal of the feudal lord; the producer of basic material values was a farmer, a peasant; the material basis of feudal society is the labor of the farmer and his small farm; the nature of production was natural, but by the XI-XV centuries. commodity production began to predominate; sectoral structure of the feudal economy; land ownership is conditional and hierarchical; class organization of feudal societies.

1.2 Genesis and development of the feudal economy (on the example of the Frankish state)

The feudal system in Western Europe was formed over a long period of time and went through several stages in its development.

The early Middle Ages (V-X centuries, in some Asian countries II-XI centuries) - the period of the formation of feudal relations in a multi-structural economy, the formation of large landed property, its monopolization by a minority of the population, the transformation of free farmers into dependent peasants: the establishment of vassal-fief relations and classes of feudal society.

The classical (mature) Middle Ages (X-XV centuries, in some Asian countries until the XVI century) - the rise in labor productivity in agriculture and crafts, a significant increase in population, the emergence of cities as trade and craft centers. Europe is turning into one of the most economically and culturally advanced regions of the world.

The late Middle Ages (the end of the 15th-17th centuries, in the East until the end of the 18th-19th centuries) - the gradual disintegration of feudalism and the emergence of capitalist elements. This is the era of the primitive accumulation of capital and the first bourgeois revolutions.

The foundations of the feudal economic system in Western Europe were laid in the kingdom of the Franks, created in Northern Gaul in 486. The Franks are one of the confederations of German tribes. In the 5th century The Germans conquered the Western Roman Empire and formed several so-called barbarian kingdoms.

Basic information about the economy of the Franks in the era of early feudalism is contained in the Sudebnik "Sallicheskaya Pravda". From this document it follows that the Franks were settled farmers. They sowed grain crops, used a two-field system, used a plow with an iron plowshare, a harrow, and bulls and horses as a draft force. The right to dispose of the land in the village belonged to the community - the brand. The Franks cultivated the land individually, in large families. The communal lands were in the indivisible use of the peasants. The economy of the Franks was natural. But the Franks were marked by property stratification.

One of the most important prerequisites for the development of feudal relations was the dualism of the Frankish community, the combination of communal land ownership with private peasant farming. Already from the V-VII centuries. it turned into a territorial, neighboring community, within which the land of an individual peasant family was assigned to private property. Such a land allotment was called allod. The appearance of the allod became a prerequisite for the formation of large feudal property.

The process of concentration of landed property, social stratification was facilitated by the intervention of state power. The state land fund, which consisted of the surviving estates of Roman slave owners, state lands, lands of rebels confiscated during numerous civil wars, was distributed by the royal government to close associates, combatants, and the church in the form of an allod. The state land fund was rapidly declining, so the principles of land salaries had to be changed.

In the 8th century important reforms were carried out in the Kingdom of the Franks . Under Charles Martel (715-741) as a result military reform peasants were removed from military service. The basis of the army was the knightly cavalry. The armament of a mounted knight was expensive. The cost of maintaining the troops and equipping the knights fell on the shoulders of the peasants. Military reform required changes in land grants. A beneficiary system was introduced. Relations of vassalage arose: the vassal depended on the lord who granted benefices, took the last oath of allegiance and performance of service. The lord, while retaining the right of the supreme owner to the granted land, could take it away if the vassal violated the contract.

Military service became the monopoly of the feudal lords. During the distribution of beneficiaries, previously free people who inhabited these lands often became subjects of vassals: they turned from subjects of the king into peasants dependent on private individuals.

In the ninth century beneficiaries turned into fief, or fiefs, . Military service remained the main condition for owning a fief, although the latter was transferred to hereditary use. linen system - a developed form of feudal land tenure, on its basis a vassalage, a feudal hierarchy of the nobility was formed.

All the conditions that contributed to the formation of large landownership (feudal civil strife and wars against other tribes) led to the loss of freedom by the communal peasants.

Devastated by war or crop failure, the peasant, finding no protection either from the community or from the royal power, was forced to seek the patronage of local strong and rich people. Receiving a plot of land from them, he lost his freedom and turned into a dependent or serf. In turn, a large landowner provided his own economy with the working hands of people dependent on him, who paid for land and assistance with their work (corvée) and food (tire).

With the low level of development of the productive forces of that time, a lot of land and labor were required to provide a sufficient amount of agricultural products. The ruling class was not interested in seizing land from the peasants, but in a sufficient number of workers. The seizure of land by a feudal lord consisted in the fact that the allodist lost his ownership of this land and turned into a holder on the basis of feudal law, i.e. became obliged to pay rent for it and to bear duties established either by custom or by agreement. This change in the position of the allodist was the content of the concept of the supreme ownership of the feudal lord over certain lands.

The seizures of communal land and peasant allotments by feudal lords were acquired from the beginning of the 9th century. massive character. The feudal lords brought the peasants to ruin in every possible way, forcing them to either sell or transfer the land to a large landowner.

The most common form of establishing the dependency of the poor on the large landowner was the practice of transferring him to the category of so-called precariae. Precarium - literally "transferred at the request", a conditional land holding, which a large land owner transferred either for temporary or for life holding to a landless or poor landless person with the obligation of the latter to bear duties and dues in favor of the owner. There were three types of precariae: a) the holder received all the land from the owner; b) the peasant gave his own land to a large landowner and received it back, but not as his own, but as ceded to him by the landowner for the obligation to bear corvee and dues, and at the same time receiving protection and necessary assistance in case of need; c) by giving land, the holder received more land.

The precaria system assumed the dependence of individual peasants on the feudal lords, and the form and degree of dependence were established individually each time.

A peasant settlement could immediately become dependent if the village was part of the beneficiation. The king, granting beneficiaries and demanding military service for him, transferred to the beneficiary the income of the inhabitants of the territory, which, in subsistence farming, was the only way to reward service. Residents became people dependent on the beneficiary, if they had not previously become dependent. With the transformation of the beneficiation into a feud, the dependence of the inhabitants of the beneficiation strengthened, became permanent. Natural economy - simple reproduction of all business conditions; handicraft labor is combined and subordinated to agricultural labor; feudal rent is collected in kind; economic ties with territories outside the patrimony were rarely carried out.

The result of the growth of large landownership was the gradual concentration in the hands of large landowners of judicial, administrative, fiscal and military leadership functions. These functions receive their legal form in the form of so-called immunity. Immunity - this is a privilege that protects the lords and their lands from interference by the king and his representatives in the affairs of the feud.

Immunity was confirmed by an immunity letter. Immunity rights landowner included: judicial power over the subject population; exercising the functions of a sovereign in an immune territory; the right to collect all fiscal amounts (taxes, fines, etc.).

The basis of the economic organization of Frankish society in the VIII-IX centuries. became a feudal patrimony - senoria, its dimensions varied. The land of the patrimony consisted of two parts: the land that was in the economy of the feudal lord (domain), and peasant allotments (holdings). The land of the domain was, as a rule, no more than 1/3all peasant holdings. The composition of the domain was mainly not arable land, but forests, wastelands, swamps, etc. At a low level of productive forces, necessary labor, or labor expended on the reproduction of the labor force of the direct producer and his family and other production conditions, absorbed most of the labor time peasant and surplus labor could not be large, and consequently, the scope of its application, i.e. lordly smell, could not be great.

The production process was carried out with the help of individual tools of labor, the production itself remained small, regardless of the size of the estate. Progress in agriculture was expressed in an increase in the cultural area through land reclamation, clearing forests, which was processed by the same tools. Under conditions of domination by small, inefficient production, obtaining a surplus product from an economically independent owner is possible only with the help of non-economic coercion, and personal dependence is in this case a means of non-economic coercion.

In the Middle Ages, there were three types of submission peasant seigneur - personal, land and judicial . A serf in Western Europe was a person who depended on the same lord in three respects at once . Rooted in personal addiction goes into ancient slavery. A slave planted on the ground remained a serf. He did not have the right to inherit the allotment, without paying a special contribution to the lord, he paid a "universal tax", all other duties were not fixed and were collected at the will of the lord.

land dependence stemmed from the fact that the peasant allotment belonged to the seigneur. The allotment land was part of the patrimony, whereby the peasant had to bear various duties in proportion to the size of the allotment and in accordance with the customs, which were fixed by tradition and were accurately listed in the cadastres of the patrimony.

Judicial dependency of the peasant followed from the immunity rights of the lord. This dependence was expressed in the fact that the population had to be sued in the immune court, and all judicial fines, as well as those duties that used to go to the king, were now paid in favor of the lord.

As a result of the development of vassalage, the structure of the ruling class of feudal society was a hierarchical ladder. Each large landowner was considered a vassal of the king, and each feudal lord could have vassals by ceding to one or another person part of his land with its population as a fief. A large feudal lord, transferring a benefice or fief to a vassal, transferred to him the feudal rent (or part of it) with the population of the feud, which thus became dependent on the new lord, without losing dependence on the superior.

The establishment of vassalage, on the one hand, acquired the character of distributing feudal rent among various strata of feudal lords, and on the other hand, made direct producers dependent on many seigneurs, and dependence on each of them was expressed in the obligation to pay a certain type of duties and payments. Since the economic conditions did not change for a long time, the feudal holder and his descendants carried the same duties in favor of the lord, sometimes for centuries. The very size and nature of duties became a custom. These duties were considered by both peasants and lords as legal, and deviation from them as a violation of custom. Such immutability gave rise to another phenomenon characteristic of feudalism: the transformation of certain relations between people, in this case the relationship between the seigneur and his holder, into the legal quality of the holding itself. For the allotment given to the serf, all the duties characteristic of the Servian holding were assigned. They were preserved when the land was transferred, for example, personally to a free person.

In 843, the Carolingian Empire broke up into the West Frankish kingdom, the predecessor of France, the East Frankish kingdom, which laid the foundation for Germany, and Middle France, which included Italy and the regions along the Rhine and Rhone. The collapse of a huge and powerful state was evidence of the completion of the process of feudalization of Frankish society. Any country in Europe in the Middle Ages was a system of fiefdoms, each of which was essentially a "sovereign" state. Feudal fragmentation is the most important feature of the formed feudal system. Feudalization - this is the transformation of an allod into a hold; the disappearance of free community members and the appearance of their dependent or serf holders; the formation of feudal ownership of land and the emergence of a ruling class of feudal landowning warriors.

The origin of the feudal economy took place in Western Europe in the kingdom of the Franks, created in Northern Gaul in 486, in several stages - the Early Middle Ages (V-X centuries), the Classical (mature) Middle Ages (X-XV centuries) and the Late Middle Ages (the end of the XV-XVII centuries, in the East until the end of the XVIII-XIX centuries). The evolution of feudalism is considered on the example of Northern Gaul, since the historical document ancient Franks "Sallic truth", which contains information about the economy of the Franks of the period V-VII centuries. From the V-VII centuries. the Frankish community turned into a neighboring community, within which the land of a separate peasant family was assigned to private property. Such a land allotment was called allod. As a result of the military reform under Karl Mertel, the beneficiary system was introduced, and in the 11th century. beneficiaries turned into fief, or fiefs, representing a conditional award to a vassal, which was inherited . A system of vassal relations was formed. As a result of the development of vassalage, the structure of the ruling class of feudal society was a hierarchical ladder. In 843, the Carolingian Empire collapsed, which meant the end of the process of feudalization of Frankish society.

