ion at the time of the contact of the
Romans with their invaders. The client was attached to the lord, on
whom he depended for support and for representation in the community.
Two of the well-known feudal aids, namely, the ransom of the lord from
captivity and the gift of dowry money on the marriage of his eldest
daughter, are similar to the services rendered by the Roman client to
his lord.

The personal tie of clientage resembled the personal {296} allegiance
in the comitatus, with the difference that the client stood at a great
distance from the patron, while in the comitatus the companions were
nearly equal to their chief. The Roman influence tended finally to
make the wide difference which existed between the lord and vassal in
feudal relations. Other forms of Roman usage, such as the institution
of the _coloni_, or half-slaves of the soil, and the custom of granting
land for use without actual ownership, seem to have influenced the
development of feudalism. Without doubt the Roman institutions here
gave form and system to feudalism, as they did in other forms of
government.

_The Feudal System in Its Developed State Based on Land-Holding_.--In
the early period in France, where feudalism received its most perfect
development, several methods of granting land were in vogue. First,
the lands in the immediate possession of the conquered were retained by
them on condition that they pay tribute to the conquerors; the wealthy
Romans were allowed to hold all or part of their large estates.
Second, many lands were granted in fee simple to the followers of the
chiefs. Third was the beneficiary grant, most common to feudal tenure
in its developed state. By this method land was granted as a reward
for services past or prospective. The last method to be named is that
of commendation, by which the small holder of land needing protection
gave his land to a powerful lord, who in turn regranted it to the
original owner on condition that the latter became his vassal. Thus
the lands conquered by a chief or lord were parcelled out to his
principal supporters, who in turn regranted them to those under them,
so that all society was formed in a gradation of classes based on the
ownership of land. Each lord had his vassal, every vassal his lord.
Each man swore allegiance to the one next above him, and this one to
his superior, until the king was reached, who himself was but a
powerful feudal lord.

As the other forms and fu