Contents

7.1 The Origins of Feudalism......................................................................................................... 154

7.1.1 The Administrative Shortcomings of the Carolingian Monarchy...............................

7.1.2 Vassaldom: A Formula for Permanent Control over Local Authorities................... 155

7.1.3 The Limits of the Feudal Relationship: Its Lifelong Character.................................. 157

7.1.4 The Consuetudinary and Judicial Regulation of Vassal Relations............................. 157

7.2 The Consolidation of the Feudal System: The Era of “Classic Feudalism”............................. 158

7.2.1 The Degradation of the System: From Lifelong to Hereditary Benefits................... 158

7.2.2 The Transformation of the Feudal Relationship......................................................... 160

7.2.3 The Accumulation of Fiefdoms.................................................................................. 160

7.2.4 From Public to Private Rule: The “Feudal Revolution”............................................ 161

7.3 The Church as a Bulwark Against the Disintegration of Public Power................................... 162

7.3.1 The Defense of Royal Authority................................................................................ 162

7.3.2 The Armed Church..................................................................................................... 163

7.3.3 Moral vs. Political Commitment................................................................................ 164

¹ Bourgeois (1885), 28.

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 153

B. Aguilera-Barchet, A History of Western Public Law,

DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-11803-1_7

7.3.4 The Ecclesiastical Imposition of Peace: The Peace and Truce of God

Movement.................................................................................................................................... 165

7.4 Feudalism and the “Pactist Concept” of Power................................................................. 167

References............................................................................................................................................ 170

7.1