Feudalism: The Catalyst Of The Dark Ages
The Middle Ages, otherwise known as the Dark Ages, began around 476 A.D. after the fall of the Western Rome Empire. This was the same empire that had ruled most of Europe and its eastern counterpart for numerous centuries. You can probably imagine its downfall's devastating effects on all of Europe, the destruction of culture, power, and future hope — which further led to skepticism, decentralization, and nihilism. After all, who could hope for a better future when the strongest power residing in Europe collapsed from a flurry of barbarians?
Feudalism, as a result, became a popular form of governance. Small localized communities began to rule the West in a decentralized fashion — with set rulers and their accompanying subjects.
These rulers formed their local kingdoms and ruled alongside the Eastern Roman Empire, being the catalyst for the Dark Ages…
Now, the Dark Ages are a time depicted by little to none or very slow growth. Cultural growth. Economical growth. Scientific growth. It all halted and became a sea of uniformity throughout the European kingdoms. And whose fault was that? Feudalism. Living decentralized meant that there was more resistance from one tribe to another, more resistance to commerce, and more resistance to the commune. A cesspool of violence emerged, as was expected. Too many people with power, too few people subjected to power.
In Europe, Feudalism was practiced using a 4 level triangle to depict hierarchy. At the top were Monarchs, then subsequently: Nobles, Knights, and Peasants. It became a system where the higher-ranked individuals would offer land and protection to the lower ranks in return for support through loyalty and enlistment in their localized wars.
Feudalism ran from the fall of the Western Roman Empire to almost the 15th century, over a millennium. However, it began declining in the 12th century due to increasing nationalism, cultural movements, and disastrous diseases. Along with this, a shift towards firearms was noticed and training became more sided towards those with good aim rather than those with superb swordsmanship. Finally, Feudalism was replaced by capitalism, with the merging of kingdoms into states and the establishment of centralized power.
Though Feudalism had a good run and is not likely to resurface any time soon —imagine if it did. The biggest problem with Feudalism was the lack of communication between neighboring tribes, but they also didn’t have what we have today. With the emergence of the internet, we can begin to see how widespread communication will never be the same again, that even on a remote island you’re able to communicate globally with people you’ve never met: sharing information, trading goods, and fostering relations. And the funny thing is, decentralization is actually what we’ve been seeking for the past 100–200 years. It wasn’t apparent at first but with the prosperity of decentralized currency (Bitcoin), it's becoming a sign that decentralization may benefit us in ways that couldn't have been predicted back in the Middle Ages.
This may be difficult, but it's not an impossible restructuring of our current society. Regardless, Feudalism had its falls and successes that have paved the way to (almost) nationwide capitalism, there’s a lot of things we can learn from Feudalism’s reign and there’s a lot we can apply — till next time.
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