<P> In its origin, the feudal grant of land had been seen in terms of a personal bond between lord and vassal, but with time and the transformation of fiefs into hereditary holdings, the nature of the system came to be seen as a form of "politics of land" (an expression used by the historian Marc Bloch). The 11th century in France saw what has been called by historians a "feudal revolution" or "mutation" and a "fragmentation of powers" (Bloch) that was unlike the development of feudalism in England or Italy or Germany in the same period or later: Counties and duchies began to break down into smaller holdings as castellans and lesser seigneurs took control of local lands, and (as comital families had done before them) lesser lords usurped / privatized a wide range of prerogatives and rights of the state, most importantly the highly profitable rights of justice, but also travel dues, market dues, fees for using woodlands, obligations to use the lord's mill, etc. (what Georges Duby called collectively the "seigneurie banale"). Power in this period became more personal . </P> <P> This "fragmentation of powers" was not, however, systematic throughout France, and in certain counties (such as Flanders, Normandy, Anjou, Toulouse), counts were able to maintain control of their lands into the 12th century or later . Thus, in some regions (like Normandy and Flanders), the vassal / feudal system was an effective tool for ducal and comital control, linking vassals to their lords; but in other regions, the system led to significant confusion, all the more so as vassals could and frequently did pledge themselves to two or more lords . In response to this, the idea of a "liege lord" was developed (where the obligations to one lord are regarded as superior) in the 12th century . </P> <P> Feudalism itself decayed and effectively disappeared in most of Western Europe by about 1500, partly since the military power of kings shifted from armies consisting of the nobility to professional fighters (effectively reducing the nobility's power), but also because the Black Death reduced the nobility's hold on the lower classes . The system lingered on in parts of Central and Eastern Europe as late as the 1850s . Russia finally abolished serfdom in 1861 . </P> <P> However, even when the original feudal relationships had disappeared, there were many institutional remnants of feudalism left in place . Historian Georges Lefebvre explains how at an early stage of the French Revolution, on just one night of August 4, 1789, France abolished the long - lasting remnants of the feudal order . It announced, "The National Assembly abolishes the feudal system entirely ." Lefebvre explains: </P>

Feudalism was a system of government in which