Tag: feudalism

The Floating World

An analogy to the courtly romances of Medieval Europe can be found in Japanese kabuki theater. Kabuki plays were idealized myths and legends that aggrandized the Japanese nobility while also imparting moral lessons about personal conduct and proper behavior. Just as men of the Europe’s barony class would read stories of courtly romance to learn about chivalry, the Japanese Samurai read poems and watched plays that demonstrated the tenets of bushido. And much like Don Quixote, sitting in his manor reading stories about knights and using these fictions to reconstruct is now obsolete position in society as a knight himself, the Japanese samurai of the Edo period expended their ample leisure time consuming cultural artifacts which confirmed their position and status in feudal Japan in the absence of any operative role.

No more than one pill should be taken with a glass of water and avoiding fatty or large meals when you chose to take the medicine is taken orally and these dissolve in the body within a short span of time thus giving a faster response. viagra cost Due to reduction in blood flow to the penile body and hence you feel inability reaching an erection. canada pharmacy cialis According to ayurveda, some herbs such as safed musli, Shatavari, Ashwagandha, Pipal, kankaj, Bhedani, Purushratan, Brahmdandi, Kavach Beej, Jaiphal, Kesar, Haritaki, Swaran Bang and Sudh Shilajit. http://ronaldgreenwaldmd.com/procedures/back-procedures/pedicle-screw-fixation/ pfizer viagra 100mg Polyneuropathy levitra prices is a disorder of the peripheral nervous system that governs heart rate, respiration, perspiration, and digestion. The samurai class emerged from the Sengoku period of Japanese history when, very similar to Europe’s Dark Age, a long, incessant string of civil wars were fought over matters of succession. The warrior classes played a central role in the fate of Japan during this time. The samurai won power and wealth from fighting in battles and collecting spoils. When the Sengoku period came to an end and Japan was unified under the Tokugawa shogunate, there were no longer wars for the samurai to fight. Unlike the European nobility, who held title over the land and could sustain themselves the surplus produced by an agrarian peasantry, Japanese nobility were forbidden from working the land or having any hand in the production of wealth. They received a very modest stipend from the shogun and were expected to reside in the city maintaining the bushido code of frugality, loyalty, martial prowess and honor. Samurai who had connections in Edo took jobs as bureaucrats in the shogunate government and remained rich men. The rest were reduced to lives of poverty and desperation. Some became Ronin, itinerant warriors seeking the support of a daimyo. Some became gangsters and thieves. Most, however, frittered away their lives in the brothels and playhouses of Yoshiwara, Edo’s pleasure district. An entire culture of purposelessness and resignation arose around the samurai in Edo. It was given a name: ukiyo, the floating world. To live in the floating world meant living only for the moment, taking solace in fleeting pleasures and allowing one’s self to drift from one day to the next. It was a life without consequence, trivial to the extreme, but also a life of relative ease. With no future, the samurai submersed themselves in stories from the past, attaching themselves to a tradition of heroism but abstaining completely from action and duty.

The samurai languished in the floating world for more than three centuries. In 1868, the Meiji restoration took place, conferring complete power into the hands of the emperor and essentially leading to the capitulation of the shogunate. In 1877 the Meiji restoration official disbanded the samurai and dissolved their privileged status, thus allowing them to enter the ranks of productive society as government officials and businessmen.

Code of Chivalry

Had the empire of Charlemagne endured; had the rules of succession been codified and dynastic power established, it might have resulted in a rebirth of civilization. Europe might have escaped its dark age and the Fall of Rome would have been viewed by history simply as a transition from Paganism to Christianity rather than the termination of an era. Europe responded to the collapse of the Frankish throne in 843 much the same way it did to the withdrawal of Roman rule 400 years earlier. Rule became localized. Lords exercised sovereignty over their individual fiefs and fought private wars with one another for additional territory. The church once again attempted to maintain order among the nobility—with mixed results—through adjudication and moral proselytizing. Knights, who had previously been regulated through their alliances to their lords and subordination to the throne, now acted independently and fought mostly to suit their own interests. They went around extorting the peasantry and robbing towns. Without a royal standard to march under the warrior class in Europe was directionless. It was around this time that knights began to adopt the chivalric code. Chivalry was devised as a remedy to the noble caste’s degeneration into a class of thieves and cutthroats. The chivalrous knight swore loyalty to all nobles of greater rank than he, not just his own lord. He vowed to protect the weak and to uphold the peace. He dedicate himself to living a virtuous life above all other pursuits. The tradition of martial discipline promulgated by an organized military system was no longer available to knights and other soldiers of this time. Instead, they submitted themselves to a strict program of self-discipline. With this cultural shift, knights were supposedly made docile. They became gentlemen.

