You people sit there, day after day, night after night, all ages, colors, creeds… We're all you know. You're beginning to believe the illusions we're spinning here. You're beginning to think that the tube is reality, and that your own lives are unreal. You do whatever the tube tells you! You dress like the tube, you eat like the tube, you raise your children like the tube, you even *think* like the tube! This is mass madness, you maniacs! You need to know your history or you have no identity. So let me educate you.
What were some of the striking differences between the Roman Empire and Feudal Europe?
The Empire was centralized. Feudalism was decentralized by nature.
The Empire did not have a law of succession to the throne. Feudalism depended on the regular and recognized succession of heirs.
The Empire regarded itself as the only legitimate state in the world, the rest being "barbarians". Feudalism was expansive and polycentric.
Individual titles were not inheritable in the Empire, though the general fact of being noble was.
The Empire tended to remove armed power from provinces and local authorities, and to gather all armed strength under the control of the emperor alone. Feudalism was all about each little county and city having their own armed force.
The Empire was impersonal; feudalism was personal. You just have to look at the semantic change from the Latin "legalitas", legality, being within the law, to the French derivate "loyaute'", loyalty, personal allegiance.
What about the smiliarities though? The fundamental similarity between Feudal Europe and the Roman Republic is military service as a prestige was only available to land owners.
