As I understand it feudalism was a system where the King owned everything and then delegated land down to the nobles who in turn delegated it to the knights who delegated it to the peasants, in return for service said steven. The best example of this of course is 1066 when William took all of England by right of conquest. He owned all of it, but divied up parts to various Norman followers who were essentially tenants. They could hold the land for generations, paying rent for the right to freehold it for the King, but did not own it themselves. Which over the centuries I guess lead to the war of the roses as ties with Normandy/France became religious rather than administrative and land suddenly was seen as no longer owned by the King, in exceedingly loose terms I'm describing this gerational process here. With regards to the Fuedal business I guess I was thinking too of the mechanics of the situation. for example the Duke of Normandy was also King of England, therefore a powerful individual in his own right. (also the religious conotations of being King...endorsement from the Church, divine rule the healing power of touch etc.) Along with him were similarly powerful territories with the Dukes of Burgundy, Brittany, Aquitaine and the likes of the Counts of Anjou, Flanders...yada yada. essentially there existed a state of conformity and compliance to the King of France, however equally they could defy and be in disagreement with him. they didn't like him poking his authority into their demesne. In the case of the Duke of Normandy he was just as likely to be at war with the King. This is why I used the analogy of the moloch episode. The King in his Doomsday Book, knew quite precise details about the territories of his tenants and knew what value they were worth and what he should be getting from them in "rent" if you like. I recall servalan knowing what grose's resources to be, and being surprised by evidence to the contrary, which was to be a threat to her hold on power. a Duke about to poke about in her demesne, which was severly weakened by the end of the glactic war.
Still your warlord theory holds merit Steven and it's quite possible that generals et al made use of the weakened position of the federation to set up a powerbase somewhere, given the uncertain times. Further research into this matter will continue. nathan.
A 'strange coincidence', to use a phrase/ By which such things are settled nowadays. Byron.
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