W Europe is often portrayed as being uniformly feudalistic in the Middle Ages. Books often point out late Roman trends in the west as the foundations of feudalism, some point to Frankish influence as the main propagator of feudalism. Which is more true and how widespread was feudalism in reality?

by Augustus420

How dissimilar would feudalism in France have been compared to Christian Spain in let’s say 1000. From what I understand, feudalism wasn’t really introduced in England until the Normans took over and brought Frankish culture with them. Was there there feudalism in Spain or Italy or are they like England without true feudalism like we colloquially understand it?

thejukeboxhero

Hi! There's always room for further discussion, but while you wait for an answer, you might consider checking out the section on feudalism in the FAQ.

In particular, I'd recommend checking out /u/idjet's primer on "What is feudalism?", which dives into the creation of feudalism as a descriptor for medieval society, and why that descriptor ultimately falls short of its goal as a shorthand for a system of political and social organization-- and a part of that is the term's inability to capture nuance and variation, forcing surviving evidence to fit into an ultimately ineffective model.

After that, you might consider going through the AMA "Feudalism Didn't Exist": The Social & Political World of Medieval Europe which tackles the historiography in a bit more depth and the disconnect between popular usage and current trends in academia.