Feudalism and Vassalage in Twentieth-Century Assyriology

Abstract

The present paper offers a review of the extended use of medieval terminology referring to socio-economic and socio-political structures and practices in Ancient Near Eastern studies. Notably, terms like ´feudalism´, ´feudal´ and ´fief´ were ubiquitous in oriental scholarship up to the 1980s, describing a territorial or political control by means of economic exploitation or exchange; terms like ´vassalage´ and ´vassal´ have had a longer existence and are still nowadays used to denote political subordination mediated by personal oaths or treaties between two parties, kingdoms, states, etc. A critical approach from the field of political anthropology allows for arguing that such medieval terminology and categories need conceptual updating and replacement, especially in regard to historical accuracy. It is therefore proposed to understand those situations usually referred to as ´feudal´ or expressing ´vassalage´ as reflecting instead patron-client bonds, as they are described in the ethno-historical record of the Middle East. This argument aims not at automatically replacing one explanatory model for another, but rather to analyse each historical situation in order to find sound conceptual means to understand in a more appropriate manner ancient social praxis in the world of the Levant.