2. Features of feudalism in individual countries

2.1 The classical model of the feudal economy in France

It is recognized that feudal relations had the most complete, classical character in France. Feudal estate - seigneury in the IX-XII centuries. - personified the feudal subsistence economy. Expanded area under wheat crops. The land was cultivated with a heavy plow, the horse became the draft force. Viticulture and horticulture, the cultivation of industrial crops, have received further distribution. Mechanical processes were introduced in winemaking. From the end of the XII century. Mills were used more and more widely. Despite the distribution of fertilizers, the yield did not exceed sam-5 (that is, five times more than what was sown). For the French estate, a characteristic feature was the existence of banalities, when such means of production as mills, furnaces, and presses belonging to the feudal lord could be used by dependent peasants for a special fee (flour, grapes, etc.). A special fee was charged for the passage of cargo on the bridge, for the dust raised on the roads by cattle, etc.

Feudal estate - seigneury in the IX-XII centuries. - personified the feudal subsistence economy. Seigneurs, following the example of the king, surrounded themselves with a large retinue, consisting of service people of different categories: squires, mounted knights (chevaliers). Gradually, a stable vassal hierarchy ("ladder") developed in France. At the top of this "ladder" stood the king, who was the supreme lord of all the feudal lords. Below were the largest secular and spiritual feudal lords, directly dependent on the king. They included dukes, counts, archbishops, etc. Formally, they all obeyed the king, i.e. were his vassals, but in fact they had enormous powers: they could wage war, issue money, and exercise judicial functions within their possessions. They, in turn, also had their own vassals - large landowners who had the titles of barons, marquises. And although they were of a lower rank, they also enjoyed a certain administrative and political power in their estates.

Below the barons were small feudal knights. They, as a rule, did not have their own vassals, but only peasants who were not part of the feudal hierarchy. And if in the 9th-11th centuries the term "knight" simply meant a warrior who carried out military (usually equestrian) service with his lord, then in the 12th-13th centuries this term acquired a broader meaning and began to mean people of noble birth, in contrast to ordinary peasants.

Each feudal lord was a lord for a lower feudal lord, if he received land from him on the rights of holding, and a vassal of a higher feudal lord, whose land holder he himself acted. The same hierarchy developed among the spiritual feudal lords, where vassalage was determined by the rank of the occupied church position.

Within the vassal subordination, the rights and obligations of the subjects included in it were clearly delineated. The transfer of a fief from a lord to a vassal was called an investiture. This was accompanied by a solemn ceremony of entering into vassal dependence, or bringing homage (from the French homme - a person), during which the dependent feudal lord took an oath of allegiance ("foie") to his lord.

The vassal hierarchy in France turned into an exemplary system of government for the whole of Europe, embodying a peculiar form of political and military organization of the feudal state. During the Early Middle Ages, only the feudal hierarchy was able to ensure relative stability in society and the preservation of the signs of the state.

It is known that the political and administrative center of France was traditionally located in the north-east of the country. For a long period, the royal court did not have a fixed location and moved from one city to another. Later, the city of Lan became the capital, and only at the end of the 10th century the status of the capital of France was assigned to Paris.

In the X-XI centuries. in France (as well as throughout Western Europe) a large number of castles were built. This process is called "incastellamento" ("locking"). Large feudal lords built stone castles for themselves, which, if necessary, turned into fortresses, with thick, high walls, towers and a dungeon where one could hide from enemies. In addition, the castles were the political, judicial, military and administrative centers of the feudal estates. All this inevitably led to a weakening of the central government and increased fragmentation of the country.

By the end of the 11th century, the number of feudal lords increased markedly, among which were both large seigneurs (mainly descendants of the Carolingians) and small feudal lords, mostly from among the servants and vassals of the king. All of them needed to further strengthen the feudal monopoly on land. To this end, the royal government proclaimed the principle "there is no land without a lord." This meant that all power should belong to secular or ecclesiastical feudal lords and that there was no longer any place for free peasant farms in the country.

In the XI-XII centuries. in the French countryside, the system of majorata was established - the seigneury began to be inherited either entirely or two-thirds by her eldest son, which strengthened the monopoly of seigneurs on land.

France in the 11th century various categories of dependent peasantry were reduced to the main group of serfs - serfs, who belonged to the estate. By inheritance, as a dowry, as a gift, by will, the serfs, together with the estate, could be transferred to the new owner, although they had land allotments and ran their own economy. Their duties were varied and numerous, they were determined by land and serf (personal), as well as judicial dependence on the feudal lord. These included the payment of a general tax, marriage and inheritance duties, corvée and quitrent in kind. They paid judicial, market, bridge, road and other duties and fees.

With the establishment of the feudal system, the exploitation of the peasants intensified, new duties were added. The feudal lords seized communal lands, imposed a fee for their use. Banalities were used more and more widely.

In this historical period, the dominal economy (or the so-called master's plowing) played an important role, which was mainly supported by serfs. The serfs worked at the expense of the corvée in the master's fields with their tools and working cattle under the supervision of the senior managers.

In general, in the 13th century, notable successes were achieved in French agriculture: crop areas expanded, fertilizers began to be used, the three-field system spread everywhere, the number of crops grown increased, and new tools were introduced.

As early as the second half of the 12th century, France began to involve new lands (wastelands, deposits) in the economic circulation, and forests were cleared. Thus, internal colonization took place in the country.

During this period, in France, despite the political fragmentation of the country, crafts and trade began to develop. Craft workshops and workshops were formed. Economic specialization led to the strengthening of internal economic ties.

Under Louis IX, a unified monetary system of the country was approved. The development of cities and trade led to the destruction of the economic isolation of individual regions. This contributed to the formation of a political and economic alliance between the cities and the king, since the cities sought the protection of their liberties from the royal power, and the king needed money that could be obtained from wealthy citizens. On the other hand, the feudal lords (especially small and medium ones) were also interested in solid state power in order to legislate the impending changes in relations with the peasants (transition to the quitrent system).

By the end of the 15th century, the process of political unification of the country was basically completed. Under Louis IX, Burgundy, Provence and other territories were annexed to France. By this time there was a single French based on the Parisian dialect. In the second half of the XV century. the influence of class representation on the life of the country gradually began to decrease. The estates-general met on a case-by-case basis, and in 1484 they were convened for the last time. The nobility was for the most part military service from the state and almost ceased to engage in farming. A new form has entered the political arena state structure- absolute monarchy, which finally deprived all historical provinces of sovereignty. The royal power completely subjugated the economic, political and military spheres of the country's life.

The economy of France is considered to be the classic model of the feudal economy, since it was here that the basic principles of feudalism were fully implemented (1. There is no land without a lord and there are no lords without land.

The vassal of my vassal is not my vassal.), the implementation of which gave rise to a clear system of vassalage within the feudal hierarchy as well. In the XI-XII centuries. a system of primacy developed - the lordship began to be inherited either entirely or two-thirds by her eldest son, which strengthened the lords' monopoly on land.

By the 11th century various categories of dependent peasantry were reduced to the main group of serfs - serfs, who belonged to the estate. The serfs were in a terrible position. They were legally disenfranchised, could be executed or convicted, all sorts of duties were imposed on them. Banalities were used more and more widely.

2.2 Features of feudalism in Russia

A number of peoples passed immediately from primitive to feudalism. The Slavs also belonged to such peoples. Kievan Rus - this is how historians call the state of the ancient Slavs from the 9th to the 11th centuries, with the center in the city of Kyiv.

The formation process in Kievan Rus main classes of feudal society is poorly reflected in the sources. This is one of the reasons why the question of the nature and class basis of the ancient Russian state is debatable. The presence of various economic structures in the economy gives grounds to a number of specialists to assess the Old Russian state as an early class state, in which the feudal structure existed along with the slave-owning and patriarchal.

In Russia, patriarchal slavery also existed, but it did not become the predominant form of management, because the use of slaves was inefficient. In the XI century, along with the princely, boyar estates began to form. This happened in several ways:

the prince granted his combatants for a certain period of territory to collect tribute - food. Over time, these lands became the hereditary possessions of the boyars;

the prince rewarded combatants for serving with state land;

the prince could give his close associates part of his possessions.

From the 11th-13th centuries, a hierarchical structure of land ownership was established in feudal land ownership. At the head of the hierarchical ladder was the senior prince, who was the supreme owner in relation to the feudal lords. The heirs of the senior prince, who received full ownership of the land, became specific princes, and their possessions were called appanages. Under this system, the main privileged form of landownership was still the boyar estate as a large, independent economic unit. The patrimonial farms remained almost completely subsistence, all basic needs were met by products that were produced within the patrimony. The main form of economic dependence of peasants on landowners was quitrent in kind. ( product rent). Church land holdings were not inferior in size to the boyar estates. Churches and monasteries, as well as feudal lords, seized communal lands and attacked the rights of peasants. During the period of the dominance of the patrimonial economy, an increasingly prominent place began to be occupied by the estate, or conditional land tenure.

In the XIV century, the social division of labor intensified, the craft began to be more and more separated from agriculture, which led to a more active exchange between the urban and rural population, to the emergence of the Russian internal market. But the creation of the internal Russian market was hindered by feudal fragmentation, since in each principality a large number of travel and trade duties and taxes were established. The development of domestic trade inevitably led to more active monetary circulation. As in Old Russian state, during the period of feudal fragmentation of Russia, internal trade played a less prominent role than external. Already at the end of the 13th - beginning of the 14th centuries, foreign economic relations revived again.

At the beginning of the 15th century, the process of unification of Russian lands into a single state intensified, which ended mainly in the 16th century. The main reason for the strengthening of unification processes in Russia, in contrast to the West, was the strengthening and development of feudal relations, the further strengthening of patrimonial and local land tenure. The development of the Russian economy in the 15th-16th centuries is associated primarily with the gradual enslavement of the peasants who lived on the lands of the feudal lords.

The enslavement of peasants can be divided into 4 stages:

The first stage (the end of the 15th - the end of the 16th centuries) - part of the rural population lost their personal freedom and turned into serfs and serfs. The Sudebnik of 1497 streamlined the right of peasants to leave the land on which they lived and move to another landowner, confirming the right of the owner-owning peasants, after paying the elderly, to be able to leave on St. George's Day. However, in 1581, in the conditions of the extreme ruin of the country and the flight of the population, Ivan IV introduced reserved years, which prohibited the peasants from leaving the territories most affected by disasters.

The second stage (the end of the 16th century - 1649) - a decree was issued on the widespread enslavement of peasants in 1592. By a decree of 1597, fixed years were established (the term for detecting fugitive peasants, initially determined at five years). After a five-year period, the fleeing peasants were subject to enslavement in new places, which was in the interests of large landowners, large nobles. The final enslavement of the peasants was approved by the Council Code of 1649.

At the third stage (from the middle of the 17th century to the end of the 18th century), serfdom developed along an ascending line. For example, according to the law of 1675, the owner's peasants could already be sold without land. Largely under the influence of the socio-cultural split caused by the reforms of Peter the Great, the peasants began to lose the remnants of their rights and, in terms of their social and legal status, approached the slaves, they were treated like talking cattle.

At the fourth stage (the end of the 18th century - 1861), serf relations entered the stage of their decomposition. The state began to take measures that somewhat limited the arbitrariness of the landlords, moreover, serfdom, as a result of the spread of humane and liberal ideas, was condemned by the advanced part of the Russian nobility. As a result, for various reasons, it was canceled by the Manifesto of Alexander 11 in February 1861.

