Real Property & Land Law - Land Tenure, Monarchy & Feudalism, 1066-1485 (Medieval Period) - British History, General & Miscellaneous Medieval History, British History - Pre-17th Century - General & Miscellaneous

Bastard Feudalism

Name: Bastard Feudalism
Author: M. Hicks
ISBN: 9780582060920

by M. Hicks

Available on Bookshop Write a review

Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.

Overview

'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 offers the most radical reinterpretation of the subject for fifty years, transforming our understanding of it and setting a fresh agenda for future work in the field. Michael Hicks argues that bastard feudalism started far earlier and lasted far longer than scholars have traditionally allowed; and that it was far more complex - and often much more positive - in its effects than its conventional image as a source of instability and abuse. Traditionally the concept has been linked almost exclusively to the non-resident gentry of 1300-1500 (the so-called indentured retainers). This book by contrast deals with the period from 1150 to 1650, and reveals more continuity than change over the five centuries it spans. It demonstrates that the most important retainers throughout the period were in fact the members of the lord's own household and the tenants of his estates, men whose bonds with their lord were particularly strong and enduring. Indentured retainers were unusual, and had all but disappeared by 1470. Because these ties were stable, Professor Hicks argues, society founded on them was also

Reviews

There are no reviews yet. Log in to write one.

Editorials

Booknews

Surveys the causes and effects of bastard feudalism and its contribution to the increasing mobility of society that marks the transition to the early modern world. Hicks (medieval history, King Alfred's College) argues that bastard feudalism started earlier and lasted longer that scholars have traditionally allowed, and demonstrates that the most important retainers during the period were members of the lord's own household and tenants of his estates. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)