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Article: A "feudal mutation"? Conceptual tools and historical patterns in world history.(Forum: debate on "fuedal mutation")
- Article from:
- Journal of World History
- Article date:
- December 1, 2003
- Author:
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WAS there a "feudal mutation" in world history, a common process that affected much of the Eurasian "ethnosphere" between approximately 900 and 1200? R. J. Barendse says there was, and argues in addition that "feudalism" is a useful term for world historical analysis. I argue, first, that "feudalism" is not a useful term and concept in analyzing any aspect of world history, and, second, that the mutation Barendse describes, whatever we call it, did not actually happen.
"FEUDALISM"
Barendse's Claims
Barendse makes three sets of broad claims about what he variously calls the "feudal mutation" or "feudalism as a process": claims about peasant ...