The category of people that immediately followed King in the hierarchy was of noblemen of the king – Barrens and Bishops.īarrens were the wealthiest & powerful noblemen who received lands called as fiefs directly from the king. Hence, the kings preferred to sublet their lands to the barrens & bishops in return of which they used to provide knights (soldiers) to the king at the time of the war. Kings at that time were more concerned with wars, and with enhancing their kingdoms.

King was the highest authority in the medieval feudal hierarchy and all the land in the kingdom belonged to him which can be used by him as per his own wish. In this way land used to get sublet at each level of people and this resulted inactual hierarchical structure where the last person to get the sublet land was the lowest category in the hierarchy.įollowing are the levels of the feudal hierarchy: King The land again got sublet to the next class of people. The people in this category again used to sublet certain part of their land in order to get required services & soldiers during the war. The lands were distributed hierarchically where king assigned lands to his barrens and bishops who belonged to the noblemen category in the feudal hierarchy. This whole structure revolved around lands and often land was given in exchange of labor or service. After King, there existed certain classes in the structure with decreasing privileges, rights and nobility.

Medieval feudal hierarchy or the feudal system was organized in the form an inverted tree structure or what we call as a hierarchical structure where King was on the top of the hierarchy. The feudal system structured the society into various categories and followed a set of military & legal customs. Feudalism was a form of political dominancy that existed in Europe in medieval period ranging from 9 th century to 15 th century.

Medieval europe feudalism chart