Aldarion
Archmage
OK, I might write an article about this someday...
Feudalism is well-known in fantasy settings, as that is what western barbarians came up with after sacking Western Roman Empire. It also appeared in Japan and few other places. In fantasy, however, almost every medieval-ish state is feudal: exceptions are few and far between. Seven Kingdoms of Westeros are feudal, Nohr and Hoshido from Fire Emblem are feudal.
However, medieval does not mean feudal. There are alternatives, but all of them require a certain level of continuity between setting's antiquity and present. In other words, feudalism historically often (though not always) forms when there is a break between ancient and medieval periods which results in forced simplification of political system.
Most obvious alternative is the simple continuation of ancient society. In real world, we see this in Eastern Roman Empire after fall of the West, as well as pre-Islamic-invasion Frankish Kingdom of Merovingian dynasty, and pre-Justinianic-reconquest Ostrogothic Kingdom. All these states maintained sophisticated state apparatus of the Ancient Roman Empire, including educational system, centralized state bureocracy and so on. In the East, China always had a very sophisticated state apparatus.
Second possibility is state-controlled decentralization. This is what we see in Roman (Byzantine) Empire after islamic invasions of 7th century. The Emperor and state bureocracy still maintained control and ability to - in theory at least - make and unmake provincial governors / thematic generals at will. At the same time however, those governors received significantly greater powers so as to better deal with islamic invasions.
Third possibility is state feudalism. We see this in Roman (Byzantine) Empire of Komneni period. Empire in this period was feudal, but almost all major families had personal connections to the ruling dynasty. In fact, rank within state hierarchy was determined by kinship to the Emperor. Many feudal lords actually were members of the Komneni family. As a result, they aimed to fulfill their ambitions primarily within the system. However, once Komneni family was replaced by Angeloi, and especially after sack of Constantinople in 1204. (but even before that), there was little to nothing to prevent them from carving out their kingdoms. Further, fact that pronoia grants could be passed onto inheritors meant that, much like in Western feudal models, many troops simply refused to appear for service.
Feudalism is well-known in fantasy settings, as that is what western barbarians came up with after sacking Western Roman Empire. It also appeared in Japan and few other places. In fantasy, however, almost every medieval-ish state is feudal: exceptions are few and far between. Seven Kingdoms of Westeros are feudal, Nohr and Hoshido from Fire Emblem are feudal.
However, medieval does not mean feudal. There are alternatives, but all of them require a certain level of continuity between setting's antiquity and present. In other words, feudalism historically often (though not always) forms when there is a break between ancient and medieval periods which results in forced simplification of political system.
Most obvious alternative is the simple continuation of ancient society. In real world, we see this in Eastern Roman Empire after fall of the West, as well as pre-Islamic-invasion Frankish Kingdom of Merovingian dynasty, and pre-Justinianic-reconquest Ostrogothic Kingdom. All these states maintained sophisticated state apparatus of the Ancient Roman Empire, including educational system, centralized state bureocracy and so on. In the East, China always had a very sophisticated state apparatus.
Second possibility is state-controlled decentralization. This is what we see in Roman (Byzantine) Empire after islamic invasions of 7th century. The Emperor and state bureocracy still maintained control and ability to - in theory at least - make and unmake provincial governors / thematic generals at will. At the same time however, those governors received significantly greater powers so as to better deal with islamic invasions.
Third possibility is state feudalism. We see this in Roman (Byzantine) Empire of Komneni period. Empire in this period was feudal, but almost all major families had personal connections to the ruling dynasty. In fact, rank within state hierarchy was determined by kinship to the Emperor. Many feudal lords actually were members of the Komneni family. As a result, they aimed to fulfill their ambitions primarily within the system. However, once Komneni family was replaced by Angeloi, and especially after sack of Constantinople in 1204. (but even before that), there was little to nothing to prevent them from carving out their kingdoms. Further, fact that pronoia grants could be passed onto inheritors meant that, much like in Western feudal models, many troops simply refused to appear for service.