Final answer:
The Feudal System was a hierarchical structure where lords provided land and protection in exchange for military service from vassals and serfs worked the land. Option C is correct.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Feudal System that developed in medieval Europe after the decline of the Carolingian Empire was a hierarchical system designed to organize society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service and protection. The lords, or landowners, would grant pieces of their land, called fiefs, to vassals.
In return, the vassals promised military service and other duties to their lord. At the bottom of the hierarchy were the serfs, who worked the land and, in exchange, received protection and the right to live on the lord’s estate.
The feudal system was primarily built upon the exchange of land for military service. Knights would serve their feudal lord in a military capacity. Bishops and abbots, holding land from lords, also followed similar feudal obligations. Although not outrightly democratic or intentionally structured to promote peace and prosperity, the feudal system provided a framework for societal stability in a time of frequent conflict and political fragmentation.
Over time, the feudal system led to a complex web of loyalties which could be, and often were, challenged. However, this system remained the primary social and economic structure until the eventual rise of the merchant class, the impacts of the Black Death, and the Hundred Years' War paved the way for the decline of feudalism and the emergence of more modern social and economic systems like capitalism.