“When did it first occur to anyone to enlarge the meaning of [‘feudalism’ and 'feudal’] so as to designate a state of society?Gouvernement féodal and féodalité are used in this sense in the Lettres Historiques sur les Parlemens, published in 1727, five years after the death of their author, the Comte de Boulainvilliers… This strange man Boulainvilliers… may be regarded as having a presumptive claim to be the inventor of a new historical classification. For that is what it really amounts to, and in the study of history there have been few stages so decisive as the moment when 'Empires,’ dynasties, famous periods identified with some great name–in a word, all the old arbitrary divisions born of a monarchical and oratorical tradition–began to give place to another system of classification, based on the observation of social phenomena.”
- Feudal Society: Volume I: Introduction, Marc Bloch.
- Feudal Society: Volume I: Introduction, Marc Bloch.