Implementation of the Enfeoffment System

Name: Implementation of the Enfeoffment System
Start: -1046
End: -1030

Type Event Region Asia Time c. -1046–-1030

From around the 1040s BCE, the Western Zhou carried out large-scale enfeoffment after conquering the Shang, granting land and people to kinsmen-lords…

Timeline

c. -1046–-1045Haojing · Shaanxi ProvinceAfter defeating the Shang, King Wu immediately enfeoffed royal kinsmen and meritorious officials with the lands under heaven, posthumously enfeoffing Jiang Ziya in Qi, the Duke of Zhou in Lu, and the Duke of Shao in Yan, inaugurating the Western Zhou feudal system.
c. -1040–-1030Eastern states and the Central Plains · East ChinaAfter suppressing the Rebellion of the Three Guards, the Duke of Zhou carried out large-scale enfeoffments of kinsmen-lords to serve as a screen protecting the Zhou house, enfeoffing states such as Wei and Song, resettling the Yin remnants, and forming an interlocking pattern of fiefs.

Sources

左传·僖公四年 — 左丘明
The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 B.C. — Michael Loewe, Edward L. Shaughnessy (eds.) (1999)