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Friedrich Engels

The Decline of Feudalism and

the Rise of the Bourgeoisie

Written: 1884;

First Published: From an unfinished manuscript discovered amongst

Engels posthumous papers: "Ueber den Verfall des Feudalismus and

das Aufommen der !ourgeoisie" !erlin ##$ 1%&';

Source: (onthl) $evie* April 1%&+ pp, 44&-4&4;

Translated: .ohn /, #icinson;

Transcription/Markup: 0teve almer;

Proofread: 0teve almer;

Copyleft: (onthl) $evie*,

2hile the chaotic battles among the dominant feudal nobilit) *ere

filling the (iddle Ages *ith sound and fur) the 3uiet labours of the

oppressed classes all over 2estern Europe *ere undermining the

feudal s)stem and creating a state of affairs in *hich there *as less

and less room for the feudal lords, rue in the countr)side the

feudalit) might still assert itself torturing the serfs flourishing on

their s*eat riding do*n their crops ravishing their *ives and

daughters, !ut cities *ere rising ever)*here: in 5tal) in 0outhern

France and on the $hine the old $oman municipalities *ere

emerging from their ashes; else*here and particularl) in central

6erman) the) *ere ne* creations, 5n all cases the) *ere ringed b)

protective *alls and moats fortresses far stronger than the castles of

the nobilit) because the) could be taen onl) b) large armies, !ehind

these *alls and moats medieval craft production guild-bound and

pett) though it *as developed; capital accumulation began; the need

for trade *ith other cities and *ith the rest of the *orld arose; and



graduall) *ith the need there also arose the means of protecting this

trade,

As earl) as the fifteenth centur) the to*nspeople pla)ed a more

crucial role in societ) than the feudalit), o be sure it *as still true

that agriculture occupied the largest proportion of the population and

thus remained the chief mode of production, 7evertheless the fe*

isolated free peasants *ho had managed to hold out here and there

against the rapaciousness of the nobles *ere ade3uate proof that it *as

the *or of the peasants and not the sloth and oppression of the nobles

*hich made the crops gro*,

At the same time the needs of the nobilit) itself had so increased

and changed that even the) could not do *ithout the cities: after all it

*as in the cities that the noble obtained his o*n special "tools"

armour and *eapons, #omestic te9tiles furniture and ornament

5talian sil the laces of !rabant furs from the 7orth the perfumes of

Arab) fruits from the evant and spices from 5ndia: ever)thing but

soap he had to bu) from the to*nspeople, A certain degree of

international trade had alread) developed: the 5talians sailed the

(editerranean and along the Atlantic oast as far north as Flanders; in

the face of increasing English and #utch competition the <anseatic

eague continued to dominate the 7orth 0ea and the !altic 0ea; the

connection bet*een the trade centres of the 0outh and those of the

7orth *as overland on roads *hich passed through 6erman), hus

*hile the nobilit) *as becoming increasingl) superfluous and more

and more obstructive to progress the to*nspeople *ere coming to

form the class *hich embodied the further development of production

and commerce of education and of social and political institutions,

.udged b) toda)=s standards all these advances in production and

e9change *ere of a ver) limited scope, roduction remained confined

*ithin the pattern of guild craftsmanship and thus itself retained

feudal characteristics; trade continued to be restricted to European

*aters and did not venture farther than the coastal cities of the evant



*here the products of the Far East *ere taen aboard, >et pett)

though industr) and the businessman remained the) *ere ade3uate to

overturn feudal societ); and the) at least remained in motion *hile the

nobilit) stagnated,

5n this situation the urban citi?enr) had a might) *eapon against

feudalism: mone), here *as scarcel) room for mone) in the t)pical

feudal econom) in the earl) (iddle Ages, he lord obtained

ever)thing he needed from his serfs either in the form of services or

in the form of finished products, Fla9 and *ool *ere spun *oven into

cloth and made into clothing b) the serfs= *omen; the man tilled the

fields and the children tended the lord=s cattle and gathered for him the

fruits of the forest bird-nests fire*ood; in addition the *hole famil)

