New Monarchies of Medieval Europe

New Monarchies of Europe

Introduction

By the beginning of the fifth century, the Western Roman Empire had lost its ability to keep the migrating German tribes at bay. By the turn of the century, the Western Roman Empire had ceased to exist. By that time, Christianity had become a part of the civilized society of Europe. However, the German people had yet not been brought in the folds of Christianity.

Stable kingdoms soon replaced the tribal structure that was evident in the migratory phase of the German peoples. Wessex hegemony began in the territories comprising modern day England, Scandinavia entered the Vendel age and the Franks came under the rule of Merovingians.

By the beginning of the seventh century, the Carolingians had become masters of the Frankish Kingdom. Charles Martel, grandfather of Charlemagne, laid the foundation of feudalism, a structured system that would define the political structure of Europe in the next centuries. It was feudalism that gave rise to a set of new monarchies that came to dominate the continent in the coming centuries. This period also saw the rise in the power of the pope.

In contrast, the Byzantine Empire had gained renewed vigor under the reign of Justinian. The Byzantine Empire had been able to develop a structured setup that separated the military and civil aspects of the empire. However, this was short-lived as a new threat faced the Empire in the Arabian Peninsula: Islam. Islamic armies had overrun large tracts of Byzantine territories and as a result, the Empire was reduced to Asia Minor and some strongholds in Italy.

This paper will discuss the feudal setup in various kingdoms of medieval Europe and would detail its rise along with its ultimate decline by the end of the 15th century.

Discussion

By the 700s, medieval Europe faced a significant threat in the form of Islam. The Muslims had overrun Spain and had reached the Pyrenees. Under these conditions, Charles Martel gave tracts of lands to his nobles by which they could raise incomes to recruit men for his campaigns. This act of kindness, laid the foundations of feudalism.

At the heart of the feudal system was the relationship of the lord and vassal. The lord provided his vassal with the income yielding piece of land, formally called a fief, in return for giving homage to the lord. The vassal was required to take an oath that he would remain loyal to his lord.

The largest fiefs belonged to the noblemen who had acquired lands from the king. These noblemen in turn gave pieces of their land to their own vassals. This further division was necessary because it was the only way by which these noblemen could ensure that they would get the soldiers required for the King. This meant that further divisions were required and this led to the creation of a pyramid of loyalty. At the top of this pyramid was the king and at the bottom was the serf. With the acquisition of political power by the popes, the popes ...