As in other feudal states, agriculture was the main branch of the feudal economy in Russia. For centuries, it was agricultural production that determined the level and degree of economic and socio-political development of the country.

The state of agricultural production, especially in the early stages, largely depended on natural and climatic factors, which were generally not favorable. Summer for the Russian peasant is a period of extreme exertion of forces, requiring the maximum concentration of labor efforts and their great intensity.

Throughout feudal history, the main branch of agriculture was grain farming, since the main share in the food structure was baked goods. The leading place was occupied by rye, wheat, barley. They were supplemented by oats, millet, buckwheat, peas and other agricultural crops.

From the middle of the XVIII century. dozens of new plant species were mastered; experts count 87 new crops. The introduction of potatoes, sunflowers, and sugar beets was especially important.

The main form of arable farming in all areas inhabited by the Eastern Slavs was a two-field system. In the XIV - XV centuries. the transition to three-field land began, dividing the arable land into three parts (spring - winter - fallow). The widespread transition to a three-field crop rotation is the largest achievement of agriculture in Russia. Its introduction revolutionized agricultural technology and land use.

Other branches of agriculture were of an auxiliary nature. In the 17th century progress in animal husbandry. It was expressed in the allocation of areas where this industry became predominant, most adapted to the market (Arkhangelsk province, Yaroslavl, Vologda counties).

During the early and mature feudalism in Russia, the following forms of landed feudal property existed: "black" lands under the authority of the monarch; palace lands; lands of secular and spiritual feudal lords. In the same period, large landowners were monasteries, which from the second half of the XIV century. began to turn into independent feudal farms with large land holdings. In total there were 150 such monasteries.

Secular feudal lords have long and enviously looked at the vast land wealth of the church, dreaming of taking them into their hands. The Council Code of 1649 confirmed the government's policy of freezing the growth of the possessions of the clergy. However, during the 17th century the church increased the land fund somewhat.

According to the type of feudal landownership, patrimonial and local lands were distinguished. A patrimony was a land holding, an economic complex owned by the owner on the rights of full hereditary property. Local - inalienable land property, due to the service to the ruler. The formation of landownership falls on the end of the 15th century.

The Council Code of 1649 authorized the established practice of transferring the estate in whole or in part from the father to the children.

The decree of Peter I of March 23, 1714 marked the merger of the estate and patrimonial forms of land ownership, turning the landed property of the feudal lords into hereditary property.

AT Ancient Russia In addition to agriculture, handicraft production was widely developed. As an independent industry, it began to take shape in the 7th-9th centuries. The craft centers were ancient Russian cities such as Kyiv, Novgorod, Polotsk, Smolensk, Suzdal, etc. Among them, the first place was occupied by Kyiv - a large craft and trade center.

The level of handicraft production in Ancient Russia was quite high. Skillful blacksmiths, builders, potters, silver and goldsmiths, enamellers, icon painters, and other specialists worked mainly to order. Over time, artisans began to work for the market. By the XII century. Ustyuzhensky district stood out, where iron was produced, supplied to other areas.

Feudalism contributed to the development of the economy, industry and trade. The development of trade caused the appearance of money. The first money in Russia was cattle and expensive furs.

At the beginning of the XVII century. the first manufactories were built. Most of them belonged to the treasury, the royal court and large boyars.

Palace manufactories served the needs of the royal court. State manufactories were created for the production of weapons (Cannon Yard, Armory) or for state needs (Money, Jewelery Yards).

In the XVII - XVIII centuries. the construction of construction and textile manufactories continued, progress was observed in railway construction and the development of communication lines, and a river shipping company arose. The first steamboat appeared on the Neva in 1815. By 1850, there were about 100 steamboats in Russia.

Russia's access to the Baltic Sea increased the volume and expanded the scope of Russian foreign trade. Great importance in foreign trade acquired the ports of St. Petersburg, Riga, Tallinn. A prominent place in Russian exports of the XVIII century. industrial goods occupied: linen fabrics, canvas, iron, ropes, mast wood, and at the beginning of the 19th century. corn. Russia imported cloth, dyes, luxury goods. Trade continued to develop with the countries of the East - Persia, China, Turkey, Central Asia.

It can be said that the economic development of feudal Russia took place on the whole in line with those processes that were characteristic of other European countries. At the same time, it possessed a number of features and characteristics associated with external and internal political development, mentality, traditions, a vast territory, and a multi-ethnic population. The later entry of Russia into the era of industrial development predetermined its lagging behind the leading countries of Europe.

2.3 England's feudal economy

Feudal relations in England developed at a slower pace. By the 11th century here the military service class was still weak. Most of the peasants remained free landowners. However, the Norman Conquest in 1066 accelerated the process of feudalization. The seizure of land by the victors led to the growth of large-scale landownership and the enslavement of the peasants. And in the XII century. the predominant part of the peasants found themselves in the position of having lost their personal independence: they were called villans. Another common category of the dependent population was the cotters, who did not have a field plot and worked duties on the lands of the landlord (feudal lord). In contrast to France, in England a significant stratum of freeholder peasants remained, personally free, although dependent on the feudal lord in terms of land. Here the peasant community and communal order were more stable than in France.

Under William I and his successors, Danish raids and feudal civil strife ceased; a "royal peace" was established in the country, which made it possible to establish economic life more calmly. With the beginning of the Norman period in England, cities began to develop as centers of crafts and trade. Trade routes became so safe that, as chronicles of that time wrote, one could carry a bag of gold along English roads and not be afraid of attack and robbery.

Through port cities (Dover, Brighton, Portsmouth, etc.), trade relations were established with continental Europe (Italy, Germany, France, and especially Flanders), where wool, tin, lead, livestock, and later bread and skins were exported from England. Moreover, not only feudal lords, but also peasants participated in trade. In the XI-XIII centuries. fairs in Winchester, York, Boston, where both English merchants and merchants from other European countries came, became very famous. At the turn of the XI-XII centuries. London became the capital of England (since 1707 - the capital of Great Britain).

A feature of the English cities was that since almost all of them were on the lands of the royal domain, their lord was the king himself. Cities were required to pay the king a sum of money (firm) collected from all residents. Gradually, the townspeople managed to buy out some functions of self-government (in particular, judicial ones), as well as the right to create trade guilds. At the turn of the XI-XII centuries. there was a widespread association of urban artisans in workshops.

During this period, a clear system of state administration was created in the country. At the head of the counties were sheriffs who performed administrative, judicial, tax and other functions. AT early XIII in. a special royal body began to play an important role - the Treasury, which was in charge of collecting income and checking the financial activities of sheriffs in the counties.

From the 13th century the manorial system began to flourish. The classical manor consisted of several parts. More than half of the land of the manor was occupied by the domain economy, the other part - by the allotments of villans and a number of allotments of freeholders. The lord acted as the owner of the manor.

The main thing in the manor was the close connection between the master and peasant farms. The peasants cultivated the master's land with their tools, using their own livestock.

It can be noted that the manor was a typical example of subsistence farming. Trade relations with other estates were rare and limited. The manor was dominated by corvee and quitrent in kind, on the basis of which stocks "for household use" were created. The peasants had no money, so they worked out the corvée and paid dues in food. But if the villan evaded the performance of duties, the feudal lord could demand payment of their monetary equivalent.

For various categories of villans, the nature of working off depended on the area of the allotment. So, there were villans - virgatarii, who had a full allotment - virgata. These peasants had to work on corvée two or three days a week. Villans - semi-virgatarii performed these duties at half the rate. Kotters were obliged to work on the corvee every day, using the master's working cattle and tools.

Field work was considered strictly obligatory for all categories of peasants; even villans could not avoid them. No reasons were taken into account, even such as illness, bad weather or holidays. During haymaking or grain harvesting, the number of working days on the master's fields doubled for the peasants.

In the XIII century. the general level of development of the economy, and above all agriculture, has risen substantially. A three-field crop rotation (along with an open field system) was widely used, a heavy plow was used, which was set in motion with the help of oxen. Regional specialization of agricultural production became noticeable: in the south, east and center of the country, grain crops were mainly grown, while livestock farming flourished in the north and west. A significant part of the production was exported to the market. An increase in demand for agricultural products led to an increase in prices for wool, bread, etc. A wealthy elite formed among the Villans, who sought to pay a ransom and become free.

These economic trends led to the fact that the XIII century. was marked by the rapid growth of English cities. By the end of the century, there were about 280 urban settlements in the country, and many of them became very rich.

The strengthening of economic ties inevitably led to the strengthening of the role of the state in all spheres of life. During this period, the state apparatus grew noticeably, which led to an increase in taxes and fees from both peasants and townspeople. Such steps have caused discontent among the population. The large landowners, who advocated the preservation of their immunities and isolation, were also dissatisfied. In relation to objectionable feudal lords, repressions were used, and their possessions were confiscated in favor of the king. All this led to social tension in the country, especially during the reign of John the Landless. As a result, he was forced to compromise with the feudal nobility and sign the Magna Carta in 1215.

After the adoption of the Great Charter, the intensity of contradictions in society did not decrease, and as a result of the establishment of this document, they were never put into practice, and after the death of John the Landless, many of its provisions were completely canceled.

From the end of the XIII century. the English countryside was undergoing major changes caused by the crisis of the manorial system. At the beginning of the XIV century. in England, as in other Western European countries, a massive transition to rent in kind and cash (rent commutation) began. By the middle of the XIV century. monetary rent became predominant among all forms of duties. This was beneficial for strong peasant farms, who already had connections with the market and could receive personal freedom for ransom. The poor peasants hardly paid off the lords and remained dependent on them for a long time.

At the turn of the XIV-XV centuries. most of the villans, having paid a ransom, were freed from corvée. Thus began the abolition of many elements of the personal dependence of the peasants.

At the beginning of the XV century. The English economy has entered a new era. Its main features include the collapse of the domain economy, the strengthening of the rights of peasants to land, and the strengthening of the value of monetary rent. Simultaneously with the destruction of the corvee system, the old large nobility was ruined, unable to adapt to new conditions. Many of the feudal lords hoped to receive assistance from the state, in connection with which there was a difficult struggle between the barons at court, and also expected to enrich themselves through robbery in France against the backdrop of the ongoing Hundred Years War. But all this could not provide them with the former standard of living.

As the English economy changed, contradictions between the old and the "new" nobility grew in the country, which led to a civil war that went down in history as the War of the Scarlet and White Roses (1455-1485). It seemed that the war broke out because of the succession to the throne, but the true reasons lay much deeper.

At the height of the war, the York dynasty came to power. But the York dynasty was on the throne for long. As a result of the tragic events associated with the reign of Edward IV's brother, the cruel King Richard III, power passed to the Tudor dynasty, which relied entirely on the urban bourgeoisie and the "new nobility". At the turn of the XV-XVI centuries. in England all the conditions were ripe for the transition to market relations.

In the XII century. the predominant part of the peasants found themselves in the position of having lost their personal independence: they were called villans. Another common category of the dependent population was the cotters, who did not have a field plot and worked duties on the lands of the landlord (feudal lord). Unlike France, England retained a significant layer of peasants - freeholders, personally free, although dependent on the feudal lord in terms of land. Here the peasant community and communal order were more stable than in France. From the 13th century the manorial system began to flourish. The Manor was a typical example of subsistence farming. Trade relations with other estates were rare and limited. The manor was dominated by corvee and quitrent in kind, on the basis of which stocks "for household use" were created. At the turn of the XIV-XV centuries. most of the villans, having paid a ransom, were freed from corvée. Thus began the abolition of many elements of the personal dependence of the peasants.

