The feudal system was established in different countries of the world in different historical periods. This process of transition from slavery to feudalism took place in forms specific to each country. So, in China it happened about III-II century BC, in India – in the first centuries of our era, in Transcaucasia and Central Asia in IV-VI centuries, in Western Europe – in V-VI centuries.

The fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD for Western Europe is a historical boundary between the slave-owning formation and came to replace it with a new formation – the feudal, between the so-called antiquity and the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages-epoch of feudal, or serfdom, covers the 12-13 centuries.

Under feudalism, there were two main classes: feudal lords and dependent serfs. Later, with the growth of cities, the layer of urban artisans and merchants – the future third estate, the bourgeoisie – strengthened. Between the two main classes of feudal society throughout the Middle Ages there was an unceasing struggle.

The feudal system of France, Germany and England passed through three stages. The first stage of feudalism (from V to X-XI centuries)-early Middle Ages- followed directly after the fall of the slave system in Rome as a result of the slave uprising and invasion of “barbarians”.

The progressive features of the feudal system did not appear soon. New forms of social life developed slowly. The Celtic and Germanic tribes, who defeated the slave-holding states, brought with them remnants of the patrimonial system with its economic and cultural features, above all the subsistence forms of economy. The transition from the ancient world to the Middle Ages in Western Europe was at first associated with a deep economic and cultural decline. In the early Middle Ages the subsistence economy prevailed. The countries of Western Europe experienced a decline in science for a number of centuries.

In the second stage of feudalism in Western Europe (approximately from XI to XV centuries), during the developed Middle Ages, cities – centers of crafts and trade – grew along with the growth of productive forces. Craftsmen in cities were united into workshops, the development of which is typical for this stage. Along with the subsistence economy the exchange economy developed. Commodity-money relations were strengthening. Trade inside the country and between countries was developing and growing.

The whole spiritual culture of the Middle Ages was under the yoke of the church ideology, which affirmed the divine immutability of the existing civilization and the state of Islam. The medieval city gatekeeper does not allow the “lepers” to enter. “The worldview of the Middle Ages was predominantly geological… the church was the highest generalization and sanction of the existing feudal order” . Blessed Augustine in the fourth century exhibited a characteristic position in this respect: “The authority of sacred scripture is above all the faculties of human reason. The official church fought against heresies-attempts to be critical of scripture and church authorities. These heresies reflected the social protest of peasants and townspeople. At the end of this period, a special body, the Inquisition, was created in the Catholic countries of Western Europe to suppress heresies. The clergy was also the only educated class. It followed from this that church dogma was the starting point and basis for all thinking. Jurisprudence, the natural sciences, philosophy-all the contents of these sciences were adjusted to the teachings of the church.In the Middle Ages, science was considered a servant of the church, and it was not allowed to go beyond the limits established by faith.

During the tenth and twelfth centuries scholasticism became the dominant form of philosophy in Western Europe. In the 13th century scholasticism reached its heyday. The meaning of scholasticism was to justify, systematize, and defend the official church ideology through artificial formalistic logical tricks. The class meaning of scholasticism was to justify the feudal hierarchy and religious ideology in order to brutally exploit the workers and stifle progressive thought.

Scholasticism proceeded from the position that all possible knowledge was already given either in sacred scripture or in the writings of the church fathers.

The philosophical basis of medieval science was primarily the teachings of Aristotle, largely distorted and placed in the service of theology. In the Middle Ages Aristotle was canonized’ by scholastic science, he was called “the forerunner of Christ in explaining! nature”.