Manorialism and Feudalism, which are that thing most greatly remembered of the Middle Ages, are the focus of most European conflict during the time we are RPing. This thread is an attempted mini-explanation of these systems, the history, how they affect everyone, and other such things.

Manorialism and Feudalism are both born out of the fall of the Roman Empire in the late 5th Century CE. There is a distinct difference between the two terms, though they are similar and completely related. Manorialism is the relationship between the lord of a fief and the peasants directly tied to him. Feudalism is the relationship between nobility and their ranks below and above eachother.

First, we shall deal with Feudalism. Feudalism is, as previously said, the relationship between nobility. There is a distinct hierarchy in Feudalism. Highest, of course, is the Emperor. At this point, there is only one Emperor, the Holy Roman Emperor (with the exception of the Byzantines, which will be dealt with later). The Emperor has various nobility that swear loyalty directly to him, and they are both kings and high nobility (such as the King of Poland is subordinate to the Emperor, but is somewhat equal to the 'lower' nobility that also swear loyalty directly to the Emperor). Next in line is the King, who is in charge of a Kingdom. The main example of a Kingdom at this time is the French, or Franks. Their King is the highest official. Next you have the next level of nobility. These swear loyalty directly to the King. In exchange, the King grants them large tracts of land across his Kingdom, in exchange for their loyalty. After these, there is still far too much land for a single High Noble to rule on his own, so he splits his land into many sections, and gives them to lower nobility. Then, if these are still quite large (and generally are), then they give successively smaller and smaller fiefs to lower and lower nobles. Each of the higher nobles generally keeps a tiny fief, small enough to manage easily, for himself (as do Kings and Emperors).

Manorialism is a very related but different system. It is the relationship between a lord and his direct peasants (substitute 'lord' with anything from Emperor to Marquess). European peasantry's situation was created during the time of the Roman Empire. The Western Roman Emmperor determined that, in order to safeguard Italian citizens from Barbarians, he tied them to the land they lived on. Whatever Governor the Emperor appointed over that land would be responsible for protecting the peasantry tied to it, with the Imperial Legions granted to him, and the peasantry were expected to feed the governor and his men. After the fall of the Empire, this system was basically absorbed into the feudal system developing in the new barbarian kingdoms. Peasantry are tied to the land, and they must feed a noble and his knights. In exchange, the noble and knights protect the peasants. Peasants, which came to be known in this time as "serfs", did not have the best of lives. They were permitted to keep basically what was needed to survive, and everything else was given to their lord and his knights, who ate very well, while most serfs ate the bare minimum (there were of course, kinder lords who took less, who therefore had less hungry and happier serfs, but this was not generally the case).

Now that I've explained the systems, I can explain the exceptions.

One of the main exceptions to this is the Eastern Roman Empire (known as the "Byzantine Empire" since the 16th Century). They used the same system developed by the Western Empire: peasantry tied to the land, an Imperial-appointed (and non-hereditary) governor of the land with Roman soldiers expected to protect the peasantry. This never gave in to all-out manorialism or feudalism. In fact, most of the military was actually imported from the Slavic states of the Empire in the Balkans, who were still considered to be "Barbarians" (though the Eastern Empire generally thought of all the Europeans as Barbarians, one Eastern Emperor calling the Holy Roman Emperor "a Barbarian Emperor over Barbarian Peoples" (which frankly he was)). These Slavs throughout the army had generally no connection to the governors they served, and swore loyalty to the Emperor (though obeyed gubernatorial orders, and the Emperor generally "requested" the legions back to serve the Empire).

The other main exceptions are the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons. In Anglo-Saxon Angland, they still have a tribal system. All of the tribes swear loyalty to a single King, but the tribes are generally wandering all around Angland. In a way, this is similar to feudalism AND manorialism. All of the tribes swear loyalty to the Anglo-Saxon King, but the various Chieftains have degrees of independence, and sometimes have smaller tribes with loyalty to a larger tribe. Also, the members of a tribe are generally tied to the tribe they are a part of, similar to the serfs' tying to a specific fief.

The Vikings, on the other hand, are non-tribal and are settled into farms across all of Scandinavia. There are three Viking Kingdoms: Norge (Norway), Sverige (Sweden), and Dannmark (Denmark, but if you didn't know that...). Iceland is a kingdom as well, but has basic loyalty sworn to the Norwegians, and Greenland to Iceland as well. The Danes are, in fact, not really an exception. Though they are Viking, they do have both manorialism and feudalism and are generally assimilated into the generality of Europe. The other Vikings on the other hand do not use such systems. In fact, they generally do not have militaries. In Sweden, Norway, and Iceland, they have villages of varying size. The men of these villages are generally needed at home for planting in the spring and harvest in the fall. During the summer and winter months, they generally go out, frankly, raping and pillaging, anywhere from western coast of Italy to northern coast of Poland, and occasionally across Russia and attack Byzantine coasts (though far less frequently). Quite often, the different raiding parties merge together into armies, not vast but still significant. They have often successfully invaded Scotland and England via these, but only for short times. At this time, however, Southern Norway no longer sends out the raiding parties, and uses them in a near-feudal way, with them all loyal to the King, and they fight as an army (though still using the feared longboats). Northern Norway, Sweden, and Iceland still use the original system, in general, though the Christians do not.

So, in a nutshell, this is an overview of Manorialism and Feudalism for the purposes of this RP. If you believe part of this is incorrect, feel free to post about it elsewhere.

Yours truly,

The Ref