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The Irony of English Feudalism*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 January 2014
Extract
Everyone is familiar with the story of how William the Conqueror brought feudalism to England. Despite some recent voices to the contrary, medievalists are for the most part inclined to agree that the Norman Conquest introduced the fief into a previously non-feudal land. Moreover, since feudalism did not arise in England gradually and of its own accord but instead was imposed from above by an all-powerful conqueror, it is usually described as more symmetrical — more “perfect” — than the feudalism of the Continent. One historian, reflecting the views of many others, asserted recently that in the years after 1066 “England became the most perfectly feudal kingdom in the West.”
It is well to be wary, however, of too much perfection in an institution such as feudalism. It is always possible that in identifying an institution at a particular point in time and space as “perfect” or “nearly perfect” one is being misled by the surface appearances which usually accompany decay. As institutions become less and less relevant to their societies, they are apt, for a while at least, to assume the appearance of increasing orderliness, increasing selfconscious coherence, increasing formalism. These tendencies have been noted by a number of sociologists and have by no means escaped the attention of Professor Parkinson. To determine whether they apply to the so-called model feudalism of Norman England is both hazardous and difficult, but the effort must be made. So much has been written on the question of whether any real traces of feudalism can be detected in England before the Conquest that it may prove refreshing to scrutinize critically the “ideal” feudal state of post-Conquest times, particularly if it can be shown that Anglo-Norman feudalism was not so perfect after all.
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- Copyright © North American Conference of British Studies 1963
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The preparation of this paper was facilitated by a Grant-in-Aid from the Social Science Research Council.
References
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122. Barlow, , Feudal Kingdom of England, p. 440 .Google Scholar Barlow adds that in 1087 the Norman barons and knights were still living precariously in a conquered land and therefore, presumably, feudalism was still vigorous at that time. We have seen however, that the conquered land hypothesis is to be viewed with skepticism.
123. Bloch, , Société féodale, II, 254 .Google Scholar
124. McFarlane, , “‘Bastard Feudalism,’” Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, XX (1945), 162 .Google Scholar See above, note 72.
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