Jordan

Feudalism in England came to an end due to several factors. The rise of mercenaries and professional soldiers led to a decline in feudal bonds. Economic changes worsened the situation, with nobles becoming poor and indebted. Feudal relationships weakened as loyal subjects switched sides during the War of the Roses. Centralization of power occurred with the House of Tudor coming out on top. This marked the birth of a centralized and modern state. Feudalism was a significant step towards this transformation. Feasts are the Conquest Chronicles, the podcast on England's road to power from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. Hello, everyone, and welcome to Episode One of the Conquest Chronicles. I'm Jordan, and I'll be your host for this episode. Feudalism, rather the driving forces to its end, will be our focus. The War of the Roses, one of Britain's many civil wars, will be our theater, especially at its closing. And this event marked the start of the modernization of Britain and the birth of a modern state through the checklist given to us by Roberts. Four factors consolidated the beginning of the end of feudalism in Britain, which consist of the rise of mercenaries and professional soldiers, economic changes following the War of the Roses, the decline of feudal bonds, and the centralization of power, the topic of the second episode led by our castmate, Julia, but one I will still lean into slightly. So the rise of mercenaries and professional armies is one of several factors that led to the end of feudal obligation overall. Feudal levies were getting hard to maintain for lords, so they decided on paying professional soldiers and mercenaries to maintain their offensive forces. This led to a decline in connection between feudal lords and their subjects, as these soldiers were not levies. They were paid privately for their service. They are opportunistic and fought for whoever could pay them. There is no emotional connection between lord and soldier. However, professional soldiers were a lot more capable on the field of battle than feudal levies were. Levies were merely peasants with no martial ability and only provided manpower. Nobility was also expected to fight for the king, as well as nobles had to remain professional soldiers. What this entails is that there were professional soldiers both in and out of the nobility, lending themselves to superior martial ability. Economic changes are next. Many nobles were left poor and indebted to professional soldiers, mercenaries, and the general logistical costs of war that were not kind to them. The economy in Britain before the war was already in shambles, so the war simply made it worse. Henry IV's Lancastrian Revolution was a delicate affair that led only to more problems, increasing England's debt astronomically. However, Henry V was a boon to the people of England, who helped the British economy recover to some extent after the Epiphany Rising, meant to kill Henry IV and restore power to Richard II, only for it to fall apart again shortly after his death, with the economy going down 36% in revenue. The House of Lancaster did not recover financially as well beyond what Henry V did until the Tudors took over. With this debt, many nobles had to sell off assets that belonged to them, whether it be consumables or jewels, even land or territories in their entirety. These were all sold to landowners that could pay off those debts. They could become a lord without being appointed by the monarch. Even fewer feudal relationships were established. However, many nobles that took power during the Tudor period were pragmatic and took up a harsher stance on business and admin, as well as management of their territories, becoming a lot more independent as these new nobles did not become nobles due to personal bonds. They got them as a reward for their service, without the obligation of military offering. The weakening of feudal bonds was a result of many formerly loyal subjects to either the House of York or the House of Lancaster switching sides to the opposition, offering their aid and loyalty to the side that is proving itself superior to the other at the time. Many subjects during that feudal era would maintain their loyalty to their lord for a lifetime unless they did something to bereave them, but during the War of the Roses, many subordinate houses became opportunistic regarding their allegiance and did not see a benefit to staying with them and decided to bend on the other side. Many aristocrats of the period were also highly extortionate and greedy, hiking up rents of properties and people that make part of their feudal levy. Aboriginal state owners of this kind obviously attracted too little local devotion to enable them to rush headlong into wanton conflict with the monarchy. The people of East England were also a good example of those that sided with neither and did not have clear feudal obligations, considering there was no single house in power in the East. Here, the powerful lords of the North and South found little support. The vast estates of the old feudal barons were broken up into numerous independent manors. A weaker system of government with no feudal lord in power was established here, one that opposed the positions of the War of the Roses. Our fourth and final cause, centralization of power, sourced at the end of the War of the Roses with House Tudor, a house that consisted of both Lancaster and York coming out on top, and with no opposition, power was firmly secured in the hands of the royalty. So, was feudalism the first proper step into a centralized and modern state? Yes, and a big one at that. The end of feudalism marked the end of decentralized power and the birth of New York politics. If you want to see whether Roberts' checklist will be ticked off, check out the following episodes. And with that, these were the Conquest Chronicles. Thank you very much for listening, and I will see you in the final episode.