had to deliver up grain fruit eggs butter cheese poultr) calves and

*ho no*s ho* much else, Each feudal domain *as sufficient unto

itself; even feudal militar) obligations *ere taen in ind; trade and

e9change *ere absent and mone) *as superfluous, Europe had

declined to so lo* a level had retrogressed so far that mone) at this

time served far less a social function than it did a political: it *as used

for the pa)ment of ta9es and *as ac3uired chiefl) b) robber),

All that had changed b) the fifteenth centur), (one) *as again

becoming a general medium of e9change so that the amount of it in

circulation *as much greater than it had been, Even the noble needed

it no* and since he had little or nothing to sell since also banditr) had

ceased to be eas) he *as faced *ith the necessit) of calling on the

urban mone)-lender, ong before the ramparts of the baronial castles

*ere breached b) the ne* artiller) the) had alread) been undermined

b) mone); in fact gunpo*der could be described as an e9ecutor of the

@udgment rendered b) mone), he citi?enr) of the to*ns used mone)

as a carpenter uses his plane: as a tool to level political ine3ualit),

2herever a personal relationship *as replaced b) a monetar)

relationship a rendering of goods b) a rendering of mone) that *as

the place *here a bourgeois pattern too the place of a feudal pattern,



!) and large of course the brutal s)stem of "natural econom)"

remained in most cases, 7evertheless there *ere alread) entire

districts *here as in <olland !elgium and along the lo*er $hine the

peasants paid mone) instead of goods and services to their overlords;

*here master and man had taen the first decisive steps in the

direction of becoming lando*ner and tenant; and *here conse3uentl)

even in the countr)side the political institutions of feudalism began to

lose their social basis,

<o* deepl) the foundations of the feudalit) had been *eaened and

its structure corroded b) mone) around the end of the fifteenth

centur) is striingl) evident in the lust for gold *hich possessed

2estern Europe at this time, 5t *as gold that the ortuguese sought on

the African coast in 5ndia and the *hole Far East; gold *as the magic

*ord *hich lured the 0paniards over the ocean to America; gold *as

the first thing the *hites ased for *hen the) set foot on a ne*l)

discovered coast, !ut this compulsion to embar on distant adventures

in search of gold ho*ever feudal *ere the forms *hich it too at first

*as nonetheless basicall) incompatible *ith feudalism the foundation

of *hich *as agriculture and the con3uests of *hich *ere directed at

the ac3uisition of land, o this it must be added that shipping *as

definitel) a bourgeois business a fact *hich has stamped ever)

modern nav) *ith an anti-feudal character,

0o it *as that the feudalit) of all 2estern Europe *as in full decline

during the fifteenth centur), Ever)*here cities *ith their anti-feudal

interests their o*n la* and their armed citi?enr) had *edged

themselves into feudal territories; had through mone) in part

established their social and here and there even their political

ascendanc) over the feudal lords, Even in the countr)side in those

areas *here agriculture *as favoured b) special circumstances the old

feudal ties began to dissolve under the influence of mone); onl) in

ne*l) opened territories such as the 6erman lands east of the ElbeB or

in other remote regions a*a) from the trade routes did the domination



of the nobilit) continue to flourish, Ever)*here ho*ever there had

been an increase in those elements in the population rural as *ell as

urban *hich insistentl) demanded that the senseless and eternal

fighting should stop that there should be an end to the feuds among

the lords *hich produced a perpetual state of domestic *arfare even

*hen a foreign enem) *as at the gates that the uninterrupted *holl)

purposeless devastation *hich had lasted throughout the entire (iddle

Ages should cease, hough these elements *ere still too *ea to

impose their o*n *ill the) found a sturd) support at the ver) top of

the feudal heap: the monarch), And it is at this point that anal)sis of

social relations leads to consideration of the relations *ithin and

among states; here is *here *e proceed from economics to politics,

he ne* nationalities had arisen graduall) out of the confusion of

peoples *hich characteri?ed the earl) (iddle Ages, his is a process

in *hich as is *ell no*n the con3uered assimilated the con3uerors

in the once $oman provinces; the peasants and to*nspeople absorbed

the 6ermanic masters, (odern nationalities are thus the creations of

the oppressed classes, (ene=s district map of central orraine [1] gives

us a clear picture of the manner in *hich here a mi9ing there a sorting

out too place, Cne need onl) follo* the line *hich divides the

6erman from the $oman place names in order to convince oneself that

this line in !elgium and lo*er orraine ver) nearl) coincides *ith the

linguistic boundar) bet*een 6erman and French as it e9isted as late as

the last 3uarter of the 18th centur), <ere and there a small area could

be found in *hich predominance of language *as still a matter of dispute, !ut b) and large the dispute had alread) been settled and

