FETISHISM 



3131 



FEUDALISM 



followed, 1821-23, but neither side 

 gained material advantage. He 

 died at Ispahan, Oct. 20, 1834. 



Fetishism (Lat. factitius, arti- 

 ficial). Belief that the services of 

 a spirit may be appropriated by 

 the possession of its material em- 

 bodiment. The 15th century 

 Portuguese navigators applied to 

 the sacred objects of the W. 

 African negroes the term feitifo, 

 a variant of the English " facti- 

 tious," which they used of their 

 own amulets. There is, however, 

 a radical distinction between a 

 fetish, which is a subservient spirit 

 in its shrine, and an amulet, which 

 as in a modern mascot is 

 merely an instrument of spirit 

 service. So also a fetish is not a 

 god or even a divine image, and 

 fetishism is not idolatry. The 

 term has been used variously and 

 confusingly, but as defined above 

 it conveniently describes a phase 

 of the magico-religious life of negro 

 Africa, and an analogous though 

 not identical one of that of 

 aboriginal America. 



The fetish spirit may be bodiless 

 or a disembodied soul ; it may 

 reside in a shell or a tooth, a hoof or 

 a horn, a bead or a rag. The choice 

 of an object as a fetish is often 

 determined by its unusualness ; 

 the Mendi people consecrate to the 

 same use rude soapstone statuettes 

 (British Museum) found hi caves 

 abandoned by an earlier race. 

 Stock-and-Stone Worship 



In the heart of Africa there 

 is a tendency to turn a shape- 

 less stone or a post by a dab of 

 paint or by rough chiselling into 

 human semblance. This belongs 

 to a widespread stock-and-stone 

 worship that in some senses is 

 transitional between fetishism and 

 idolatry. But the fetish is treated 

 as a genie or guardian spirit, rather 

 than as a superior. It is consulted 

 or implored, praised or reproached, 

 treasured or discarded. Its special 

 " medicine " is discovered by ex- 

 periment ; the strings of wongs 

 hung about the neck, over the hut 

 door, at the village entry, have 

 their several potencies, bestowing 

 health or success, children or rain. 



Among the American Indians, 

 spirit-possessed objects are em- 

 ployed in an analogous way, and 

 are called fetishes by American 

 ethnologists. With the Zuni, ob- 

 jects bearing or made to bear an 

 animal semblance are highly prized, 

 especially when consecrated by 

 long tribal tradition. Here, how- 

 ever, a totemic aspect is observ- 

 able ; both in N. America and else- 

 where objects once classed as 

 fetishes are now perceived to be 

 totems. The Amerind fetish usu- 

 ally differs from the African in 



possessing, instead of a spirit, an 

 impersonal power which the Iro- 

 quois call orenda and the Algon- 

 quins manito. See Totemism. 



Fetter Lane. London thorough- 

 fare linking Fleet Street with 

 Holborn. First mentioned in 1612 

 and once a way leading to gardens, 

 its name is variously derived from 

 faitours, vagabonds ; and feutriers, 

 felt-makers. The town hostel of 

 the bishops of Norwich was once 

 here. On the W. side is an entrance 

 to Clifford's Inn (q.v.), with the 

 Record Office and Breams Build- 

 ings, containing Birkbeck College, 

 beyond. On the E. is a Moravian 

 chapel, rebuilt 1748, where Richard 

 Baxter, Wesley, and Whitefield 

 preached. Nevill's Court has old 

 houses, and in Fleur-de-Lis Court, 

 the scene of Mrs. Brownrigg's 

 murder of her apprentice, Mary 

 Clifford, in 1767, is Newton Hall, 

 for long a Positivist meeting-place. 

 The White Horse, an old coaching 

 inn, stood at the Holborn end. 



Fettes College. Scottish public 

 school. Founded by money left by 

 Sir William Fettes (1750-1836), 

 lord provost of Edinburgh, it was 

 opened in 1870, on a site near 



Fettes College, Edinburgh. Buildings seen from the south 



J. C. Inglit 



Inverleith Park, Edinburgh. It is holding from 

 now governed under a scheme 

 dating from 1886. It possesses a 

 ..... ....., fine range of 



buildings and all 



the accessories, 



laboratories, 



gymnasium, 



playing fields, 



etc., of a large 



public school. 



There are four 



houses and 



ace ommodation 



Fettes College 

 arms 



for about 250 boys. 



Fettling. Engineering term 

 used to describe the lining of the 

 hearth of a puddling furnace. It is 

 usually sand or cinders, or a mix- 

 ture of ore. See Furnace. 



Feud. Word meaning a state of 

 animosity, generally between two 

 parties. It carries the idea of con- 

 tinuous hostility. A notable in- 



stance is the feud between the 

 Guelphs and Ghibellines, and there 

 are instances among the Scottish 

 clans, e.g. between the Campbells 

 and the Macdonalds. See Vendetta. 

 Feudalism (late Lat. feudum, 

 A.S. feoh, cattle, property). Name 

 given to the social and political 

 structure or organization which 

 grew up on the ruins of the Im- 

 perial Roman system in Western 

 Europe during the early Middle 

 Ages. Universally established in its 

 main features by the end of the 

 llth century, on its political side, 

 it was by the 16th century yielding 

 to the effective concentration of 

 the sovereign authority in the hands 

 of supreme central governments. 



It was based upon tenure of land. 

 According to the lawyers, every foot 

 of soil was actually the property of 

 the king. Estates had been granted 

 by him to his servants upon recog- 

 nized conditions. On those con- 

 ditions the king's "men," "barons," 

 "tenants-in-chief," "vassals," held 

 their lands from their overlord the 

 king. They in their turn had granted 

 portions of their estates upon like 

 conditions to their own men or vas- 

 sals. At the bottom of the scale 

 . came the actual 

 ^ occupants of the 

 I soil, who also held 

 I their plots of land 

 upon conditions, 

 1 from their immedi- 

 ate overlord, who- 

 ever he might be. 

 Except the king, 

 every holder o f 

 land was the 

 vassal of someone, 

 whether his im- 

 mediate overlord 

 was the king him- 

 self, or a baron 

 holding from the 

 king, or a vassal 

 a baron, or a 

 vassal of a vassal. 



The primary condition of hold- 

 ing land was the rendering of mili- 

 tary service to the immediate over- 

 lord ; at the bottom of the scale 

 agricultural or other kinds of 

 service took the place of military 

 service. The vassal rendered hom- 

 age to his overlord, taking the oath 

 of allegiance and service to him as 

 his man, the lord taking corres- 

 ponding oath to be " true lord and 

 protector" to his man, the whole 

 system being based upon the re- 

 cognition of mutual obligations. 

 Further, since the small landholder 

 was not strong enough to protect 

 himself against a powerful neigh- 

 bour, and cpuld only with great 

 difficulty appeal to a distant over- 

 lord for protection, it was cus- 

 tomary for the small men to 

 " commend " themselves to the 



