Government
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France had a feudal system of government; the royal power was largely decentralised. In rural areas, feudal lords handled matters such as defense and the maintenance of law and order. This was the result of the chaos that followed the Germanic and Viking invasions. The feudal hierarchy started with Kings at the top. The next step down were the Liege lords, Dukes, and other nobles with titles who were given manors and dioceses(fiefs) to control within the King's Domain. Below them were the vassals, or lesser lords who controlled smaller pieces of land on the Leige lord's manor. Below the knights were serfs. Serfs were peasants who were indebted to the vassals, and in order to pay off their debt, they had to work the land and give half of their crops to their vassal. A serf was bound to their land, meaning that they could not travel without permission. A serf's debt could be sold from one manor to another. If the lord of the manor died, then the serfs would continue to pay their debt to the new lord. In urban areas, popular agitation led to the setting up of autonomous "communes" that served as units of self-government.
Read more about this topic: France In The Middle Ages
Famous quotes containing the word government:
“A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“The Government of the absolute majority instead of the Government of the people is but the Government of the strongest interests; and when not efficiently checked, it is the most tyrannical and oppressive that can be devised.”
—John Caldwell Calhoun (1782–1850)
“In our governments the real power lies in the majority of the community, and the invasion of private rights is chiefly to be apprehended, not from the acts of government contrary to the sense of the constituents, but from the acts in which government is the mere instrument of the majority.”
—James Madison (1751–1836)