WHAT WAS DISCUSSED DURING THE SESSION ON FEUDALISM AT THE CONFERENCE «RETHINKING THE MIDDLE AGES, OR AUDIT OF THE RUSSIAN MEDIEVAL HISTORY»

On the 17th of September, 2019 within the conference «Rethinking the Middle Ages, or Audit of the Russian Medieval History» was held special session devoted to the problem of Western European feudalism. In the course of this session both traditional and modem aspects of this important social phenomenon’s understanding were discussed. In particular, were emphasized its fundamental aspects which had been researched in the works of representatives of both native historical tradition and historians from abroad. Thus, were marked out the next main features of feudalism: joining of super power with ownership in land; replacement of full ownership (allod) by conditional one; establishment of feudal hierarchy; private contractual relationship «domination-submission» between seignior and vassal, based on commendation; landed relations (allotment of land for service) and judicial ones - that is lord’s or seignior’s right to force the tenants to be at law in the seigniorial court and to consider there both civil and criminal cases; «jurisdiction in private hands» or prerogative of private justice. This right might be sold together with land and had inheritable character. Thus, at the session prevailed the opinion that feudalism was not only social relation based on the model «feud - dependent peasant holding» and landed power of the higher person over the lower, but first of all - private relations, based on agreement, on service and on defense. As for the use of term «feudalism» itself: taking into consideration file idea that terms shouldn’t be argued, but arranged, participants agreed that nowadays this term is used not only in its historiographical or cognitive meaning, whether it reflects «system of power», «system of landownership» or «system of law»; for scholars working directly with historical sources this term is still necessary as an utilitarian unit of semantic and conceptual nature. Nowadays this term apparently is still «a term with service load», it’s not necessarily needs in search of «new senses». New publications on the pages of file journal «Srednie veka» (during the period of 2009-2019) were also being discussed.

Conference «Rethinking the Middle Ages or Audit of the Russian Medieval History», session on feudalism, feudalism, traditional approaches, term, new trends, property, landed and private relations, seisin, church parish, community