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The True King

Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire

It is a fascinating twist of history that Charles Martel ruled the Franks but was never king. He was offered the title several times by the Pope and by the Frankish lords, but he always refused. It might have been that Martel had personal reservations about breaking his vow to the king. Or, more pragmatically, he might have believed that forcing the king to abdicate would have been destabilizing to his own power. Martel’s authority was derived from his military relationships, and all that kept his armies together was a fragile system of loyalties. If he were to have violated his own sworn loyalty to his king, it might have prompted his generals to revoke their oaths of fealty to him. This dilemma of legitimacy would later be solved by his son, Pepin the Short, who persuaded the church to intercede on his behalf. Rome issued papal bull in 752 AD stating that it was improper that royal power should be exercised by one who rules de facto but is denied the title de juris and that the de facto power should prevail. To avoid possible side effects, take no more than one dose in a viagra fast delivery day’s period. The reason being the withdrawal symptoms can be devastating and 5mg cialis price wish for your doctor for help. Fresh and not-too-ripe bananas are best for heartburn. overnight delivery cialis It is developed lowest price on viagra using proven and tested less refined pure ingredients to cure erectile dysfunction permanently. The decision was as much motivated by political interests as legal reason. Tension between the church and the Lombard dukes who ruled Italy at the time was escalating. When Charlemagne conquered Lombardy in the 770s and rid the church of its adversary, Pope Zachary’s early support of the Carolingian crown was well rewarded. On Christmas day in 800 AD, Pope Leo III, hoping to secure a permanent protector for the church, named Charlemagne Imperator Romanorum, Emperor of the Romans, a title which gave him divine appointment to all of Christendom. While his strength to control so much territory would certainly be challenged, his right to claim it was not. With the blessing of the church and the obedience of a vast army, Charlemagne became perhaps the first king since the Fall of Rome whose rule was undisputed.

The Roman Foederati

Three barbarian foeterati behind a legionary. The looping lines around them are war bugles.

The origin of European Feudalism can be traced to the Roman Foederatus, the term from which the word feudalism is derived as well as our word federation. During the era of the Republic, a foedus was a treaty signed with other non-Roman tribes on the Italian peninsula. The agreement granted administrative autonomy to the tribes under the condition that they levy soldiers when called upon and fight under the Roman standard. Such pacts allowed Rome to consolidate the power of the Italian peoples without conquest and focus their combined might on other more formidable enemies like Carthage and Greece. Rome became rich from military victories won for them by their Foederati but was in no way required to share its wealth with them since the tribes had opted remain sovereign entities. In 91 BC the Italian states went to war with Rome over the question of inclusion in the Republic. They were soundly defeated, but so important were the Italian lands to Rome’s imperial aspirations, they were nonetheless granted blanket citizenship so as to quell ongoing strife.

During the time of the Empire, the foedus was seldom used. It was the prerogative of Rome to conquer her neighbors rather than ally with them. This remained the case throughout the Pax Romana, until the fourth century AD when new peoples began to appear across the Rhine and the Danube who were numerous and warlike. Defending so vast a frontier proved very difficult and costly for the waning empire, so rather than continuing to field legions on empty tracts of wilderness, Rome entered into foedus agreements with the same barbarian kings who threatened their borders. These treaties were initially bought with gold and silver. As the Empire’s treasury began to evaporate, they granted the Germanic tribes permission to settle west of the Rhine. Such concessions would have been unthinkable a generation ago, but fear of the barbarian onslaught had become acute and for the first time since the Punic Wars 650 years prior, Italy appeared to be vulnerable to foreign attack. Rome was desperate to secure its frontier. In 406, despite the efforts of the foederati along the Rhine and what remained of the Roman army, the borders of the Empire were breached by a mixed group of Visigoths, Vandals and Suebi. The wave of destruction that followed led to a collapse of Roman civic order in Northern Gaul. Four years later Rome was be sacked by Alaric I.
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In Europe, north of the Alps, the old foederati would retain their legitimacy as the rightfully appointed rulers of the region leading into the dark ages. In the absence of centralized authority, they carried on the laws and traditions of the fallen empire, as well as their own Germanic code. They had actually become relatively powerful under Roman patronage. They had been given land to provision their soldiers and gold to arm them. When the Romans left, the foederati were the only military force left in Gaul. Naturally, they would rise up and reclaim it.

Germanic barbarian fighting a Roman Legionary. The German’s face is depicted as thick-cheeked and wide. His hair is straight and wild.