time and circumstance, and the
state of things in the eleventh century was as different from that of
the fifth as those of our own time differ from the rule of Richard II.
Yet one was as much an outgrowth of its predecessor as the other.

Attempts have been made, with considerable ingenuity, to connect races
with each other by peculiar characteristics, but human society has the
same necessities, and we find great similarity in various divisions of
society. At all times, and in all nations, society resolved itself into
the upper, middle, and lower classes. Rome had its Nobles, Plebeians,
and Slaves; Germany its Edhilingi, Frilingi, and Lazzi; England its
Eaorls, Thanes, and Ceorls. It would be equally cogent to argue that,
because Rome had three classes and England had three classes, the latter
was derived from the former, as to conclude that, because Germany had
three classes, therefore English institutions were Teutonic. If the
invasion of the fifth century were Teutonic we should look for similar
nomenclature, but there is as great a dissimilarity between the English
and German names of the classes as between the former and those of Rome.

The Germanic MARK system has no counterpart in the land system
introduced into England by the ANGLO-SAXONs. If village communities
existed in England, it must have been before the invasion of the Romans.
The German system, as described by Caesar, was suited to nomads--to
races on the wing, who gave to no individual possession for more than
a year, that there might be no home ties. The mark system is of a later
date, and was evidently the arrangement of other races who permanently
settled themselves upon the lands vacated by the older nations. And I
may suggest whether, as these lands were originally inhabited by the
Celts, the conquerors did not adopt the system of the conquered.

Even in the nomenclature of FEUDALISM, introduced into England in the
fifth century, we are driven back to Scandinavia for an explanation.
The word FEUDAL as applied to land has a Norwegian origin, from which
country came Rollo, the progenitor of William the Norman. Pontoppidan
("History of Norway," p.290) says "The ODHALL, right of Norway, and
the UDALL, right of Finland, came from the words 'Odh,' which signifies
PROPRIETORS, and 'all,' which means TOTUM. A transposition of these
syllables makes ALL ODH, or ALLODIUM, which means absolute property.
FEE, which means stipend or pay, united with OTH, thus