NBPG 6

• Feudalism


  A system of government based on hereditary lineage and fealty - oaths of loyalty to kings and lords on manors (agricultural estates) in exchange for protection and aid during hardships
• Feudal European states


  • Strictly bound to the theological and political powers of the Catholic Church
  • Any objections to the religion were considered capital offenses
  • Nobles and clergymen enjoyed guaranteed tax, legal, and land-holding protections, privileges, and rights that were denied to commoners
  • Any unorthodox religious ideas or scientific interpretations that contradicted the beliefs of the Church were ruthlessly silenced or punished
  • Religious differences between states resulted in the mass mobilization of resources and soldiers to deadly, destructive warfare
• Taika Reforms in Japan

  1. Attempted to wholly adopt many attributes of Chinese culture & society, including their state system, writing, Confucianism, literature, diet, architecture, etc.

  2. Attempts to emulate the strong centralized imperial government failed, and the influence of powerful clans and regional governments continued to exercise great power of their own
• Feudalism in Japan


  • Centered mostly around regional powers, while also exercising a rigid class hierarchy based mostly on heredity
  • Powerful military leaders known as shogun served as regional leaders, supported by the loyal noble land-owning class known as the daimyo
  • The professional soldier class was known as samurai
  • Peasants were considered more honorable than the merchant class, who were placed at the bottom tier of society
• Following the fall of Rome in the 5th century, Europeans lacked a strong, central authority to govern; to replace the vacuum of power, many small, de-centralized polities developed a system of government known as the manorial system
• Below the nobility were professional soldiers known as knights, and at the bottom were serfs—known by some as peasants—unfree laborers who worked the land for knights, nobles, and/or kings in exchange for protection & provision during tumultuous times
• Peasants were bound to live on Common Land—land held by the king or nobility—which they could use to subsist on in exchange for paying 'rent' in the form of labor, grain, or gold
• Nobody 'owned' private property or goods—they simply 'rented' it from the king or lord, and, as such, had little motivation to improve production as all excess product went to the lord of the manor
• While Europeans had struggled to form a strong state system to replace Rome, there existed a similar struggle to establish a centralized state in Japan during the 7th and 8th centuries CE
• A semi-unified kingdom had claimed control over most of Japan since the 3rd century CE, however, the central government itself was quite weak compared to other imperial states
• Powerful clans in the imperial government, as well as regional powers, made the government highly corruptible and effectively de-centralized
• Most of the cultural elements of the Taika Reforms were effective and long-lasting, but attempts to emulate the strong centralized imperial government failed
• The period in Japan from the 13th to 17th centuries was largely defined by feudal practices