"Few have set themselves to the formidable task of reconstructing and analyzing a whole human environment; fewer still have succeeded. Bloch dared to do this and was successful; therein lies the enduring achievement of Feudal Society."Charles Garside, Yale Review

Marc Bloch was born at Lyons in 1886. He was for many years professor of medieval history at the University of Strasbourg before being called in 1936 to the Chair of Economic History at the Sorbonne. In 1939, he volunteered for active service; he was already fifty-three. After the fall of France in 1940, he went to the south, where he taught at the universities of Clermont Ferrand and Montpellier. When the south, too, was occupied, he joined the Resistance but was caught by the Gestapo, tortured, and finally shot in June 1944.

Social Classes and Political Organization

Introductory Note

Part VI - Social Classes

XXI. The Nobles as a 'De Facto' Class

1. The Disappearance of the Ancient Aristocracies of Birth

2. Different Meanings of the World 'Noble' in the First Feudal Age

3. The Noble Class a Class of Lords

4. The Profession of Arms

XXII. The Life of the Nobility

1. War

2. The Noble at Home

3. Occupations and Distractions

4. Rules of Conduct

XXIII. Chivalry

1. Dubbing to Knighthood

2. The Code of Chivalry

XXIV. Transformation of the Nobility into a Legal Class

1. The Inheritance of Knighthood and Nobility

2. The Descendants of Knights become a Privileged Class

3. The Law of the Nobles

4. The Exceptional Case of England

XXV. Class Distinctions within the Nobility

1. Gradations of Power and Rank

2. Serjeants and Serf-Knights

XXVI. Clergy and Burgesses

1. The Ecclesiastical Society within the Feudal World

2. The Burgesses

Part VII - Political Organizations

XXVII. Judicial Institutions

1. General Characteristics of the Judicial System

2. The Disintegration of Judicial Authority

3. Trial by Peers or Trial by the Lord

4. On the Edge of Disintegration: Survivals and New Factors

XXVIII. The Traditional Powers: Kingdoms and Empire

1. Geographical Distribution of the Monarchies

2. Traditions and Nature of the Royal Power

3. The Transmission of the Royal Power: Dynastic Problems

4. The Empire

XXIX. From Territorial Principalities to Castellanies

1. The Territorial Principalities

2. Counties and Castellanies

3. The Ecclesiastical Lordships

XXX. Disorder and the Efforts to Combat It

1. The Limits of State Action

2. Violence and the Longing for Peace

3. The Peace and Truce of God

XXXI. Towards the Reconstruction of States: National Developments

1. Reasons for the Reconcentration of Authority

2. A New Monarchy: The Capetians

3. An Archaistic Monarchy: Germany

4. The Anglo-Norman Monarchy: Conquest and Germanic Survivals

5. Nationalities

Part VIII - Feudalism as a Type of Society and Its Influence

XXXII. Feudalism as a Type of Society

1. Has there been more than one Feudalism?

2. The Fundamental Characteristics of European Feudalism

3. A Cross-Section of Comparative History

XXXIII. The Persistence of European Feudalism

1. Survivals and Revivals

2. The Warrior Idea and the Idea of Contract

Bibliography

Supplement to the Bibliography by L. A. Manyon

Index