in of feudal tenures, 163;
custom of personal commendation, 164;
its character, _ib._, 165;
edict of Conrad II., 166, 167, and _notes_;
principle of a feudal relation, 167;
rights and duties of vassals, _ib._;
ceremonies of homage, fealty, and investiture, 169;
obligations of the vassal to his lord, 170;
military service, its conditions and extent, 171 and _notes_;
feudal incidents: origin of reliefs, 172, 173;
of fines on alienation, 174;
the custom of _frerage_ in France, 176;
escheats and forfeitures, 177;
objects for which aids were levied, _ib._;
limitations thereof by Magna Charta, 178;
institution of wardships, _ib._;
their vexatious character in later times, 179;
extortionate and oppressive practices relative to marriages, 179, 180;
introduction of improper feuds, 181;
fiefs of office, their nature and variety, 181, 182 and _notes_;
feudal law-books, 182;
the Milanese collection, 183;
difference between that and the French and English systems, 183, 184;
the feudal system not of Roman origin, 185, 186;
localities over which it extended, 187, 188;
privileges of nobility, 191-194;
difference between a French _roturier_ and an English _commoner_,
191 _note_ p;
condition of the clergy, 195, 196;
of the classes below the gentry, 196;
assemblies of the barons, 219;
the cours plenieres, 220, 248;
legislative and judicial assemblies [see Legislation,
States-General, Justice];
decline of the feudal system, 249;
its causes: increase of the domains of the crown, 253, 254;
rise of the chartered towns, 255-261 [see Towns];
commutation of military service, 261 [see Military Systems];
decay of feudal principles, 268;
influence of feudalism upon the institutions of England and
France, 269;
civil freedom promoted by it, 270;
its tendency to exalt warlike habits, 271;
its value as an element of discipline, _ib._;
and as producing sentiments of loyalty, 272;
the _mundium_, 318 _note_;
essentials of the feudal system, 319;
its principles aristocratic and exclusive, 321;
Guizot's description of a feudal castle, 322;
laxity of feudal tenures in Italy, 365;
question of their existence in England prior to the Conquest, ii.
293-301;
feudalism under the Normans, 314;
innovation introduced by