Conclusion

To achieve this goal, an analysis was made of the formation and development of the feudal economy.

Using research methods, the following tasks were solved:

the main types and features of feudal systems are revealed. The following main features of feudal systems can be distinguished: the basis of the feudal economy was agriculture; all land is at the complete disposal of the feudal lord; the producer of basic material values was a farmer, a peasant; the material basis of feudal society is the labor of the farmer and his small farm; the nature of production was natural, the level of productivity was low, but by the XI-XV centuries. commodity production began to predominate; sectoral structure of the feudal economy; land ownership is conditional and hierarchical; class organization of feudal societies.

By type, feudalism is divided into European, which does not deny private property, legal norms begin to play an important role during this period. In Eastern feudalism, the state is centralized, denies the private, seeing it as a threat to its existence and stability in general, adheres to traditions and does not welcome innovation.

An analysis of the genesis and development of the feudal economy in the Frankish state is made. The origin of the feudal economy took place in Western Europe in the kingdom of the Franks, created in Northern Gaul in 486, in several stages - the Early Middle Ages (V-X centuries), the Classical (mature) Middle Ages (X-XV centuries) and the Late Middle Ages (the end of the XV-XVII centuries, in the East until the end of the XVIII-XIX centuries). The evolution of feudalism is considered on the example of Northern Gaul, since the historical document of the ancient Franks "Sallic Truth" has been preserved, which contains information about the economy of the Franks in the period of the 5th-7th centuries. From the V-VII centuries. the Frankish community turned into a neighboring community, within which the land of a separate peasant family was assigned to private property. Such a land allotment was called allod. As a result of the military reform under Karl Mertel, the beneficiary system was introduced, and in the 11th century. beneficiaries turned into fief, or fiefs, representing a conditional award to a vassal, which was inherited . A system of vassal relations was formed. In 843, the Carolingian Empire collapsed, which meant the end of the process of feudalization of Frankish society.

The characteristic of the classical model of the feudal economy in France is given. The economy of France is considered to be the classic model of the feudal economy, since it was here that the basic principles of feudalism were fully implemented (1. There is no land without a lord and there are no lords without land. 2. A vassal of my vassal is not my vassal.), The implementation of which gave rise to a clear system vassalage and within the feudal hierarchy.

The features of feudalism in Russia and England are revealed. The economic development of feudal Russia took place on the whole in line with those processes that were characteristic of other European countries. Features of feudalism in Russia:

Russian feudalism did not inherit slavery; it's inefficient.

The role of land ownership is great, the strong power of the state over the individual, as a result of which there was no clear system of vassalage within the feudal hierarchy.

The development of feudal landownership proceeded from the estate to the estate. The decree of Peter I of March 23, 1714 marked the merger of the estate and patrimonial forms of land ownership, turning the landed property of the feudal lords into hereditary property.

The long process of enslavement of the peasants (XV-XVII centuries) .5. Severe and varied forms of personal dependence of the peasants.

The main feature of feudalism in England consisted in a much greater centralization of government than in France. The reason for this was the conquest (1066) of the country by feudal lords gathered from all over France under the leadership of the dukes of Normandy, who occupied the English throne. Another feature concerned the technological base of the English estate. Thanks to the coastal ecology, sheep breeding flourished there and a large amount of raw wool was produced. Wool improved the life of English peasants (clothes, mattresses, etc.) and served as an important industrial raw material. In the XII century. the predominant part of the peasants found themselves in the position of having lost their personal independence: they were called villans. Another common category of the dependent population was the cotters, who did not have a field plot and worked duties on the lands of the landlord (feudal lord). Unlike France, England retained a significant layer of peasants - freeholders, personally free, although dependent on the feudal lord in terms of land. Here the peasant community and communal order were more stable than in France. From the 13th century the manorial system began to flourish. The Manor was a typical example of subsistence farming. Trade relations with other estates were rare and limited. The manor was dominated by corvee and quitrent in kind, on the basis of which stocks "for household use" were created. At the turn of the XIV-XV centuries. most of the villans, having paid a ransom, were freed from corvée. Thus began the abolition of many elements of the personal dependence of the peasants.

At the beginning of the XV century. The English economy has entered a new era. As a result of the growing contradictions between the "old" and "new" nobility, a civil war broke out. At the turn of the XV-XVI centuries. in England, all the conditions for the transition to market relations were ripe.

In conclusion, it can be noted that each of the countries had its own characteristics of the development of feudalism, but the main industry in each of them was agriculture, the main wealth was land. All social relations, including economic ones, revolved around land relations.

List of sources used

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In Western Europe, feudalism was formed on the basis of a synthesis of the decaying slave-owning system of the Roman Empire and the early class social system of barbarians, mainly Germans, which was in its infancy. In some European countries, such as Scandinavia and the East Slavic lands, feudal relations took shape only on the basis of the disintegration of the primitive communal system without any noticeable influence of the slave-owning world. Under these conditions, the formation of feudalism proceeded relatively slowly and ended much later. On the territory conquered by the barbarians from the Roman Empire, this process took place very intensively under the influence of a more developed socio-economic system.

The crisis of the slave system and the emergence of feudal relations in the Roman Empire

The decline of the slave economy.
In the Roman Empire, agriculture, crafts and trade were significantly developed. The large-scale slave-owning economy acquired a commodity character. Foreign trade relations in the Mediterranean basin have been widely developed. But already in the III century. economic stagnation, and then decline, was noticeably revealed. Trade was reduced, city life froze. The reasons for this decline were rooted in the general crisis of the slave-owning mode of production.
Under the slave system, the economy had very limited opportunities for its development. The slave was not interested in the development of production, the improvement of tools. The slave economy was economically profitable only if there was a cheap labor force. The slave-owning form of exploitation almost ruled out the possibility of the reproduction of labor power within the framework of the slave-owning economy itself. The slave had no family, he was quickly exhausted from hard work, he died early. Therefore, a constant influx of slaves was needed, which could be obtained as a result of successful wars, predatory expeditions and the slave trade. However, the decline in the military power of the Roman Empire, associated with the economic crisis and the transition from conquest to defense, did not allow replenishing the declining contingent of slaves. Slaves became more expensive, and the question of the expediency of running the economy in the old, slave-owning way was urgently raised. Slavery became an obstacle to the development of the economy. It was necessary to look for new forms of economic organization, to use slave power in a new way, to stimulate the productivity of slave labor.
Slave owners were forced to change the way they exploited slaves without giving up their unlimited ownership of their person. They endowed slaves with land, turning them into bonded quitrent holders. At the same time, large landowners tried to attract free tenants to the empty lands.
Colonat. Small peasant land ownership in the Roman Empire was not able to resist the large landed property of slave owners. Peasants were ruined under the weight of state duties, fell into unpayable debts and lost property on their plots. They had to either turn into homeless vagrants or stay on their plots as perpetually hereditary precarist tenants. So did many ruined peasants. Landless people could receive plots for free rent as a colonate. It was this form of land holding that became the most common in the late Roman Empire. It allowed the large landowners to make the most profitable use of the land left without tillers, attracting tenants from among the ruined peasants. The land owner often provided the settler (colon) with inventory and even seed material, which, naturally, was associated with an increase in duties. Initially, the colon was a free man and, having fulfilled his duties, could leave the site. But already in the IV century. the columns were attached to the ground and turned into hereditary holders. The slave-owning state came to the aid of the landowners, which was interested in settling empty lands and collecting taxes from their tillers. By decree of Constantine I of 332, all tenants were permanently attached to the land. The fugitive columns were to be, according to the decree, "shackled like slaves, in order to punish them in a slavish way to perform duties befitting free people." The columns lost civil rights, could not hold public office and take a spiritual title. In this way, they actually sank to the position of slaves planted on the ground, and Roman law in a number of cases put them on a par with slaves. But still, in economic terms, the columns were more independent than slaves, their duties were normalized. The columns paid state taxes, were involved in military service, they could not be sold without land. Thus, the position of the columns was ambivalent: on the one hand, they resembled slaves, since they were deprived of the right to own unlimited property, and on the other hand, they were considered legally free and were state subjects who were obliged to perform public duties. They were exploited by both landowners and state power. The columns attached to the ground already resembled the feudally dependent peasants of the Middle Ages. F. Engels considered them to be the forerunners of medieval serfs*. The columns were endowed with the means of production, and their surplus product was alienated by non-economic coercion. In the late Roman Empire, the columns represented the main category of the agricultural population, their composition was replenished by landless peasants, freedmen and unfree barbarians.
If the columns in a certain sense descended to the position of slaves, then the slaves planted on the ground, on the contrary, rose in economic terms to the position of columns. With the transition to feudalism, both of these categories of direct producers became one of the main sources for the formation of serfs and dependent peasants in the territory of the former Roman Empire.
In addition to the colonate, in the late Roman Empire there were other forms of land holdings close to feudal: precarium and emphyteusis. Small precarists received land plots on various terms, mostly for chins. The term of holding was set by the landowner, but later the precaria became long-term, and the precarists differed little from the colons. Emphyteusis resembled, to some extent, medieval conditional holdings. Its holders annually made fixed payments to land owners and enjoyed extensive rights to their possessions - they could rent them out, sell them, or pass them on by inheritance. The owner could take possession only in case of non-payment by the emphyteut of the due payments within three years or after the death of the holder in the absence of heirs, and also after the expiration of the term of possession.

