Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The quality or state of being feudal.
  • noun A feudal holding, system, or regime.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The state or quality of being feudal; feudal form of constitution.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The state or quality of being feudal; feudal form or constitution.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The state or quality of being feudal; feudal form or constitution.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Compare French féodalité.

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Examples

  • Majesty, which recall feudality, should be restored; for the king ought to glory in the title of King of the French.

    History of the Girondists, Volume I Personal Memoirs of the Patriots of the French Revolution Alphonse de Lamartine 1829

  • In many cases it was the feudality of the situation: the chosen few at the top living luxurious lives while the majority of the organization was carried by unpaid volunteers, that caused people to feel fed up.

    Arjuna Ardagh: Do We Need Spiritual Teachers or Can We Learn On Our Own? 2010

  • This was to be expected, however, given the fact that England achieved a form of centralized government and idea of nationhood long before other continental giants, still fragmented due to feudality, a feudality which the Norman invasion of 1066 served to undo.

    enowning enowning 2007

  • Strange relics of feudality, and consequence of our ever-so-old social life!

    The Virginians 2006

  • The great anti-Capetian alliance (John of England, Emperor Otto IV, the counts of Boulogne and Flanders, and most of the feudality of Flanders, Belgium, and Lorraine).

    1165-70 2001

  • Philip played the barons off against each other, used his position as protector of the Church to weaken them further, and sought the support of the towns and rich bourgeoisie as a balance to the feudality.

    1165-70 2001

  • Hugh crowned his son shortly after his own coronation and began a practice (cooptation) that the early Capetians continued (until Philip II no longer felt it necessary), thus ensuring the succession and weakening the principle (dear to the feudality) of elective kingship.

    c. France 2001

  • Certainly, the last remains of the old feudality would be engulfed forever.

    Albert Gallatin American Statesmen Series, Vol. XIII John Austin Stevens

  • "But why had the noble wearer of this sword been deprived of his feudality and tenure?"

    Under the Rose Frederic Stewart Isham

  • Norman conquest and its feudalism, but it is perhaps more correct to consider it a local feature of that general exemption from feudality enjoyed by the _municipia_ as a relic of their ancient Roman constitution.

    Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4 "Bulgaria" to "Calgary" Various

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