Mediaeval Services
I have just awoken from a dream in which I had the following realisation.
I have always thought of feudalism as being the granting of land in return for military service. Usually other "services" and "privileges" get a token mention, but I have never before really thought about them or taken them seriously.
However, these services and privileges may have been an important part of feudalism. The important point is: The service itself may have been the privilege: they are flip-sides of each other.
For example, the noble house of Thurn and Taxis ran the Imperial post. This may have been a service they performed for the Empire; it mau just as easily have been a concession granted to them by the Empire: a profitable monopoly.
(I have often referred to communism as in fact being "industrial feudalism" without tweaking to the fact that feudalism itself may have been "industrial".)
I have always thought of feudalism as being the granting of land in return for military service. Usually other "services" and "privileges" get a token mention, but I have never before really thought about them or taken them seriously.
However, these services and privileges may have been an important part of feudalism. The important point is: The service itself may have been the privilege: they are flip-sides of each other.
For example, the noble house of Thurn and Taxis ran the Imperial post. This may have been a service they performed for the Empire; it mau just as easily have been a concession granted to them by the Empire: a profitable monopoly.
(I have often referred to communism as in fact being "industrial feudalism" without tweaking to the fact that feudalism itself may have been "industrial".)
posted by Patrick Henry at 05:07
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home