Changes in the state system.. The decomposition of the slave system caused significant changes in the political structure. In the face of intensified class and internal political contradictions, the growth of separatist tendencies in the provinces and the increased onslaught of the barbarians, the ruling slave-owning class went to strengthen its dictatorship in the form of dominance. The administration of the state was concentrated in the hands of the emperor and the bureaucratic apparatus subordinate to him. The Senate has lost all significance. The autonomy of city municipalities was abolished. The size of the army, which consisted mostly of barbarian mercenaries, increased. Enormous funds were required to maintain the overgrown bureaucracy and the army, which the government tried to raise by increasing taxes. To this end, different categories of the population were attached to the state tax, mutual responsibility was established for the performance of duties. According to the edict of Emperor Diocletian of 293, artisans and merchants were attached to their colleges, which were responsible to the state for the performance of natural duties. The curials (members of the city curiae) were responsible for the receipt of taxes in the municipal districts. They were responsible for the arrears with their own property. They were forbidden under threat of punishment to leave their city. All urban landowners who had at least 25 yugers of land were forcibly included in the estate of curials. To get rid of heavy duties, curials took refuge in forests and mountain gorges, went to monasteries, became columns.
The strengthening of the military-bureaucratic apparatus and the strengthening of power over the provinces could not delay the collapse of the Roman state. Emperor Diocletian divided the empire between four co-rulers. Rome lost its former importance and actually ceased to be the capital of the empire. And in 395, the empire was finally divided into Eastern and Western, although formally both parts continued to be called the Roman Empire.
In the Western Roman Empire, the crisis of the slave system was aggravated, the power of the landowning nobility increased, and separatist tendencies in the provinces intensified. The government was not able to retain power over the population by the old methods and was forced to seek help from the magnates, who had private power over dependent people. Large landowners were made responsible for the execution of state (tax and military) duties by the colonies. The landowners created their own apparatus of judicial and administrative power and maintained their own military squads. Thus began the decomposition of the state bureaucratic system and the formation of the private power of the magnates. At the same time, decentralization political power. The administration of the provinces, which was previously carried out by officials on behalf of the central government, passed into the hands of the local senatorial nobility. The highest military leaders, who had detachments of combatants, acquired more and more independence. All this testified to the beginning of the feudalization of the Roman slave state.
Christian church. Medieval Europe inherited the Christian Church from the Roman Empire. Christianity, originally representing the religion of the oppressed, gradually changed its character and turned into the 4th century. into an official religion that served the interests of the ruling class. By that time, Christianity had already spread throughout the empire and covered most of the population. The former democratic organization of Christian communities has degenerated into an ecclesiastical hierarchy cut off from the faithful. In their sermons, the Christian clergy called for obedience to the authorities and humility before the oppressors. This forced the Roman authorities to change their attitude towards Christianity and move from persecution to the recognition and support of the new religion. Christianity, with its monotheism, could better than various pagan cults rally the diverse population of the empire into a single whole, and a centralized church organization could supplement the state bureaucratic system. It was precisely this role that the Christian church began to play after its recognition by Constantine (Edict of Milan in 313). Christianity soon became the dominant religion in the empire and the church became a major economic, political and ideological force. Bishops not only ruled church dioceses (districts), but also had judicial and administrative power in their possessions.
The transformation of Christianity into the dominant religion, and the Christian Church into an instrument of oppression, caused a split among believers. Those who disagreed with the degeneration of the early Christian democratic organization of believers into a hierarchical church organization put forward their own special heretical (disagreeing with the official religion) creeds. This is how theological heresies appeared, in which the opposition of the oppressed masses against the ruling system and the church hierarchy found its expression. Already at the Council of Nicaea in 325, Arianism, which had spread in the eastern provinces of the empire, was condemned, denying the divine nature of the “second person of the trinity” - Christ, and therefore calling into question the doctrine of the divinity of the Christian church. Arianism penetrated the environment of the barbarians, who were hostile to the Roman Empire. In the 5th century in the east of the empire, the heretical doctrine of the "Monophysites" spread, claiming that Christ has only a divine nature and therefore the clergy must abandon all "worldly goods" and live in poverty. In Roman Africa, the doctrine of the Donatists and Agonists (the left direction in Donatism), which demanded the reform of the church, its liberation from any dependence on the state, gained wide popularity. The agonists preached the original Christian equality and called for the community of property. Heretics were severely persecuted, but this could not stop the spread of heresies, in which dissatisfaction with the existing slave system was expressed.

Popular uprisings. The aggravation of social contradictions, the tax oppression and extortion of officials, the increased exploitation of colonies and artisans caused mass resistance both in a passive form (flight, refusal to perform duties) and in the form of popular uprisings. In Gaul and Spain in the first half of the 5th c. the movement of Bagauds (wrestlers) was widely developed, in which leading role peasants played. In a number of regions, the rebels created independent communities that did not recognize the Roman authorities. In North Africa, an uprising of the agonists ("fighting") broke out, in which the main role was played by slaves and columns. The rebels sacked the estates of large landowners, freed slaves, and cracked down on the Roman-Christian clergy. This popular uprising was brutally suppressed by the local authorities.
The uprisings of the popular masses often coincided with the invasions of the barbarians, and the rebels sought their support. But these hopes were not always justified, since the barbarian leaders pursued predatory, conquest goals. In some cases, the masses of the people defended themselves against the predatory invasions of the barbarians, and the groupings of the slave-owning nobility that fought for power invited hordes of barbarians into the country.
Popular uprisings shattered the crisis-stricken slave empire. But they couldn't destroy it. The Roman Empire was conquered by the barbarians, and barbarian states were formed on its ruins, in which a more progressive feudal system developed for that time. The most important elements for its formation appeared already in the economy of the late Roman Empire.

Barbarian tribes: Celts, Germans, Slavs
Barbarians in the Roman Empire were called tribes and peoples living outside of it who did not know Latin and were alien to Roman culture. The most significant ethnic groups of barbarians in contact with the empire were the Celts, Germans and Slavs.
The Celts lived in Northern Italy, Gaul, Spain, Britain and Ireland. Some of their settlements were also found in Germany up to the Oder. Roman state conquered Northern Italy, Gaul and Spain, and their population merged with the Roman into one nationality (Gallo-Roman and Spanish-Roman). Most of the Celtic population of Britain was also subordinated by Rome, however, this population was not subjected to Romanization and retained its patriarchal structure at the stage of transition to an early class society. The Celts of Ireland and Scotland, who did not undergo Roman conquest, retained their complete identity.
In general, the Celts played a significant role in the ethnogenesis of medieval European peoples - the British, French, Spaniards. They also had a considerable influence on the development of social relations and material culture in the countries of Western Europe. Their direct descendants are the Irish and the Scots.

Ancient Germans.
East Celts and places next to them Germans settled. Their settlements at the beginning of the new era extended to the Vistula and the Middle Danube. As evidenced by archaeological and linguistic data, the Germans in the Bronze Age of their history settled in Scandinavia and the southern coast of the North and Baltic Seas. In the III century. BC e. their settlements already reached the Danube.
The history of the ancient Germans is more or less reliably reflected in Roman sources from the middle of the 1st century BC. BC e. The most significant of them are “Notes on the Gallic War” by J. Caesar and the historical and ethnographic work by K. Tacitus “On the origin and residence of the Germans” (abbreviated as “Germany”), written at the end of the 1st century. n. e. A lot of interesting data on the history of individual Germanic tribes is contained in the "Annals" and "Histories" of this author. For more information about the Germans, see Pliny the Elder's Natural History and Strabo's Geography. Archaeological data make it possible to clarify and supplement the information of ancient authors.
Tacitus considered the Germans to be autochthons (natives) of the country they occupied to the east of the Rhine. In the legends of the Germans themselves, Scandinavia was called their ancestral home. At the beginning of the new era, the Germans were divided into many tribes, which constituted a number of larger intertribal communities. Altogether, Tacitus lists more than fifty separate tribes. However, the data reported by him is very approximate.
Each tribe occupied a separate territory and sought to preserve and expand it. The loss of territory led to the loss of independence, and even to the death of the tribe.

Economic life, agriculture and animal husbandry.
According to Caesar and Tacitus, the Germans were not yet fully agricultural people. They received their main livelihood from cattle breeding. But archeological data show that in a significant part of Germany and on the Jutland Peninsula, the agricultural culture was already sufficiently developed in the last centuries BC. Plowing of the land was carried out in most cases with a light plow or plow twice before sowing. Contrary to Caesar's reports that the Suebi changed the cultivated fields every year, scientists have established that the Germans for a long time used the plots, which they surrounded with a rampart of earth and stone. Household plots were in constant use of individual households. The Germans sowed rye, wheat, barley, oats, millet, beans, and flax. Compared with Roman agriculture, German agriculture was, of course, primitive. Often used slash and shifting system of agriculture. The Germans did not yet have horticulture and grassland. The more backward tribes, who lived in wooded and swampy areas, retained a primitive way of life with a predominance of cattle breeding and hunting for wild animals.
Cattle breeding was no longer nomadic, but sedentary. Cattle among the Germans was the main object of wealth and served as a measure of value.
According to Tacitus, the Germans settled in scattered villages. Dwellings were built of wood, coated with clay. These were oblong structures, several tens of meters in length. Part of the premises was reserved for livestock. Dungeons and cellars were arranged for food storage. The Germans did not have urban-type settlements, but to protect themselves from attack, they erected earthen and wooden fortifications.
In the economic life of the Germans, a significant place was also occupied by fishing and gathering, and among the tribes living along the sea coast, sea fishing and the collection of amber. In general, the economy of the ancient Germans was natural in nature. Each tribal community and large family produced almost everything necessary for their life - tools, clothes, utensils, weapons. The craft has not yet become a separate branch of the economy. Tacitus notes that the Germans had long since learned to extract iron and make tools and weapons from it, but they had little iron, and it was valued very dearly. According to archaeological finds, the Germans also mined silver, tin and copper. Significant progress was made in pottery and weaving. Fabrics were colored with vegetable substances. The coastal tribes, familiar with navigation, developed shipbuilding, as evidenced by the images of sea vessels in rock art dating back to the end of the Bronze Age. Brave sailors were Svions (Swedes), Frisians, Saxons.
social device. At the turn of the new era, the primitive communal system still dominated among the Germans. The main form of association was the tribe, which was an economic, political and cult community. The tribe had its own special religious and legal customs. All the most important affairs of the tribe were decided at the people's assembly, which consisted of male warriors. At these meetings, leaders and elders were elected. The first had power during the war, the second - in peacetime. The elders gave land to individual households, settled lawsuits, and presided over court meetings. All members of the tribe were free and equal.
The Germanic tribes were endogamous. Marriages were usually concluded between separate clans of the tribe. The Germans already had strict monogamy. Only representatives of the nobility, as an exception, could take several wives (dynastic marriages). Family ties played an important role in the life of the Germans. The closest relatives, who made up large families, jointly ran the household. The tribal community turned into an agricultural one. Cattle, slaves, tools and weapons were in the family and personal property. The genus provided protection to all relatives. Blood feud among the Germans was replaced by a ransom. tribal relations
served as the basis of military organization: battle formations were built according to family and tribal lines.
Private ownership of land did not yet exist. The land was the property of the tribe and was transferred to the use of separate groups of relatives living together. In the time of Tacitus, such groups of relatives were extended families.

The origin of social inequality.
At the beginning of our era, the development of the productive forces among the Germans reached such a level that a surplus product and the exploitation of other people's labor already appeared. Slavery became widespread. Tacitus draws attention to the special nature of German slavery. Unlike the Romans, the Germans did not use slaves as domestic servants or forced laborers in a large master's economy, but endowed them with plots of land (like Roman columns) and taxed them with dues in kind. It was a patriarchal form of slavery. Although the master had unlimited property rights over the slave, in practice he was treated better than the Roman slave, rarely punished. This form of slavery was close to serfdom and, as a result of further evolution, turned into one of the varieties of feudal dependence.
Among the Germans, slavery did not play a big role and did not violate the patriarchal nature of the economy. The free population lived at the expense of their own labor. However, the presence of slaves testified to the emergence of inequality and the beginning of the process of class formation. Separate families owned a large number of cattle, tools and slaves. Even the land was divided, according to Tacitus, "according to merit" (apparently, taking into account the property status). More land Wealthy families who had the opportunity to master it received, including by allocating plots to their slaves. The Germans already had an influential nobility. Of course, nobility in a patriarchal society is not identical to wealth. Noble people were considered honored, distinguished in social activities and in the war. But the nobles usually stood out for their property status - clothing, weapons.
The emergence of military power. The social structure of the Germans described by Tacitus was based on the principles of military democracy. The decisive role belonged to the people's assembly. Officials were under the constant control of the soldiers who elected them, they did not have the right to give orders. Their speeches at the people's assembly were perceived by the power of persuasiveness.
But gradually public power began to be concentrated in the hands of the military and tribal nobility. All the questions usually submitted to the people's assembly began to be discussed by the council of elders. The meeting participants only accepted or rejected the proposed solutions. Particularly important matters were discussed at the banquets of the military nobility, and decisions were only formally made at the popular assembly. A representative of a noble family was elected to the position of the head of the tribe (rex). A warrior who distinguished himself in battle could become a military leader (dux), but the merits of his ancestors were also taken into account. Military power began to acquire a hereditary character - in other cases, a young man was elected a leader as a sign of the military merits of his ancestors. The tool for strengthening the power of the leader was the squad, which consisted of professional soldiers. If in the time of Caesar the squad was created only for the duration of military enterprises and disbanded at the end of them, then later, according to Tacitus, it became permanent. The warriors were completely dependent on the leader, took an oath of allegiance to him and received weapons and a war horse from him. The leader arranged feasts for the squad, distributed gifts to the warriors. He received funds for this through military booty and offerings, which, according to custom, were supposed to be given to him by fellow tribesmen. The combatants did not participate in productive labor, they served not so much the tribe as the leader and could be used by him to seize power. Thus, prerequisites were created for the transformation of elective military power into hereditary state power. The history of the Germanic tribes of the first centuries of the new era is filled with the struggle of representatives of individual noble families for supreme military power. The most successful of them subjugated not only their own, but also neighboring tribes to their dominance and created multi-tribal military alliances.

