Neo Feudalism

The New Feudalism is a form of social organization in which society's
political, economic, and military power is dominated by a hereditary
nobility. It is characterized by decentralized government ("Public power
in private hands"), the glorification of military culture, hierarchical
political relationships cemented by personal loyalty, and the existence
of a dependent peasant class. The indispensable concept that unifies
these diverse elements is lordship. The natural counterpart of lordship
is vassalage: the contract between the lord and those who serve him.

The economic power of the feudal nobility is derived from their
lordship over large estates and the attached peasantry that works their
land. The political power of the nobility is based on their mastery of
governmental and legal institutions, and is indivisible from their
military power, which derives from their control over the freeman
soldiers that grant them a monopoly on organized violence. This monopoly
is in turn dependent on the wealth generated by noble estates, which is
used to arm and train those soldiers, and to secure their loyalty
through largesse.

The mechanism that enables feudalism is the personal relationship
between lord and vassal. At its root, this relationship is driven by the
lord's charismatic leadership, and cemented by the loyalty of his
vassals. In many respects, vassalage bears a strong resemblance to
cronyism. The first vassals of the new Dark Ages were able lieutenants
to the powerful lords who brought down the Second Republic. Harkening
back to Diasporan Era precedents, these lords granted their underlings
privileges and power in return for their loyal service. This ensured
that the lord had subordinates he could depend on to follow his orders.

Initially, vassalage had nothing to do with holding land. The early
vassals lived in the palace of their liege lord, who fed, clothed, and
armed them. As technology deteriorated in the wake of the Fall, the
nobility found it increasingly difficult to raise armies and maintain
control over their subject populations. Associating the benefice of land
holding with vassalage proved to be an imperfect but workable solution:
It not only ensured a loyal lieutenant was on hand to maintain order, but
provided him with income to finance his military obligation to his liege.

The land-holding benefice, or fief as it came to be called, provided
a mechanism for the nobility to sustain its power across entire worlds
in the absence of the sophisticated communication networks and transport
systems that had linked the Republic together. It also supplied the means
to quickly raise and support armies off the land, as the high-tech
industrial economy that had financed the Republic-era military slowly
devolved into thousands of local economies driven by lower-tech
agricultural and artisanal production.

The practice of subinfeudation (by which a vassal places a portion
of his fief in the hands of vassals of his own) became commonplace
across the Known Worlds. This soon established a hierarchy of neo-feudal
relationships, extending downward from the Prince of each house through
sundry dukes, counts, and barons, down to the lowliest knights who
seldom hold land. By this mechanism was power decentralized and diffused
ever further, with private individuals taking the place of the public
institutions that had characterized the Republic.

The granting of a fief does not give the vassal true ownership rights
over the estate. Rather, the vassal may use the income of the land as a
reward for his service, and to pay for the costs of outfitting himself
and the troops he raises for his lord's army. Yet technically ownership
of the land remains in the lord's hands, and he can take it back if the
vassal ceases to be loyal, or proves to be grossly incompetent. In fact,
the earliest fiefs handed out after the Fall were not even hereditary,
and reverted to the lord if the vassal died.

The growing association of fiefs and vassalage precipitated a hunger
for land among the lesser nobility of the Known Worlds. What began as a
reward for loyalty and excellence evolved into a bargaining chip, used to
attract the most capable and ambitious nobles to a lord's service. Lords
who were either unable or unwilling to dole out large, prosperous fiefs
to their underlings found themselves outbid by more gregarious lords who
were willing to invest (or risk) more of their personal holdings to
secure the best "talent" among the nobility.

Nobles who acquired fiefs were seldom satisfied with what they had,
and eagerly set out to acquire more. The ideal method was through
conquest: Seizing lands from your lord's rivals to add to his holdings,
with the presumption that he would place at least a portion of them under
your control. Yet some vassals expanded their holdings by less savory
means, brokering their loyalty to multiple lords in exchange for land.
Inevitably, such dealings created conflicts of interest and diluted the
integrity of vassalage as an institution.

Over time, fiefholders conspired to make their holdings hereditary so
that their wealth and power would be passed on to their heirs. Many lords
acceded to this demand as another means of buying their vassals' loyalty,
and with this unfortunate precedent arose the notion that holding land as
a vassal is an entitlement, rather than a privilege. At first, hereditary
fiefdoms were restricted to nobles of baronial rank or above. Yet by the
time the Emperor Wars broke out, even baronets held the expectation of
passing their fiefs along to their heirs.

The end result of this trend was to establish an entrenched nobility
that earned the benefice of land holding by birthright, rather than
merit. No longer could lords be certain that their lands were being
administered by the most capable, let alone the most loyal, of their
vassals. Decadent, incompetent, and indolent, all too many of these
nobles lived up to the worst popular stereotypes of a corrupt and
self-serving nobility. The fortunes (and military potential) of the
noble houses suffered as a result of widespread mismanagement.

Yet depriving a fiefholder of his land without good reason can
provoke rebellion among a lord's vassals, exposing just who commands the
most loyalty, all too often, to the unwary lord's detriment. Recently,
there have been moves by the Royal Houses to take advantage of attrition
suffered during the Emperor Wars, quietly disfranchising the less popular
tenured nobles, and placing knights in charge of untenanted holdings to
insure that they revert to the crown. This may indicate a broader trend
to centralize power in the hands of the Princes once again.

See Also:
Serfs Nobles