
Marc Bloch said that his goal in writing Feudal Society was to go beyond the technical study a medievalist would typically write & 'dismantle a social structure' In this outstanding & monumental work which has introduced generations of students & 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 & vassal & the origins of the nature of the fief brought to life through compelling accounts of the nobility knighthood & chivalry family relations political & legal institutions & the church For Bloch history was a process of constant movement & evolution & 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 & present With a new foreword by Geoffrey Koziol