State was divided into petty countships and dukedoms almost independent
of the king.

The gift of land by the king in return for feudal services was called a
feudal grant, and the land so given was termed a "feud" or "fief." In
the course of time fiefs became hereditary. Lands were also sometimes
usurped or otherwise obtained by subjects, who thereby became feudal
lords. By a process called "subinfeudation," lands were granted in
parcels to other men by those who received them from the king or
otherwise, and by these lower landholders to others again; and as the
first recipient became the vassal of the king and the suzerain of the
man who held next below him, there was created a regular descending
scale of such vassalage and suzerainty, in which each man's allegiance
was directly due to his feudal lord, and not to the king himself. From
the king down to the lowest landholder all were bound together by
obligation of service and defence; the lord to protect his vassal, the
vassal to do service to his lord.

These are the essential features of the social system which, from its
early growth under the later Carlovingians in the ninth century, spread
over Europe and reached its highest development in the twelfth century.
At a time midway between these periods it was carried by the Norman
Conquest into England. The history of this system of distinctly Frankish
origin--a knowledge of which is absolutely essential to a proper
understanding of history and the evolution of our present social
system--is told by Stubbs with that discernment and thoroughness of
analysis which have given him his rank as one of the few masterly
writers in this field.)

Feudalism had grown up from two great sources--the _beneficium_, and the
practice of commendation--and had been specially fostered on Gallic soil
by the existence of a subject population which admitted of any amount of
extension in the methods of dependence.

The beneficiary system originated partly in gifts of land made by the
kings out of their own estates to their kinsmen and servants, with a
special undertaking to be faithful; partly in the surrender by
land-owners of their estates to churches or powerful men, to be received
back again and held by them as tenants for rent or service. By the
latter arrangement the weaker man obtained the protection of the
stronger, and he who felt himself insecure placed his title under the
defence of the church.

By the practice of commendati