Taking as its starting point two descriptions of acts of submission which involved the ritual of homage, it argues that neither can sustain a traditional feudo-vassalic interpretation it would seem that homage was used in such contexts not because the parties involved were bound by a putative ‘feudal contract’, but rather because it was a flexible rite, which was by no means limited to relations between feudal lords and their enfeoffed vassals. This paper seeks to shed light on the role of feudo-vassalic relations in Ottonian Germany, approaching the subject from angle of the role which homage played in dispute settlement. He had previously built up a formidable reputation for early monographs on French rural life and for a wide range of studies on topics as varied as the decline of ancient slavery and the miracle of kingly powers of the Capetian kings. Bloch’s status as the doyen of modern medievalists was not, of course, limited solely to Feudal Society (the second volume of which first appeared in 1940). In his foreword to the first edition of the English translation, published in 1961, Professor Michael Postan could describe the work as ‘the standard international treatise on feudalism’ and launch a spirited eulogy of Bloch’s scientific approach (‘positivistic in the proper sense of the terms’), of his broad concept and of his commitment to the study of mentalities and the w link- human environment’.1 The work had an impact on the medieval, the non-historical specialist, the student, and the general reader w Inch is unparalleled by any other work on the Middle Ages. One of the outstanding historical works of modern times’, ‘a classic’ and 'a vital work of synthesis’ are some of the accolades lavished on Marc Minch’s Feudal Society.
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