Academic Publication

Author Profile

Marc Bloch (1886 - 1944) was a French historian who lectured in Medieval and Economic history. He is best known for his pioneering studies French Rural History and Feudal Society and the posthumously-published title The Historian's Craft.

About The Book

Marc Bloch said that his goal in writing Feudal Society was to go beyond the technical study a medievalist would typically write and ‘dismantle a social structure.’ In this outstanding and monumental work, which has introduced generations of students and historians to the feudal period, Bloch treats feudalism as living, breathing force in Western Europe from the ninth to the thirteenth century. At its heart lies a magisterial account of relations of lord and vassal, and the origins of the nature of the fief, brought to life through compelling accounts of the nobility, knighthood and chivalry, family relations, political and legal institutions, and the church. For Bloch history was a process of constant movement and evolution and he describes throughout the slow process by which feudal societies turned into what would become nation states. A tour de force of historical writing, Feudal Society is essential reading for anyone interested in both Western Europe’s past and present.

Table of Contents

Foreword Introductry Note Introduction: General Scope of the Inquiry Volume 1 The Growth of Ties of Dependence Part I The Environment: The Last Invasions 1. Moslems and Hungarians 2. The Northmen 3. Some Consequences and Some Lessons of the Invasions Part II The Environment: Conditions of Life and Mental Climate 4. Material Conditions and Economic Characteristics 5. Modes of Feeling and Thought 6. The Folk Memory 7. The Intellectual Renaissance in the Second Feudal Age 8. The Foundations of Law Part III The Ties between Man and Man: Kinship 9. The Solidarity of the Kindred Group 10. Character and Vicissitudes of the Tie of Kinship Part IV The Ties between Man and Man: Vassalage and the Fief 11. Vassal Homage 12. The Fief 13. General Survey of Europe 14. The Fief Becomes the Patrimony of the Vassal 15. The Man of Several Masters 16. Vassal and Lord 17. The Paradox of Vassalage Part V Ties of Dependence among the Lower Orders of Society 18. The Manor 19. Servitude and Freedom 20. Towards New Forms of Manorialism Volume 2 Social Classes and Political Organization Part VI Social Classes 21. The Nobles As A De Facto Class 22. The Life of The Nobility 23. Chivalry 24.Transformation of The Nobility Into A Legal Class 25. Class Distinctions Within The Nobility 26. Clergy And Burgesses 27. Judicial Institutions 28. The Traditional Powers Kingdoms And Empire 29. From Territorial Principalities to Castellanies 30. Disorder and the Efforts to Combat It 31. Towards the Reconstruction of States National Developments Part VIII Feudalism as a Type of Society and its Influence 32. Feudalism as a Type of Society 33. The Persistence of European Feudalism Bibliography Index