Feudal England: Historical Studies on the XIth and XIIth Centuries

John Horace Round (1854-1928) published Feudal England in 1895. The volume is a collection of Round’s articles on feudalism, most of which had been previously published in the English Historical Review. The essays cover the period 1050-1200. They are linked by Round’s overarching argument that it was the Norman Conquest that transplanted feudalism to England and that during the Anglo-Saxon period England had no real feudal institutions. The volume includes Round’s groundbreaking article ‘The Introduction of Knight Service into England’, first published in the English Historical Review for 1891-1892; a number of his important essays on the Domesday Book, a topic on which he was long regarded as the leading expert; and several essays challenging the historical methods of Professor Freeman, the main opponent of Round’s ideas. Feudal England was highly influential in medieval scholarship, and is still an important resource for researchers.