under him. He was
neither magistrate, priest, nor king, nor subordinate to any system
except as he permitted. His position developed arbitrary power and
made him proud and aristocratic. With a few members of his family, he
lived in his castle, far removed from serfs and vassals. He spent his
life alternately in feats of arms or in systematic idleness. Away from
home much of the time, fighting to defend his castle or obtain new
territory, or engaging in hunting, while the wife and mother cared for
the home, he developed strength and power.

It was in the feudal family that woman obtained her position of honor
and power in the home. It was this position that developed the
chivalry of the Middle Ages. The improvement of domestic manners and
the preponderance of home society among the few produced the moral
qualities of the home. Coupled with this was the idea of nobility on
one side, and the idea of inheritance on the other, which had a
tendency to unify the family under one defender and to perpetuate the
right and title to property of future generations. It was that benign
spirit which comes from the household in more modern life, giving
strength and permanence to character.

While there was a relation of common interest between the {301}
villagers clustered around the feudal castle, the union was not
sufficient to make a compact organization. Their rights were not
common, as there was a recognized superiority on one hand and a
recognized inferiority on the other. This grew into a common hatred of
the lower classes for the upper, which has been a thousand times
detrimental to human progress. The little group of people had their
own church, their own society. Those who had a fellow-feeling for them
had much influence directly, but not in bridging over the chasm between
them and the feudal lord. Feudalism gave every man a place, but
developed the inequalities of humanity to such an extent that it could
not be lasting as a system. Society became irregular, in which extreme
aristocracy was divorced from extreme democracy. Relief came slowly,
through the development of monarchy and the citizenship of the modern
state. It was a rude attempt to find the secret of social
organization. The spirit of revolt of the oppressed lived on
suppressed by a galling tyranny.

To maintain his position as proprietor of the soil and ruler over a
class of people treated as serfs required careful diplomacy on the part
of the