: : A while back during the discussion of possible reasons for the nonre-establishment of Arnor you mentioned that you had "some stuff" evidencing the feudal structure of the Dunedain Kingdoms (esp. Gondor). You have posted a little bit below in the Gildor Inglorion thread. I would be interested in your more detailed thoughts on the subject.

Evidence for feudalism in LOTR is indirect, which makes it arguable, but there is plenty of it.

First it is necessary to try to make some sort of rough and ready definition of what makes a society feudal.

A feudal society is one where relationships which in non-feudal advanced societies are based on money and trade transactions are largely replaced by personal service.
This is not to say that a feudal society may not possess a coinage or have merchants, just that a fully developed monetary market economy does not exist, or at least is of limited scope and importance.
A central feature of feudal societies is both the personal nature of the relationships within it (I will return to this theme later). Probably deriving from this is another important facet of feudalism - heredity. In feudal societies the perquisites of power and "Public office" tend to be hereditary, and more than this the status of virtually every member of society is fixed from birth.

The prerequisites for this type of society to arise can best be seen from the origins of Western European feudalism in the Middle Ages. When The Western Roman Empire fell there was a great dislocation of the economy and of trade but there was sufficient long distance trade to allow most of the Germanic kingdoms to stay in a sort of sub-Roman economy and society. However, when the Arab expansion cut the trade links between the south and north Mediterranean, and east and west, the monetary economy of Western Europe atrophied and the conditions for the rise of feudalism emerged.
It would seem therefore that lack of trade dynamics and the resulting loss of a true monetary economy result in a society turning in on its own local resources and towards feudalism.

So what of the position of Gondor?
In the whole of Tolkien's writings I can only think of one instance of any long distance trade in ordinary produce - wine to the Elven Kingdom of Mirkwood. Dwarves are reputed to be traders but other than the odd firework to The Shire nothing much is seen of Dwarven trading. Even the Numenoreans do not come across as great traders - they came to M. Earth as asset strippers (Lond Daer woodchopping) and later as overlords but seem to have been far too lordly to haggle!
Gondor in the later Third Age had few trading opportunities. Eriador was moribund, the Dwarves distant, the Northmen few and rather scattered, Rohan a possibility but little is said of trade with her, and lastly there are Rhun and Harad whose inhabitants were constantly hostile.
It would seem that conditions were right in Gondor for a feudal society to be in operation. Indeed, given the Numenoreans' apparent lack of interest or ability in trade, feudal society may have been of long standing with the Dunedain..

Having shown that conditions in Gondor were of the type consistent with feudalism I will now look at any indications that this was the case.

1) Nomenclature - feudal society has many names which are synonymous with it in the mind of the reader, which resonate with Mediaeval Europe. The following terms are used by Tolkien which fall into this category:

Steward - the royal house of the Stuarts were derived from ancestors who were the Stewards of the earlier (McAlpine & Bruce) Scottish kings.
Knights - used both in the military and social class senses by Tolkien (the singer of praise to Frodo addresses the audience as Lords and knights). For the military function Tolkien could have used a non-feudal term such as lancers or cataphracts or heavy horse, but he chose to use the term knight with all its feudal metaphorical baggage.
Lord - self evident.
Esquire - used on many occasions as an armour bearer or body squire (Theoden's bier).
Page - Bergond thought Pippin had been taken on as a noble page by Denethor.
Fief - the southern regions of Gondor are called fiefs. Fief is a French linguistic variation on the Latin word "Feudum" which is the origin of the term feudal. Fief has a specific meaning, that of a package of land together with rights to income from tenants held in return for services (essentially military) and dues (could be anything from cash to a barrel of beer) to a feudal superior

2) Heredity - offices of state seem to have readily become inheritable in Gondor that of the Steward being the most obvious. The positions of lords of fiefs, which would equate with a provincial governor or satrap, to judge from the Princes of Dol Amroth (the only indication we have) are also hereditary.

3) Military Function - the main service of a vassal in a feudal society is that of soldier. The greater lords maintain a military following from their vassals which they employ at the ruler's instruction for use against enemies both foreign and domestic. The lord can of course mis-use his military potential for private feud or rebellion - but no political system is flawless! This is the major duty of a fief-holder. This duty was demonstrably shown by the arrival of the military entourages of the Lords of Dol Amroth, Ringlo, Morthond, Pinnath Gelin etc. at Minas Tirith. Incidentally in a slightly ambiguous statement Tolkien says that only a tenth (tithe) of the forces of either Lossarnach or the Southern Fiefs in general came to the city. If the latter is true then the fiefs could muster some 30,000 troops in total - no mean army!

4) Personal Relations and Fealty - the feudal society, unlike ours or Ancient Rome for example, was based very greatly on personal relations between people, most of the ties binding society were of a personal nature based on mutual dependance. This can be looked on as a cascade of inter-personal interactions - the king knows personally his great lords and is locked with them in a mesh of reciprocal duties and benefits. The great lords have the same relationship with lesser lords and knights, these again with gentry, yeomen and tenants down to the most humble artisan or villager.
This can be seen in LOTR where Pippin swears fealty (again a feudal term) to Denethor. In Ancient Rome a soldier recruit swore the military oath in an impersonal way, in ranks with others - right hand held up palm forwards before the standards - much as is done in the present day. In a feudal society in contrast oaths of loyalty were much more personal the vassal kneeling before his lord and the lord taking the vassals hands between his own. This is what happened with Pippin, though in this case the lord held the vassal's sword on his lap and the vassal touched the hilts. Once again the nature of the oaths sworn by Denethor and Pippin are very personal and are of mutual support and personal duty, very different to the abstract oaths of allegiance to the state taken today. That Pippin did not gain any land from this procedure does not detract from its feudal nature - here Pippin was entering the immediate following of Denethor and the benefits he gained from it were in the acquisition of clothes, weapons, armour, and room and board as of right because of his new position as vassal, rather than as a gift to a guest.

This has become a little wordy - and I haven't exhausted the subject! Hope this has proved useful.

Martin