Bastard feudalism

Hicks, M. A.

'Bastard Feudalism' is the term historians give to the tie that bound late medieval retainers to their lords, and allowed those lords in turn to wield the political power, and cut the figure, appropriate to their rank. Without it, the late medieval aristocracy would not have been able to rule their localities, and fight the wars (at home as well as abroad) that were such a prominent feature of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It is thus of fundamental importance to our understanding of the late medieval world - its warfare, local government, justice and public order, as well as its politics and social structure. But bastard feudalism had a longer-term significance, too: by involving payment (rather than the grant of land) in return for service, it contributed to the increasing mobility of society that marks the transition to the early modern world. . This major work now...

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