Of, or relating to, a Medieval social structure where, in theory, the nobility would protect everyone, the peasants would pay for this protection by working the land, and the clergy would pray for everyone. In the secular world, the monarch was at the top of the pyramid, with each layer of nobility and commons owing services or favour to the layers above and below them. Although the term relates to the Middle Ages, it was not actually coined until the 16th century, so some medievalists don't like it.
Feudal
Fact of the Day
In 1252 Henry III was given a polar bear by King Haakon of Norway. He kept it in the Tower of London on a long chain so it could swim in the Thames.
Quote of the Day
"I have no political ambitions for myself or my children.
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~ Joseph P. Kennedy
On This Day
870 Louis the German and his half-brother Charles the Bald (grandsons of Charlemagne) divided Middle Francia between them, following the death of their nephew Lothair II, at the Treaty of Meerssen. It split Charlemagne's old kingdom into two parts that would eventually become France and Germany.
1503 James IV's marriage to Henry Tudor's daughter, Margaret Tudor, was confirmed at Holyrood Abbey. Their union would eventually lead to the placement of James VI on the English throne as James I.
1523 Jean Vallière became the first 'Protestant' to be burnt in France. However, as he believed Joseph, rather than God, to be Jesus' father, he would also have been considered a heretic by Luther.
1570 Catholic martyr John Fenton was hanged, drawn and quartered for advertising the papal bull that excommunicated Elizabeth I and exhorted good English Catholics to disobey her.
1827 Tory prime minister George Canning died suddenly of pneumonia just five months after taking office. He still holds the record for the shortest-serving prime minister.
1899 The United States Patent and Trademark Office issued a patent to Albert T. Marshall of Massachusetts for his household refrigeration device.
1918 The Battles of Amiens started the final phase of the Allied First World War offensive known as the Hundred Days. The Allies advanced over seven miles on the first day in what General Ludendorff described as 'the black day of the German army'.
1942 Controversially, six German saboteurs, who had previously lived in the USA, were electrocuted in Washington DC. They had been tried by a military tribunal that went against American legal precedent, and as such set another precedent that has since been used to justify other legally-questionable activities, such as the detention of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
1963 Fifteen robbers stole £2.6 million (£50 million today) from a Royal Mail train heading from Glasgow to London in what became known as the 'Great Train Robbery'.