I regularly encounter deep misconceptions about feudalism on this hellsite. Mostly from righties, but also sometimes tankies, who celebrate the triumph of modernity over its benighted predecessor.

I wanted to delve into that a bit.

1/

The mythologized version of feudalism goes something like this: serfs were slaves who toiled in abject poverty, living brief lives of brutality, living and dying at the whims of their lords. It’s carefully constructed to be as miserable in comparison to today as possible.

2/

That’s...not quite right. First, to start: feudalism is a controversial term, and plenty of historians reject its usefulness in discussing socioeconomic systems that varied widely between locations and across centuries.

3/