While modern writers such as Marx point out the negative qualities of feudalism, such as the exploitation and lack of social mobility for the peasants, the French historian Marc Bloch contends that peasants were part of the feudal relationship while the vassals performed military service in exchange for the fief, the peasants performed physical labour in return for protection, thereby gaining some benefit despite their limited freedom.This ceremony bound the lord and vassal in a contract. Before a lord could grant land to a tenant he would have to make him a vassal at a formal ceremony.
In England, the feudal pyramid was made up of the king at the top with the nobles, knights, and vassals below him.Feudalism in England determined the structure of society around relationships derived from the holding and leasing of land, or fiefs.Feudalism flourished in Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries.
