Feudalism with an earlier Printing Press

One of the challenges with feudalism (yes, we could have a long debate about what it actually is) is that there were so many different obligations and chains of obligations between different people in a society that it often became difficult to keep track of it all. Whatever our debates on what feudalism was or was not, I think we can all agree that it was messy.

So, what if the printing press was introduced earlier? Lets say very shortly after paper reached Europe, so the 11th century. This makes it much much easier to have a paper trail on who owes whom what in exchange for what, be it services, privileges, etc. How might this influence feudal society?
 
From what I know, tracking the whole feudal hierarchy isn't an idea that would come up at the time, as feudalism was all about personal oaths. Generally feudal rulers only cared about their immediate liege and vassals, not their liege's liege and only sometimes did they care about their vassals' vassals.

There was no centralized government of France to write down everything from the higher dukes to the smallest dependent holdings on manors. If there was, at that time, this centralized authority would almost have to originate from the Catholic Church. With a few exceptions. As I understand it, that's why things like the Domesday Book surveying the entire realm were rather remarkable for the time.

An earlier printing press however, would have very interesting effects in other areas of society, like expanding literacy in vernacular, helping the development of trade and accounting, increasing preservation of ancient texts, increasing the writing and publishing of novels in the time where the chivalric romances were still uncritically popular (and not lampooned like in Don Quixote), and of course, allowing mass printing of Bibles and resultant "heresies" that may result. Oh, and of course, earlier newspapers, which becomes really interesting as it empowers cities and allows merchant republics like Venice and Genoa to distribute propaganda.
 
Also, it would help standardize languages. The OTL outlay of printing made the languages of capital cities the standard (written) dialect. With better literacy, it would easily bump the Renaissance into earlier times.
 
From what I know, tracking the whole feudal hierarchy isn't an idea that would come up at the time, as feudalism was all about personal oaths. Generally feudal rulers only cared about their immediate liege and vassals, not their liege's liege and only sometimes did they care about their vassals' vassals.

There was no centralized government of France to write down everything from the higher dukes to the smallest dependent holdings on manors. If there was, at that time, this centralized authority would almost have to originate from the Catholic Church. With a few exceptions. As I understand it, that's why things like the Domesday Book surveying the entire realm were rather remarkable for the time.

An earlier printing press however, would have very interesting effects in other areas of society, like expanding literacy in vernacular, helping the development of trade and accounting, increasing preservation of ancient texts, increasing the writing and publishing of novels in the time where the chivalric romances were still uncritically popular (and not lampooned like in Don Quixote), and of course, allowing mass printing of Bibles and resultant "heresies" that may result. Oh, and of course, earlier newspapers, which becomes really interesting as it empowers cities and allows merchant republics like Venice and Genoa to distribute propaganda.

Actually, I think that is looking at things from the wrong perspective. The ruler isn’t the one who has a hard time keeping track of the various oaths, they can afford scribes to keep records. Its the lower tiers of nobility and the peasantry, dealing with orders of magnitude more feudal relationships. A manor lord who owes fealty to a higher lord or king, but also has a number of tenant peasants, free and unfree, and a few knights on retainer, each with their own tracts of land, thats the person who would benefit from having triplicate copies of all the various deeds and oaths.

Well, that lord, and those that are sworn to him. The free peasants that own some land outright, but rent some more from their lord, who is claiming in court that they’re unfree peasants whose land is entirely his. Etc.

This also makes subinfuedation easier, in all likelyhold, with more links in the feudal chain less a burden.

Now, this could have a knock-on effect for the sovereigns, which, in general, will be the ones that will adjudicate such disputes. Now, it is much easier for them to do so. Perhaps this expands royal power, as the monarchs are more easily able to poke their noses into a variety of disputes. Perhaps it atrophes, since such disputes will be more easily resolved. I imagine it would vary by kingdom.
 
Also, it would help standardize languages. The OTL outlay of printing made the languages of capital cities the standard (written) dialect. With better literacy, it would easily bump the Renaissance into earlier times.

Or we might look at the Scholastic movement with the same attitude we look at the Renaissance. I get positively giddy at the idea of Aquinas growing up in a world with a printing press.
 
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