Page:A General Sketch of Political History from the Earlist Times.djvu/164

 152 THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES a pope with magnificent ideals was waging a spiritual war with the emperor for the supremacy of Christendom. Gregory vn. died in the bitter belief that he had been defeated, but his life formed an epoch from which dates the era during which the power of the papacy was at its height. Perhaps what must be regarded as the leading feature of the period in the west is the development of the Feudal System. Throughout the Middle Ages Feudalism was the 2. Feudalism. b. . . ° ,., great obstacle to the establishment of strong government. It was a disintegrating force; a force, that is, which tended to break up any great state that might be formed, into a collection of provinces. It created everywhere a number of powerful nobles, each of whom could call an army of his own into the field ; while the greatest of them could often defy the sovereign authority of the state, and sometimes threaten to over- turn it altogether. The base principle of Feudalism is the tenure of the land on condition of protection given by the one party and military service rendered by the other. It was brought about by a double process. The great land-owner granted his lands to Lords and tenants, called vassals, on condition of their becom- Vassais. i n g his ' men/ and following his standard in battle, besides paying him certain dues which became established by custom. Secondly, small land-holders voluntarily became vassals of bigger men than themselves, to whom they surrendered their lands, receiving them back as tenants under feudal tenure ; the condition being that they should be protected against the attacks of other land-holders. According to the size of the estate, the vassal was pledged not only to fight for his lord himself, but to bring a certain number of retainers at his back. There was a perpetual tendency for all the smaller land-holders to become the 'men,' the vassals, of one or another of their big neighbours, lest one or another of the said neighbours should find excuse for depriving them of their lands altogether. A lord who had vassals himself might very well be himself, at the same time, the vassal of another greater lord. In fact the greatest lords, whether they were laymen or prelates, held their lands from the king, to whom they themselves did