*hich area should remain 6erman *hich $oman had been

established, he Cld o*er Franish and Cld <igh 6erman forms of

most place names on the map go to prove ho*ever that the) belong to

the %th or at the latest the 1Dth centur) and that therefore the

boundaries had alread) been dra*n b) the end of the arolingian

period, 7o* it is interesting that *e find on the $oman side and

especiall) in the vicinit) of the linguistic border bastard name forms

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1884/decline/index.htm#n1

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1884/decline/index.htm#n1



made up of a 6erman personal name and a $oman place name; thus

for e9ample *est of the (aas near Verdun: Eppone curtis $otfridi

curtis 5ngolini curtis eudegisilo villa, oda) these are respectivel)

5ppecourt $ecourt la reu9 Amblaincourt sur Aire and hierville,

hese *ere Franish manors small 6erman colonies in $oman

territor) *hich sooner or later succumbed to $omani?ation, 5n the

cities and in individual rural stretches there *ere more resistant

6erman colonies *hich retained their language for a longer time; in

one of these for e9ample the ud*igslied originated at the end of the

%th centur), !ut the fact that $omance appeared as the official

language of France on the oath formulas of the ings and notables in

84 proves that a larger part of the Franish masters had b) that time

been $omani?ed,

Cnce the language groups had been fi9ed and their boundaries

established though account must be taen of later *ars of con3uest

and e9termination such as those against the 0la)s of the ElbeB it *as

natural that the) should serve as established foundations for the

building of states that the nationalities should begin to develop

to*ards nations, he rapid collapse of the linguisticall)-mi9ed state of

orraine suggests the importance of language uniformit), o be sure

linguistic boundaries and national boundaries *ere far from coinciding

*ith one another during the entire (iddle Ages; nevertheless ever)

nationalit) the 5talian to some e9tent e9cepted *as represented b) a

particular large state; and the tendenc) to*ards the formation of

national states *hich appeared *ith ever greater clarit) andconsciousness provided one of the most fundamental of the levers b)

*hich progress *as attained in the (iddle Ages,

5n each of these medieval states the ing *as the ape9 of the entire

feudal hierarch) an ape9 *hich the vassals could not dispense *ith

and against *hich at the same time the) found themselves in a state

of permanent rebellion, he characteristic relationship of the *hole

feudal econom) the granting of rights to the use of land on condition



that certain personal services and certain goods be rendered provided

in its original and simplest form plent) of occasion for 3uarrels

especiall) *here there *ere so man) *ho had an interest in an)

dispute, <o* *as it no* in the later (iddle Ages at a time *hen the

feudal relations in ever) land *ere a hopeless snarl of granted

*ithdra*n rene*ed forfeited changed or other*ise 3ualified rights

and duties harles the !old for e9ample *as a vassal of the <ol)

$oman Emperor for part of his lands; in other parts he *as a vassal of

the /ing of France, Cn the other hand the /ing of France harles=

lord in regard to these territories *as the vassal of harles in regard to

others, <o* could conflict be avoided in a situation lie that <ere *e

see the e9planation of the centuries-long counterpoint bet*een the

attraction of the vassals to the monarch) for onl) the monarch could

protect them from enemies outside and inside the s)stemB and the

repulsion a*a) from the monarch) into *hich that attraction

ceaselessl) and inevitabl) shifted; of the uninterrupted battle bet*een

the monarch and the vassals the ugl) cacophon) of *hich dro*ned

out all others during the long period *hen banditr) *as the onl)

source of income *orth) of a free man; of the endless se3uence of

betra)al assassination poisonings malice and ever) other

conceivable villain) a se3uence *hich stopped for a moment *ould

al*a)s rene* itself hiding behind the poetic label of hivalr) and

speaing in terms of <onour and Fidelit),

5t is obvious that the monarch) *as the progressive element in this

general confusion, 5t represented order in chaos the developing nationas against fragmentation into rebellious vassal-states, All the

revolutionar) elements *hich *ere coming into being under the feudal

surface *ere as inclined to dependence on the monarch) as the

monarch) *as inclined to dependence on them, he alliance bet*een

monarch) and bourgeoisie dates from the tenth centur); often

disrupted b) conflicts for during the (iddle Ages no movement *as

free of ?igs and ?ags the alliance *as al*a)s rene*ed stronger and

more potent until it enabled the monarch) to attain final victor);



