sly opposed the intrusion of a new lord, who would be
inclined, as he was fully entitled, to bestow the possession of their
lands on his own favourites and retainers. Thus the authority of the
sovereign gradually decayed; and each noble, fortified in his own
territory by the attachment of his vassals, became too powerful to be
expelled by an order from the throne; and he secured by law what he
had at first acquired by usurpation.

During this precarious state of the supreme power, a difference would
immediately be experienced between those portions of territory which
were subjected to the feudal tenures, and those which were possessed
by an allodial or free title. Though the latter possessions had at
first been esteemed much preferable, they were soon found, by the
progressive changes introduced into public and private law, to be of
an inferior condition to the former. The possessors of a feudal
territory, united by a regular subordination under one chief, and by
the mutual attachments of the vassals, had the same advantages over
the proprietors of the other, that a disciplined army enjoys over a
dispersed multitude; and were enabled to commit with impunity all
injuries on their defenceless neighbours. Every one, therefore,
hastened to seek that protection which he found so necessary; and each
allodial proprietor, resigning his possessions into the hands of the
king, or of some nobleman respected for power or valour, received them
back with the condition of feudal services [e], which, though a burden
somewhat grievous, brought him ample compensation, by connecting him
with the neighbouring proprietors, and placing him under the
guardianship of a potent chieftain. The decay of the political
government thus necessarily occasioned the extension of the feudal:
the kingdoms of Europe were universally divided into baronies, and
these into inferior fiefs: and the attachment of vassals to their
chief, which was at first an essential part of the German manners, was
still supported by the same causes from which it at first arose; the
necessity of mutual protection, and the continued intercourse between
the head and the members, of benefits and services.
[FN [e] Marculf. Form. 47. apud Lindenbr. p. 1238.]

But there was another circumstance which corroborated these feudal
dependencies, and tended to connect the vassals with their superior
lord by an indissoluble bond of union. The northern conquerors, as
well as the more e