Explain Feudalism (in the East)
Feudalism (in the East)
East of the Elbe River, the land (and in turn the society) was still ordered by a pattern known as feudalism, under which lords owned all of the land -- and the subjects, or serfs, who work it.
Serfs worked in virtual slavery, keeping from what they produced off the land only enough to survive at a subsistence level and owing the rest to the lord. In principle, their obligation to the lord was due to his protection over them. Lords protected serfs -- in principle at least -- from the constant threats of invasion by other lords or of unrest by other serfs. By using their physical and moral authority to keep order, lords protected the serfs from starvation.