*hereupon the monarch) in gratitude turned on its allies to oppress

and plunder them,

/ing and bourgeoisie found po*erful support in the rising

profession of @urist, 2ith the rediscover) of $oman a* there came

into being a division of labour bet*een the clerg) the legal

counsellors of feudal times and the non-clerical students of

@urisprudence, hese ne* @urists *ere from the beginning

predominantl) bourgeois, !ut not onl) that: the la* *hich the)

studied lectured on and practiced had an essentiall) anti-feudal and in

certain respects bourgeois character, $oman a* is to so great an

e9tent the classic @uridical e9pression of the living conditions and

frictions of a societ) in *hich the dominating concept is one of pure

private propert) that all later legislation could add but little to it in this

respect, !ourgeois propert) in the (iddle Ages *as ho*ever still

permeated *ith feudal limitations; it consisted for e9ample largel) of

privileges, hus $oman a* *as in this regard an advance on the

bourgeois relationships of the time, >et the further historical

development of bourgeois propert) could onl) be in the direction of

pure private propert) and this indeed is *hat happened, he lever of

the $oman a* *hich contained read) made ever)thing to *hich the

bourgeoisie of the later (iddle Ages *as still unconsciousl) striving

clearl) added enormousl) to the strength and pace of this

development,

Even though the $oman a* offered a prete9t in man) individual

cases for the increased oppression of the peasants b) the nobilit) for

e9ample *herever the peasants *ere unable to furnish documentar)

proof of their freedom from obligations *hich *ere other*ise

customar) this does not change the principle at issue, he nobilit)

*ould have found ade3uate prete9ts *ithout the $oman a* and did

find them dail), !e)ond 3uestion it *as a might) advance *hen a

s)stem of la* *as established *hich did not rest on feudal relations

and *hich full) anticipated modern ideas of private propert),



2e have seen ho* the feudal nobilit) began to become superfluous

and even economicall) detrimental in the societ) of the late (iddle

Ages; ho* it alread) stood politicall) in the *a) of the development of

the cities and of the national state for *hich a monarchical form *as

the onl) possibilit) at the time, #espite these facts the nobilit) had

been preserved b) the circumstance that hitherto it had had a

monopol) on the bearing of arms b) the fact that *ithout the noble no

*ar could be *aged no battle fought, Even this *as to change and the

last step *as to be taen *hich *ould mae abundantl) clear to the

feudal lord that his period of social and political domination *as at an

end and that even in his capacit) as night even on the battlefield he

*as no longer useful,

o fight feudalism *ith an arm) *hich *as itself feudal the

members of *hich *ere more closel) bound to their immediate lord

than the ro)al arm) command *ould have been to move in a vicious

circle, From the beginning of the 14th centur) the ings strive

constantl) to emancipate themselves from feudal armies to create their

o*n armies, 5t is from this period that *e find an ever increasing

proportion of recruited or hired troops in the ro)al armies, 5n the

beginning the) *ere mostl) infantr) the dregs of the cit) fugitive

serfs ombards 6enoese 6ermans !elgians and the lie used for

the occupation of to*ns and the siege of fortresses since at first the)

*ere scarcel) serviceable on the field of battle itself, 7evertheless

before the end of the (iddle Ages *e also find the nights *ho are

alread) contracting themselves and their god-no*s-ho* recruitedfollo*ers into the mercenar) service of foreign princes and in so

doing announcing the hopeless doom of the feudal militar) s)stem,

0imultaneousl) there arose the basic prere3uisite of a militaril)

competent infantr) in the cities and among the free peasants *here the

latter had persisted or had once again emerged, rior to this the

nights and their mounted follo*ers had formed not so much the

nucleus of the arm) as the arm) itself; the gang of accompan)ing



serfs the "footmen" hardl) counted: it seemed on the battlefield to

be present merel) for flight and plunder, As long as feudalism

flourished until the end of the 1'th centur) the cavalr) fought and

decided ever) battle, From then on ho*ever the situation changed;

and it changed in man) aspects simultaneousl), 5n England the

gradual disappearance of serfdom gave rise to a numerous class of free

peasants )eomen or tenants and there*ith to the ne* material for a

ne* infantr) practiced in the use of the longbo* *hich *as at the

time the English national *eapon, he introduction of these archers

*ho al*a)s fought on foot though the) might or might not be mounted

on the march *as the occasion for an essential change in the tactics of

the English armies, From the 14th centur) on the English nighthood

preferred to fight on foot *herever the terrain or other circumstances

made it appropriate, !ehind the archers *ho started the battle and

softened up the enem) the dismounted nights a*aited the enem)