Religion of the ancient Germans.
. According to Caesar's description, the religious beliefs of the Germans were very primitive: they worshiped the elements - the sun, moon, fire. Tacitus characterizes the religion of the Germans in more detail, comparing it with Roman paganism. Of the many deities revered by different tribes, the most famous were Wodan, Donar, Tsiu, Idis. Wodan was considered the supreme deity, Donar - the god of thunder, Tsiu - the god of war. Instead of temples, they had sacred groves or mountain peaks, where ritual actions and sacrifices (including human ones) were performed. Related tribes, spun off in the past from one ancient tribe, revered, according to tradition, a single deity. The religious tradition of the Germans claimed that all their tribes descended from a single mythical Mann, born of the god Twiscon. This religious tradition imprinted the tradition of all-German unity.
Priests and soothsayers enjoyed great influence among the Germans. The priests were engaged not only in the affairs of the cult, but also participated in the solution of social and political affairs and the administration of justice. Only to them alone did all the free Germans obey unquestioningly; according to their decisions, death sentences were passed and guilty people were imprisoned. The Germans had the same boundless confidence in the fortune-telling and predictions of soothsayers, who usually spoke before the people's assembly. If their predictions foreshadowed the failure of a military campaign, then it was postponed for another period.

Germans and Rome
The Romans began to distinguish the Germans from the Gauls only in the II century. BC e. Since that time, peaceful and military relations between Rome and the Germans began. In 113-101 years. BC e. the first mass invasion of the Germans took place. The Cimbri and Teutons attacked Northern Italy and Gaul, but suffered a crushing defeat from the troops of the Roman general Marius. The attempt of the Suebi to seize lands in Eastern Gaul was also unsuccessful. J. Caesar defeated them and threw them over the Rhine, and in 55 BC. e. even crossed the Rhine and briefly invaded Germany. Under Tiberius, Germany as far as the Elbe came under the control of Roman arms. German leaders expressed their obedience to the empire, sent gifts and handed over hostages. However, the Roman Empire failed to subjugate Germany for a long time, despite all attempts to separate the Germanic tribes and sow enmity between them. In the first years of the new era in the region of the river. Weser, an anti-Roman union of tribes was created, led by the leader of the Cherusci, Arminius. A general uprising began. The Roman legions under Varus attempted to suppress it, but were ambushed and destroyed by the Germans at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (AD 9). This was the end of Roman domination beyond the Rhine. The empire was now on the defensive against the incursions of the Germanic tribes. A huge defensive line was built from the coast of the North Sea to the mouth of the Danube. Between the upper reaches of the Rhine and the Danube (from Mainz to Regensburg) a defensive rampart (Limes Romanus) was built. This allowed the Roman Empire to hold back the onslaught of the Germans for several centuries. At the same time, peaceful diplomatic and trade relations with the barbarians played an important role - the conclusion of alliances with individual tribes, bribing military leaders and attracting barbarians to the Roman service.
Rome's trade with the Germans was already active in the middle of the 1st century BC. BC e. Its centers were Roman settlements along the Rhine and Danube - Cologne, Trier, Augsburg, Regensburg, Vienna. The Romans built a network of roads along their borders with the Germans. The Romans had the busiest trade relations with neighboring tribes, but, as the hoards of Roman coins testify, Roman merchants also visited remote areas along the Danube and its tributaries, as well as along the Elbe and Oder. The Germans bought bronze, glass, weapons and some tools from the Romans. Horses and pottery were imported from Roman Gaul. In turn, the Romans exported slaves, cattle, amber, leather, furs, vegetable dyes from Germany.

barbarization of the empire.
The pressure of the Germans on the Roman provinces intensified. Across the Rhine, alliances of tribes were created, pursuing the goal of breaking through the Roman defensive rampart and capturing the rich provinces. In 165-180 years. The Marcomannic War broke out. Huge hordes of barbarians - Marcomanni, Quadi, Vandals, Hermundurs - invaded Rezia, Norik, Pannonia, Dacia, Il-lyric and reached Northern Italy. Emperor Marcus Aurelius defeated them and subjugated some of the invading tribes. But this was the last success of the Roman arms. In the future, the empire had to pay off the barbarians, cede their territory to them. The emperors allowed the Germanic tribes to settle in the border areas as allies (federates) or mercenaries. Large Roman landowners willingly accepted barbarian settlers to empty lands, supplying them for the first time with everything necessary for acquiring their own farm. Living among the Roman population, the Germans borrowed much from its material and spiritual culture. This contributed to the decomposition of their communal-tribal relations, the penetration of Roman legal norms, and the strengthening of private property.
The resettlement of the barbarians, in turn, had an impact on the development of socio-economic relations in the border Roman provinces. The number of free agricultural population increased, the importance of slave labor decreased. The military organization of the empire changed. Of great importance was the army of federates - military barbarian settlers. German military leaders in the Roman service began to influence the political life of the empire, interfering in the struggle of court cliques, deposing and enthroning emperors. Thus, two interacting processes took place - the Romanization of the barbarians who settled in the border areas, and the barbarization of the Roman Empire. Both strengthened the positions of the barbarians and made it easier for them to conquer the Roman provinces.

Germanic tribes in the III-V centuries.
Roman written sources contain little information about the life of the Germanic tribes in these centuries, but archaeological evidence indicates a significant economic progress of the Germans: soil cultivation improved, the range of crops expanded and their productivity increased. Horticulture and viticulture began to spread. Crafts were improved: processing of iron, bronze, silver. Items found in the burials - weapons, jewelry, vessels, etc. - with ornaments and images of animals testify to the significant development of material culture and art.
The Germans developed runic writing. Inscriptions on wood, metal products and tombstones have been preserved. Runic writing was most widespread among the Scandinavians. She was associated with magic and witchcraft. Only priests and a few people who kept cherished secrets knew her (the rune means “secret”).
On the development of social relations among the Germanic tribes in the 4th-5th centuries. can be judged on the basis of the barbaric "Pravda", recorded in the V-VI centuries. The norms of customary law contained in them were formed long before they were recorded and reflected (to a greater or lesser extent) the old patriarchal orders. The barbarians still retained tribal protection and responsibility for the crimes of members of the clan, as well as the right to inherit the property of a deceased relative. The economic unit, as a rule, was a large family that owned a plot of land. Women did not have the right to inherit land property, and the land always remained in the possession of the agricultural community.
However, in the III-V centuries. the Germans already had significant social stratification. Different social groups appear in Pravda - nobility, tribal or service, simple free, who made up the bulk of the population, semi-free - litas and slaves. The number of slaves and their role in the economy increased markedly due to the increase in the number of prisoners of war and the seizure of property from Roman landowners. The German nobility, who received the lion's share of the booty, started large farms with many slaves, litas and columns. The importance of leaders and kings (kings) increased. They appropriated undivided land and collected duties from the conquered population for their own benefit. To give their dominance more authority, they built their lineage from the pagan gods.
At the same time, the Germans were undergoing profound ethnic changes, caused, on the one hand, by socio-economic shifts and the beginning process of the formation of state power, and on the other hand, by mass movements and settlement in new territories. The numerous tribal communities described by Tacitus mixed up and as a result of their integration new territorial-ethnic communities took shape, more extensive and complex in their social structure. Already earlier, the Germanic tribes united in military alliances. But these unions did not last long and disintegrated, and the tribes that were part of them again became isolated. So, for example, formed in the middle of the 1st century. BC e. The Suebian Union united almost all of Germany under its rule. But after the defeat of Ariovistus in the war with Caesar, the alliance broke up. Later, several more similar alliances were formed (the Marcomanno-Suebian alliance of Marobod at the end of the 1st century BC, the alliance of the Cherusci under the leadership of Arminius at the beginning of the new era), but they were fragile and fell apart after the death of their founders. Tribal associations that arose in the III-IV centuries. within Germany and in the reclaimed territory, proved to be more viable and eventually turned into new ethnic communities. This is how the Germanic peoples originated: Alemanni, Franks, Saxons, Thuringians, Bavarians. Each of them occupied a separate territory and was a separate political entity headed by a military leader - the duke.

Ancient Slavs.
In the first centuries of the new era, Slavic tribes occupied a vast territory from the Vistula to the Upper Volga and Oka and from the Baltic coast to the Black Sea, the Lower and Middle Danube. In ancient sources, they are known under the name of Venedi (Veneti). In terms of the nature of their economy and the level of social development, the Slavs did not differ particularly from the Germans, and Tacitus, who knew little of the Slavs, ranked them among the Germans.
The main occupation of the Slavs in those days was agriculture. In addition, they were engaged in cattle breeding, hunting, beekeeping and fishing. Significant success was achieved by the Slavs in the extraction and processing of iron, pottery and weaving. They developed barter. The sources of a later time (Byzantine authors of the 6th century) report on the social structure of the Slavs. They still dominated the primitive communal system. But the process of its decomposition has already begun. The main economic unit was a large family, which included a significant circle of relatives. Families were united in clans, clans were tribes that already had a territorial organization in those days. The most important public affairs were decided at public meetings (veche), at which the tribal nobility set the tone. The princes, who had their squads, enjoyed great influence. There was a process of formation of princely military power.
In the era of great migrations, the Slavs moved far to the west and south, pushing the Germanic tribes. They invaded Byzantine territory. Now their borders ran along the Elbe (Labe) and the Danube. In some places, the Slavs occupied the lands west of the Elbe and south of the Danube, and then colonized almost the entire Balkan Peninsula. In the VI century. Byzantine sources already call the Slavs different names: the tribes that lived between the Danube and the Dniester are called splapins and Slovenes, those who inhabited the Dnieper region - Ants, and those who occupied the Vistula basin and the Baltic coast - Venets. This testified to the appearance of three branches of the Slavs - southern, eastern and western.
The Slavs, along with other barbarian peoples, played a significant role in the destruction of the ancient slave system and the formation of new, feudal relations.

