You seem to be referring to European feudalism which accounts for a small percent of lived experience even in the time it was relevant, but also, was itself a r

You seem to be referring to European feudalism which accounts for a small percent of lived experience even in the time it was relevant, but also, was itself a response to the collapse of urban centers and cosmopolitanism following the collapse of the Roman Empire in Western Europe. The Eastern Roman Empire remained urban and cosmopolitan the whole time, which is why a bunch of armored yokels from the West came through and stole shit midway through the feudal period. Northern and Western Europe was largely a backwater for most of history while Southern Europe, Anatolia, North Africa, the Levant, the Iranian Highlands, the Indus Valley have been urban and cosmopolitan since the Bronze Age at least. The big barrier to mobility wasn't permission, it was bandits, pirates, and marauders.