The term feudalism is derived from the Latin feodum, for "fief," and ultimately from a Germanic word meaning "cow," generalized to denote valuable movable property. Feudalism began around 450 AD after German invaders had conquered Rome. Its origins were between the Rhine and Loire rivers, but it soon spread from France to Spain, Italy, and later Germany and Eastern Europe. It reached its maturity around the 11th century and proceeded to grow into the 13th century. Feudalism continued in all parts of Europe until the end of the 14th cent.
             Feudalism origined out of the failure of the centralized government in the 9th century, which made Europeans insecure. Feudalism is a system of human relationships i.e. mutually beneficial personal agreements between people for the purpose of protection and justice. Agreements consisted of private contracts wherein one person accepted the position of being a dependant of another and this agreement was guaranteed by grants of land called fief.
             In an ideal feudal society the ownership of all land was vested in the king. Beneath him was a hierarchy of nobles, the most important nobles holding land directly from the king, and the lesser from them, down to the seigneur who held a single manor. The political economy of the system was local and agricultural, and at its base was the manorial system. Under the manorial system the peasants, laborers, or serfs, held the land they worked from the seigneur, who granted them use of the land and his protection in return for personal services and for dues. In some cases the king would also grant immunities to those he would grant land wherein that lord would be able to exercise his own government on his land.
             There was a formal procedure to connote the creation of a contract called the investiture ceremony. It took place between a lord and a vassal, wherein the lord bestowed land on to the vassal and the vassal took an oath of fealty. The oa...