Barbarian conquests. Formation of barbarian kingdoms in Western Europe
Movements of barbarian tribes and their attacks on the Roman provinces became commonplace. However, the Roman Empire for the time being managed to restrain this onslaught. At the end of the IV century. mass movements of Germanic and other barbarian tribes began, which received the name of the great migration of peoples and ended with the conquest of the entire territory of the Western Roman Empire. What caused them?
The main reason for these movements was the growth in the population of barbarian tribes, caused by an increase in living standards due to the intensification of agriculture and the transition to a stable settled way of life. Barbarian tribes sought to seize the fertile lands of the Roman Empire and establish permanent settlements on them. Numerous German nobility used these campaigns to seize booty and exploit the conquered population.

Huns. The Visigoths invaded the territory of the Roman Empire.
The Visigoths were the first to move within the empire. The tribes are ready until the II century. lived in the lower reaches of the Vistula, where, according to ancient legends, they moved from Scandinavia. At the beginning of the III century. most of the Goths went to the southeast and settled in the Black Sea region (from the lower reaches of the Danube to the Don). The Goths, settled in the west in the forest belt, separated themselves from the eastern steppe. The former were called the Visigoths (Vizigoths), the latter Ostrogoths (Ostrogoths). In the Black Sea region, the Goths subjugated the Slavic and Scythian-Sarmatian population living there, as well as the Germanic tribe of Heruls who settled here. So a large multi-tribal union was created, in which the Goths (Ostrogoths) were a minority. They borrowed a lot from local residents, in particular in the military field. Eastern Roman sources often refer to the Goths as Sarmatians.
The Goths undertook military campaigns against the Roman Empire. The Heruli, who lived in the Sea of Azov, made pirate raids on the coast of Asia Minor. At the same time, the Goths were involved in trade relations with the empire and were subject to Roman influence. They spread Christianity in the form of the Arian heresy. His preacher was Bishop Ulfilas (313-383), who compiled the Gothic alphabet and, as is believed, translated the Bible into the Gothic language. This translation is the oldest monument of Germanic writing. The "Gothic state" reached its highest power during the time of the Ostrogothic king Ermanaric, who subjugated a number of Slavic tribes and pushed the boundaries of the Ostrogothic union far to the east. The Visigoths were not part of this association. They were drawn into the orbit of Roman influence.
In 375, the Huns invaded the Black Sea region - warlike nomads, moving from the depths of Asia and subjugating many peoples by that time. Under their blows, the tribal union of the Ostrogoths fell, and its leader. Ermanaric, severely wounded in battle, committed suicide. Most of the Ostrogoths fell under the rule of the Huns. The Visigoths, fleeing the Hun threat, asked the Roman authorities to allow them to settle on the territory of the empire as allies. Emperor Valente concluded an agreement with the Visigoths, and they were settled in Moesia. But the Roman authorities did not fulfill their promises, did not provide them with food and treated the Visigoths like slaves. This led to an uprising of the barbarians, which was supported by the population of Thrace. In the battle of Adrianople (378), the Goths won, the emperor Valens died. The Roman commander Theodosius with difficulty managed to push the Goths away from Constantinople. Theodosius, who soon became emperor, concluded a peace treaty with the Visigoths, allowing them to settle in the best lands of the Balkan Peninsula as allies of the empire. For some time the Goths were in peaceful relations with the Romans, but soon after the death of Theodosius (395), they, under the leadership of King Allaric, began to undertake devastating raids and tried to capture Constantinople. The emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire Arcadius was forced to pay a large ransom to the Visigoths and provide the rich province of Illyria. In 401, Allaric undertook a campaign in northern Italy, but was defeated by the Roman troops commanded by the commander Stilicho.
At the beginning of the 5th century The Western Roman Empire had to repel an unprecedented onslaught of barbarians. In 404, a mass of Germans under the leadership of Radagaisus invaded Italy from the upper reaches of the Danube. They laid siege to Florence. Stilicho mobilized all his forces and defeated them. Many barbarians were taken prisoner and enslaved. To defend Italy, Stilicho was forced to withdraw Roman troops from Britain, where the Anglo-Saxons had already begun to invade. The situation in Italy became catastrophic after the execution of Stilicho, who was condemned by the Roman Senate on suspicion of treason. Huge hordes of the Visigoths, replenished by people from other barbarian tribes, occupied Northern and Central Italy and approached Rome. Emperor Honorius took refuge in Ravenna. Allaric demanded a large ransom and extradition of all slaves of barbarian origin. These demands were granted, but the emperor refused to give the barbarians the provinces of Dalmatia, Noricum, and Venice, which they desired. Then Rome was subjected to a starvation blockade. On August 24, 410, the city fell. The army of Allaric entered Rome and subjected it to terrible plunder. These events made an indelible impression on contemporaries. The fall of the "eternal city" was considered not only the end of the Roman Empire, but a light show. Supporters of paganism blamed the Christians for everything. The well-known leader of the Christian church, the philosopher Augustine the Blessed, in his essay “On the City of God”, contrasted the perishing “earthly kingdom” with the eternal “kingdom of God”, the prototype of which he considered the Christian church.
Having robbed Rome and captured huge booty, Allaric headed to the South of Italy, intending to move to Sicily, and then to North Africa. But here the Visigoths failed. Shortly thereafter, Allaric died. Having elected a new king, the Visigoths moved back to the north.

Visigothic kingdom.
The Visigoths captured the southwestern part of Gaul and founded their kingdom there with its capital at Toulouse (419). Formally, they were considered federates of the empire, and their king was a Roman military leader, but in essence it was the first independent barbarian state on Roman territory. The Visigoths seized two-thirds of the arable land from local landowners and divided it among themselves "by lot". So the barbarian warriors turned into communal peasants. In the second half of the 5th c. conquered the territory of Gaul up to the Loire and most of Spain. After the loss of Aquitaine, conquered by the Franks in 507, the center of the Visigothic kingdom moved to Spain (the capital of Toledo). In 554, Byzantium captured the southeastern coast of Spain. In this way. The Visigothic kingdom owned only part of the Iberian Peninsula; the northwestern part belonged to the kingdom of the Suebi.
The conquerors, having settled on a vast territory, constituted a minority of the population. The Visigoths did not create continuous settlements, but lived among the Spanish-Roman population, which was clearly inferior in terms of numbers and level of development of material and spiritual culture. This, despite their special privileges - the military profession, tax exemption, naturally led to the Romanization of the Goths. At the end of the VI century. the Visigoths abandoned Arianism and adopted the Roman Christian religion, which further accelerated their assimilation. The mixing of the Visigoths with the local population contributed to the formation of feudal relations in the Visigothic society. The peasants lost their freedom, the nobility turned into large landowners.
With the development of feudal relations in the Visigothic state, internal unrest began. This facilitated the conquest of Spain by the Arabs.
Vandal kingdom. In the III century. Vandals moved from the depths of Germany to the Middle Danube. Under the onslaught of the Huns, they moved west along with the Suebi and Allans (a tribe of Sarmatian origin that came from the east), broke through at the beginning of the 5th century. Roman defensive line on the Middle Rhine and invaded Gaul, and then into Spain. In 428, the Vandals, together with the Allans, crossed the strait (Gibraltar) to North Africa and began to conquer it. The Vandal king Geiseric skillfully used the current situation - the rebellion of the Roman governor Boniface, the liberation struggle of the local Berber population, the movement of agonists and within ten years conquered most of the Roman possessions. So, a new state was created on Roman territory - the kingdom of the Vandals with its capital in Carthage (439). Like the Visigoths, the Vandals were considered federates of the empire, which did not prevent them from appropriating its territories and plundering its cities. Being Arians, the Vandals seized the lands and property of the Roman church, as well as the wealth of the Roman nobility. They captured the islands of the Mediterranean - Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, the Balearic Islands. In 455 the Vandals sacked Rome. At the same time, many monuments of culture and art were destroyed. Later, the term "vandalism" began to refer to the senseless destruction of cultural property. The Vandal kingdom lasted until 534 and was conquered by Byzantium.

Burgundian kingdom.
East German Burgundian tribe in the 4th century. moved to the Middle Rhine and founded his kingdom in the region of Worms, which was defeated by the Huns. The remnants of the Burgundians (with the permission of the Roman commander Aetius) settled as federates in Sabaudia (Savoy). Later, the Burgundians occupied the entire Upper and Middle Rhone and in 457 founded a new kingdom with Lyon as its capital. Like other barbarians, the Burgundians divided the land with the local population, seizing first half, and later two-thirds of the arable land, as well as half of the estates and communal lands and one-third of the slaves from the Gallo-Roman landowners. The Burgundians settled in consanguineous groups (headlights), which later turned into territorial communities. Settlement among the Gallo-Romans contributed to the decomposition of community-clan relations among the Burgundians and the growth of social differentiation. The Burgundian kingdom maintained a connection with the Roman Empire until its fall. In 534 it was conquered by the Franks.

Fight against the Huns.
The Huns, having subjugated a number of Germanic tribes - Ostrogoths, Heruls, Gepids, Quads, Marcomanni, Skirs, Thuringians, Eastern Burgundians, created a huge military alliance. At the end of the IV century. they invaded Pannonia and soon turned it into the center of their possessions. The Western Roman Empire and Byzantium used the Huns to fight against barbarian invasions and suppress uprisings in the provinces, which undoubtedly contributed to the strengthening of the Hunnic alliance. In the 5th century the Huns already had hereditary power. They remained nomads, and their conquests were devastating: they destroyed villages and even cities, turning the occupied territories into pastures for livestock. The Huns became especially dangerous for the European peoples during the time of Attila (435-453), nicknamed "the scourge of God" for his cruelty.
In 451 the Huns invaded Gaul and laid siege to Orleans. The common danger forced the Western Roman Empire and the barbarian peoples to join forces. The decisive battle, nicknamed the "battle of the peoples", took place on the Catalaunian fields (near Troyes). The allied army, consisting of the Romans, Visigoths, Franks and part of the Burgundians, under the command of the Roman commander Aetius, defeated the Huns, along with whom the conquered Germanic tribes fought. Nevertheless, Attila made a campaign in Italy in 452 and captured huge booty there. In 453 he died, and the Hun alliance soon fell apart. The tribes conquered by the Huns gained independence.

End of the Western Roman Empire.
Despite the loss of almost all of their provinces. The Western Roman Empire formally still continued to exist. The imperial court had long been located not in Rome, but in Ravenna, and the affairs of the empire were actually managed by barbarian military leaders who commanded mercenaries from barbarian tribes. In 476, the commander Odoacer, who came from the Germanic tribe of the Skirs, dethroned the infant Roman emperor Romulus Augustulus, executed his father Orestes and became the de facto ruler of Italy and Rome. The year 476 is considered to be the date of the fall of the Western Roman Empire, although in fact Rome fell back in 410, when it was conquered by the Visigoths. Odoacer himself did not believe that he was abolishing the empire by this act. He sent the signs of imperial dignity to Constantinople to the Eastern Roman emperor. But in essence it was a radical revolution. In Italy, as elsewhere in the territory of the former Western Roman Empire, the barbarians became the masters. Odoacer carried out a reform, endowing his combatants with land, for which he took away a third of their landed property from local landowners. All the barbarian kingdoms in the west, considered Roman "allies", gained independence.