attac in a closed phalan9 or *aited for a favourable opportunit) to

brea out *ith an attac themselves, Cnl) part of the nights remained

on their horses in order to help in the decision b) flan attacs, he

unbroen succession of English victories in France at this time is to be

attributed primaril) to this reintroduction of a defensive element into

the arm); for the most part the) *ere as much defensive battles

follo*ed b) offensive counter-attacs as *ere the victories of

2ellington in 0pain and !elgium, 2ith the adoption of the ne* tactic

b) the French *hich *as possible because mercenar) 5talian

crossbo*men could be used as the counterpart of the English archers

the victorious surge of the English *as brought to a halt, 5t *as

lie*ise at the beginning of the 14th centur) that the infantr) of the

Flemish cities had dared to oppose the French nighthood in open

battle and the) *ere often successful, he emperor Albert in his

attempt to betra) the 0*iss peasants into sub@ection to the Archdue of

Austria *ho happened to be Albert himself gave the stimulus to the

formation of the first modern infantr) of European repute, 5n the

triumphs of the 0*iss over the Austrians and in particular over the

!urgundians la) the final succumbing of armour mounted or not to



infantr); of the feudal arm) to the beginnings of the modern arm); of

the night to the to*nsman and peasant, And the 0*iss immediatel)

*ent on to turn their martial pro*ess into hard cash thereb)

establishing from the *ord go the bourgeois character of their

republic the first independent republic in Europe, All political

considerations disappeared; the cantons converted themselves into

recruiting offices in order to corral mercenaries to offer to the highest

bidder, Else*here too and particularl) in 6erman) the recruiting

drum *ent around, !ut the c)nicism of the 0*iss regime *hose sole

purpose appeared to be the sale of its sons *ent une3ualled until the

6erman princes in the period of deepest national abasement

surpassed it,

5t *as also in the 14th centur) that gunpo*der and artiller) *ere

brought into Europe from the Arabs b) *a) of 0pain, Until the end of

the (iddle Ages small firearms remained unimportant *hich is

understandable in vie* of the fact that the longbo*s of the English

archers at rec) reached as far and *ith perhaps as much accurac) if

not *ith the same effect as the smooth-bore musets of the infantr) at

2aterloo, Field artiller) *as lie*ise still in its infanc), 5n contrast to

this ho*ever the heav) cannon had alread) breached the unsupported

*alls of man) a night=s castle thus announcing to the feudal nobilit)

that the advent of gunpo*der had sealed its doom,

he spread of the printer=s art the renaissance of the stud) of the

ancient literatures the *hole cultural ferment *hich became

constantl) stronger and more general after 14&D all these things

favoured the bourgeoisie and monarch) in their conflict *ith

feudalism, he concatenation of all these factors strengthened from

)ear to )ear b) their increasingl) d)namic interaction on one another

in the same direction *as the fact *hich in the last half of the 1&th

centur) confirmed the victor) not to be sure of the bourgeoisie but

certainl) of the monarch) over feudalism, Ever)*here in Europe

right into those more remote areas *hich bordered on it and had not



passed through the feudal stage the ro)al po*er suddenl) got the

upper hand, !ehind the )renees t*o of the $omance language

groups of the area united to form the /ingdom of 0pain and

sub@ugated the rovencal-speaing nation of Aragon to the astilian

*ritten language, he third group consolidated its language area *ith

the e9ception of 6alicia into the /ingdom of ortugal the 5berian

<olland; turned its face sea*ard; and proved its right to a separate

e9istence b) its maritime activit), 5n France ouis G5 finall) after

the do*nfall of the !urgundian buffer state created a monarchical

national unit) in the still ver) limited French territor) to such good

effect that his successor *as alread) able to meddle in 5talian

s3uabbles, he fact is that its e9istence *as threatened onl) once b)

the $eformation in later )ears, England had finall) given up its

3ui9otic *ars of con3uest in France: in the long run it *ould have

bled itself *hite in these *ars, he English feudal nobilit) sought

substitute recreation in the 2ars of the $oses, 5t got more than it

bargained for: tearing itself to pieces in these *ars it brought the

<ouse of udor to the throne and the ro)al po*er of the <ouse of

udor surpassed ever)thing that had gone before or *as to come after,

he 0candinavian countries had long since been unified, After its

union *ith ithuania oland *as on the *a) to its period of greatest

glor) *ith a ingl) po*er as )et undiminished, Even in $ussia the

overthro* of the princes and the thro*ing off of the atar )oe *ent

hand in hand and *ere completed b) 5van 555, 5n all of Europe there

*ere onl) t*o countries in *hich the (onarch) and the national unit)

*hich at that time *as impossible *ithout it had not arisen or e9isted

onl) on paper: 5tal) and 6erman),

Footnotes



1. Spruner-Menke, Handatlas zur Geschichte des Mittelalters and der

neueren Zeit 'rd Ed, 6otha 18+4 map no, ',

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