Bastard feudalism Bastard feudalism is feudalism in the Late Middle Ages , primarily in England . Its main characteristic is military , political , legal , or domestic service in return for money , office , and / or influence . The gentry began to think of themselves as the men of their lord rather than of the king ; individually they are known as the " retainers " , and collectively as the " affinity " of the lord , among other terms . History . The term was coined by the historian Charles Plummer in 1885 . Plummer blamed bastard feudalism for the disorder and instability of the Wars of the Roses in the fifteenth century . However , Bastard feudalism is primarily associated with his contemporary William Stubbs . According to Stubbs , a shift in English history took place under Edward I when the feudal levy was replaced with royal payment in return for military service by the great magnates who willingly served the king . Thus , instead of vassals rendering military service when required by the lord , they paid a portion of their income into the lord ' s treasury . In turn the lord would supplement the owed military service with hired retainers , a sort of private army in full time service to the lord . A strong challenge to the ideas of Stubbs was presented by K . B . McFarlane in the 1940s . McFarlane stripped the term of any negative connotation . To him , what was central to bastard feudalism was not the financial aspect ( the sums involved were mostly negligible ) but the concept of service in exchange for good favour . In a society governed on a personal basis , service to a lord was the best way to obtain favour in the form of offices , grants , etc . Lords would retain administrators and lawyers , as well as local gentry , into their affinities . By offering money instead of land , lords could afford to retain more followers . In return for becoming retainers , the gentry would expect to rely on his lord ' s influence in local and national politics . This practice was known as maintenance . The retainer might wear his lord ' s livery badge or the grander form , a livery collar , which could be very useful in a courtroom . Under a weak king , such as Henry VI , the rivalries of magnates might spill over from the courtroom to armed confrontations , thereby perverting justice . Since the crown and the nobility essentially had the same interests at heart , military commissioning of great magnates was not in itself disruptive to society . The civil wars of the 15th century were caused by personal factors ( particularly the failings of Henry VI ) , not by institutional ones . Recent historical research has shown that payment for military service goes back much further than the reign of Edward I , further discrediting the ideas of Stubbs . Among today ' s historians , the concept of feudalism is considered problematic , bastard feudalism no less so . The term is therefore used only with caution , although it is not a dead concept . Most historians today would view it as a neutral social system that was open to abuse . Provided that a king was able to control the lords , bastard feudalism could provide a stable way of organising local society . Two points are worth bearing in mind in relation to the Wars of the Roses : a ) elements of what is considered bastard feudalism can be identified as early as the beginning of the thirteenth century ; b ) a weak king was more likely to be vulnerable to magnates made over - mighty by " bastard feudalism " . Because they were rarely kept under arms for long periods , noble retinues were not private armies . Lacking standing armies , kings relied on noble retinues for the military forces they required to conduct wars or crush internal rebellions . Under an inadequate king like Henry VI , ambitious or disaffected magnates like Richard Duke of York or Richard Neville , 16th Earl of Warwick could use their network of servants and retainers to defy or even control the crown . Groups of gentry already coming to blows over local issues , inevitably attached themselves to different patrons . Their private feuds were continued under their leaders ' banners and transferred to the battlefields of the Wars of the Roses . Although Edward IV attempted to limit " retaining " , he was largely unsuccessful . However , Henry VII managed to largely overcome bastard feudalism by imposing financial sanctions on unruly nobles . Furthermore , Henry passed a statute in 1504 that only allowed the King to have retainers - nobles had to apply and pay for a licence . Overall , bastard feudalism had vanished by the early seventeenth century .