Why did the idea of feudalism in the Middle Ages start declining?

Question

Why did the idea of feudalism in the Middle Ages start declining?

Answer 1

The peasants learndeth to read!

Answer 2

The Industrial Revolution came along and chnged all the rules.

Answer 3

The Black Death started it. Suddenly half the agricultural workforce of Europe was dead, and the ones that were left suddenly found they were in such demand that landowners were willing to pay them MONEY for their labour, instead of simply saying they were serfs and had to work for nothing. The whole institution of serfdom, which had lasted for centuries, collapsed with a couple of decades.

Second cause, changes in military organisation and technology - the original idea of feudalism was that everyone who held land from the king was obliged to fight for him. When it became more desirable for the king to employ and pay soldiers than call out his knights, the whole thing lost its point.

Third cause, the rise in trade and manufacturing - when towns and merchants became as important to the kingdom as the nobility, the social order had to change to reflect this.

There's a whole lot more to it but that's a start.

Answer 4

The lords who owned the land started turning the land over to sheep, instead of letting it be farmed by peasants.  this meant that many peasants were thrown out of their old farms and had to work as waged labourers instead of farming their own land, or became beggars.  by the end of the 16th century, there were enormous numbers of homeless poor in england as a result of enclosures.

In 'medieval Lives', Terry Jones says that sheep were the peasants' natural enemy.  The idea that the end of feudalism meant an improvement in living standards for the poor people of england is a myth, it actually meant exactly the reverse.

And plenty of peasants could read in medieval times, education was provided by the church.

Answer 5

The rise of the middle class, actually, which sort of split things right in the middle.