It’s important to emphasize that feudalism is fundamentally a transactional system. What the nobility had to offer peasants was safety. In the absence of the Roman imperial system, binding yourself to a local lord who could raise men at arms and a small castle to protect you and your family is a rational decision. I wouldn’t go so far as saying that feudalism is good, but it’s at least understandable when viewed that way.
Of course late feudalism became extra intolerable once kings stopped protecting peasants and started pulling them into new wars instead.
Of course late feudalism became extra intolerable once kings stopped protecting peasants and started pulling them into new wars instead.