Ostrogothic kingdom.
The Ostrogoths, after the collapse of the Hunnic union, settled in the Danubian regions in the position of federates of the Byzantine Empire. The leader of the Ostrogoths, Theodoric, from the noble family of Amalov, subjugated almost all the Ostrogoths and began to rule as a king. In 488, with the consent of the Eastern Roman emperor, he organized a campaign in Italy with the aim of conquering it. The Ostrogoths failed to achieve a decisive victory. In 493, Theodoric concluded an agreement with Odoacer on the division of Italy. But soon Odoacer was treacherously killed at the feast of Theodoric, and all of Italy came under the rule of the Ostrogothic king. Thus, a new barbarian state was created - the kingdom of the Ostrogoths. It included, in addition to Italy, areas along the Danube - part of modern Switzerland, Austria and Hungary (Pannonia). The capital was Ravenna.
The Ostrogoths settled mainly in Northern and Central Italy. They seized one-third of the land (mainly from the barbarians, endowed at one time with Odoacer) and divided it among themselves. Theodoric also confiscated the possessions of the fiscus and vacant lands and distributed them to the nobility. Italo-Roman landowners whose land had not been confiscated had to pay the Goths one-third of their income. Thus, large land ownership was not eliminated. Theodoric even endowed some of the Roman aristocrats with new possessions. In general, as a result of the Ostrogothic conquest, small-scale communal land ownership increased somewhat, but a radical transformation of agrarian relations did not occur. Under the influence of the Roman order, the Ostrogoths quickly decomposed tribal ties and social differentiation took place.
The royal power among the Ostrogoths very soon lost its military-democratic character and acquired despotic features. Theodoric considered himself the successor of the Roman emperors and imitated them in every possible way. Theodoric's legislation was based on Roman law. German customary law was not codified and legislated, as in other barbarian kingdoms. In Italy, Roman law and the old state apparatus were preserved, the Senate functioned according to the old tradition. The Roman nobility was attracted to the highest positions. The Roman Church was equalized with the Gothic Arian Church. For the Goths, there was a special German system of government headed by counts. Theodoric's policy increased ethnic disunity in the country, which made it difficult for the Romanization of the Goths and the interaction of the Roman and German social systems.
The Gothic military elite sought to weaken the influence of the Roman nobility and seize its wealth. After Theodoric's death, this led to open clashes. Queen Amalasunta, who succeeded to the throne, tried to continue the policy of her father, patronizing the Roman nobility and focusing on Byzantium, which cost her not only the throne, but also her life. A fierce struggle for power began among the Ostrogothic nobility. The Byzantine Empire, which had long sought to conquer Italy, took advantage of this.
In 534, the Byzantine emperor sent a huge army and fleet under the command of Belisarius to Italy. Roman aristocrats and the Catholic clergy supported Byzantium. In a short time, the Byzantines captured most of the country, including Rome and Ravenna. However, the war was not over. The restoration policy of Byzantium was opposed not only by the barbarians, but also by the lower strata of the Roman population. The leader of the Goths, Totila, who was elevated to the royal throne, brutally cracked down on the pro-Byzantine-minded Roman nobility, depriving them of their possessions and income, and at the same time alleviating the position of columns and other dependent people, trying to attract them to his army. This made it possible to achieve a turning point in the course of the war and expel the Byzantines from Northern and Central Italy. But Byzantium sent large military reinforcements to Italy and in 552 defeated the Goths. Totila fell on the battlefield, and the Goths fought for another three years. liberation war. In 555, Italy, devastated in a twenty-year war, was completely conquered by Byzantium. Emperor Justinian, in a law specially issued for Italy, ordered that all lands, slaves and colonies be returned to their former masters. A significant part of the property was taken from the Ostrogoths. Many Goths left the country, only in the north of Italy the Gothic population was partially preserved. Nevertheless, Byzantium failed to fully restore the old slave-owning order in Italy.

The Pangobard Kingdom. Thirteen years after the Byzantine conquest, the Lombards invaded Italy from the north. They had previously settled in Pannonia, creating a large tribal union there, which included not only Germanic tribes (Saxons, Gepids), but also Sarmatians with Bulgarians. Byzantium at one time used the Lombards as allies in the war against the Ostrogoths. Now the Lombard king Alboin decided to retake Italy from Byzantium. Compared to other Germanic tribes, the Lombards were the most brutal conquerors: they destroyed cities, exterminated civilians or turned them into slaves. Not content with one or two thirds of the land, like other barbarians, they took almost all the property from the rich landowners, and they themselves were expelled or made their slaves. The entire local population was taxed and put under the control of the Lombard dukes.
Gradually, the Lombards conquered most of Italy. They owned the entire northern part of the country. In Central Italy, only the region of Ravenna (the Exarchate of Ravenna, which remained under the rule of Byzantium) and a small territory near Rome were not included in the Lombard state. In southern Italy, the Lombards owned the duchies of Benevent and Spoleto. The most numerous settlements of the Lombards were in the valley of the Po River, which was called Lombardy (Langobardia). The Lango-Bard conquest dealt the final blow to the remnants of slavery in Italy and had a decisive influence on the development of feudalism.
Under the influence of a more developed socio-economic system in the conquered country, the Lombards quickly disintegrated communal and tribal ties, established private ownership of land, and intensified social differentiation. The old military-democratic structure was falling into decay. Instead of a general militia, the royal squad acquired decisive importance. For service, the combatants received land allotments and turned into feudal landowners.
As a result of the formalization of feudal relations, the positions of royal power were weakened. The political struggle intensified in the country. The dukes and other magnates, who kept the mass of the population in dependence and had military squads, strove for complete independence. At the same time, the foreign policy situation of the Lombard state became more complicated. The popes sought to seize the Lombard lands along the Tiber River and called for help from their allies - the Frankish kings. In 754 and 757 Pepin the Short defeated the Lombard state and took away part of its territory, giving it to the pope.

Socio-economic, political and ethnic changes in Western Europe in the 5th-6th centuries.
The beginning of the formation of classes in feudal society.

The conquest of the Roman provinces and the resettlement of the barbarians among the Romanesque population, who lived in a class society and a higher material and spiritual culture, accelerated the decomposition of the primitive communal system and the formation of early feudal relations among the barbarian peoples. On the other hand, the barbarian conquests accelerated the disintegration of slaveholding relations and the formation of the feudal system in Roman society. At the same time, they created the preconditions for a Romano-Germanic synthesis.
Everywhere the conquests were accompanied by a redistribution of landed property. The barbarians carried out mass confiscations of land and movable property, including slaves. As a result of all these confiscations and divisions, the proportion of large landed property has significantly decreased and the importance of small and medium landed property has increased. The barbarian warriors turned into communal peasants. This tendency to strengthen small-scale farming at the expense of the large-scale landed property of slave owners was undoubtedly progressive in those historical conditions. Small-scale peasant production was the economic basis of the emerging feudal system. But in the territory conquered by the barbarians, large-scale landed property with the exploitation of the labor of slaves, columns and other dependent people did not disappear at all. The senatorial nobility, the elite of the curials and the higher clergy remained large landowners. Large landed property also spread among the barbarians. The kings, the old tribal nobility and the royal vigilantes appropriated a significant share of the conquered land and exploited the dependent people. Under the influence of these relations and the norms of Roman law, the process of decomposition of the communal-tribal orders among the Germans accelerated. Allotment land turned into property, and this led to property inequality among the community members and to the establishment of land and personal dependence.
If the free Germans gradually sank to the position of dependent people, then the columns and slaves, on the contrary, acquired greater economic independence and legal powers. The state power did not interfere in relations between landowners and their dependent people. The columns were no longer considered as bonded people, they owned the household and tools. In the same way, the slaves planted on the land enjoyed the right to own their property.
Thus began the process of formation of a class of feudally dependent peasantry. Roman slaves, freedmen, columns and various petty holders, as well as exploited categories of the German population - slaves, litae and other semi-free people, turned into serfs and dependents. The class of dependent peasants was more and more intensively replenished by community members who were ruined and lost their freedom and landed property.
At the other extreme, an exploiting class of large landowners was being formed. It included a significant part of the large Roman landowners and the top of the Christian clergy, as well as the barbarian tribal and service nobility. Occupying a dominant position in the barbarian kingdoms, this nobility grew rich by exploiting the conquered population and gradually subjugated the communal peasants.
Change in the political system. The process of class formation that began in barbarian society and the establishment of dominance over the population of the Roman provinces led to the formation of state power among the barbarian peoples.
The tribal organization of the Germans was unable to exercise dominance over the masses of the conquered Roman population. What was needed was a state with military force and a judicial-administrative apparatus. Instead of the collapsed Roman state bureaucratic system, the barbarians had to create their own state organization based on the principle of territorial subordination of the entire population to royal power. The ruling elite also needed state power in order to suppress the resistance of the lower strata of barbarian society, who were losing their freedom and falling into dependence.
Compared to the slave-owning Roman Empire, with its complex and ramified bureaucracy, the newly created barbarian kingdoms were primitive. Central power was concentrated in the hands of kings, who at first resembled the military leaders of barbarian hordes, limited in their actions by the will of the tribal and service nobility. On the ground, along with the royal servants, community-clan bodies were preserved - people's assemblies with elected judges and assessors. The German population was judged according to the old customary law, recorded in the barbarian truths. The protection of public order was carried out for the most part by the forces of the population itself. The military organization was a general militia of all free Germans, who armed themselves and went on a campaign at their own expense. However, a retinue of professional warriors who received maintenance from the king and served only him was becoming increasingly important. It was a practice to allocate land to combatants along with the dependent population.
The formation of barbarian statehood was influenced to one degree or another by Roman state-legal institutions. The Roman population in some barbarian states (Visigothic, Vandal, Ostrogothic, Burgundian) used Roman law and was controlled by the former judicial and administrative apparatus put at the service of the barbarian kings. Educated Romans were in the royal service (the barbarians, as a rule, remained illiterate, the custom forbade them even to pass the school "drill").
The barbarian kingdoms inherited, to varying degrees, the Roman territorial, administrative, and fiscal system; they tried to extend it to the German population.
Among the Germanic peoples who remained in their former territory beyond the Rhine, state organization developed much later and in a more primitive form of tribal principalities (duchies). This is explained not only by the absence of Roman influence, but also by the fact that the tribal structure continued for a long time to fulfill its former functions in the field of court, military organization and in solving the most important public affairs. With weak social differentiation, the vast majority of the population was included in community-clan unions, and in order to create a state territorial organization there were no conditions.
New ethnic communities. The resettlement of the Germans to new territories and the mixing of a diverse population in the process of movement led to the decomposition of the pre-existing Germanic tribal formations and to the emergence of new communities based on territorial ties. The Germanic tribes, replenished in the course of distant migrations with alien ethnic elements, settled in the conquered Roman territories among the more numerous and higher level of economic and cultural development of the Romanesque population, entering into social and ethnic contacts with it. Although in political and military terms the conquering barbarians remained masters, in economic, cultural and ethnic interaction the Romans became the winners. For several centuries, the barbarians were romanized and assimilated by a more developed ethnic environment, without having a noticeable influence on it either in terms of lifestyle or language. The most successful process of ethnic assimilation developed in those areas where the barbarians settled mixed with the local population. But even where continuous barbarian populations were created, as, for example, in Northern Gaul (Franks) or Northern Italy (Langobards), the assimilation process, albeit slowly, progressed in the same direction, and after several centuries the Germans disappeared into the local Romanesque environment. The success of assimilation was favored by the political unification of the diverse population within one state and the establishment of Christian unity. The East Germanic tribes who migrated to the west adhered to Arianism at first, but soon they adopted the Roman Christian orthodoxy, and this removed all obstacles to mutual communication.