My understanding of Feudalism essentially comes from
this image, so please forgive me if I don't appear too knowledgeable; but what were the pros and cons of this system and why did it eventually fall out of use?
Not to discourage further discussion but one of our best Medieval users, /u/idjet, has written extensively on this topic prior and may be of some help to you!
He also has had an entire AMA titled "Feudalism Didn't Exist: The Social & Political World of Medieval Europe" for your interest.
I however think the most concise summary of why "Feudalism" is a problematic term comes from /u/phoenixbasileus in a similar post when he says:
Another problem is the huge regional and chronological variations - what might have been 'feudal' relationships in 11th century Burgundy might not exist in 11th century Languedoc. For that matter, what existed in 11th century Burgundy might be different to what existed in 13th century Burgundy.
From these problems, Elizabeth A.R. Brown argued from 1974 that we should essentially reject and not use 'feudalism' given its constructed nature - that we had in fact become so trapped by the idea of feudalism we were not properly understanding what the sources and evidence were telling us.
There's the rest of the post and some good discussion in the comments here if that tickles your fancy as well.
