Elaine Graham-Leigh, "Counts, Bandits and Peasants: Feudalism in Twelfth-Century Languedoc Reassessed"
Synopsis of a paper presented at the New Socialist Approaches to History seminar, Institute of Historical Research, December 9th 2002
In 1175, the men of the village of Moussoulens in central Languedoc applied for permission to move their village to a nearby hilltop and fortify it. The most obvious context for this odd example of peasant castle building would be the ongoing process of fortification in twelfth-century Languedoc, that is castle building and especially the fortification of churches. Languedoc in the twelfth century was described by contemporaries as a violent place, overrun with mercenaries, but for historians the temptation to blame the evident chaos on an external source like the mercenary problem enables them to avoid casting doubt on the medieval feudal system, in which medieval society was a stable hierarchy.
The effect of the idea of the feudal system on historians is that all noble authority is represented as having equal legitimacy, and without feudal assumptions, the reality seems very different. From the early eleventh century, it is clear that much noble authority was regarded by the people who experienced it as essentially illegitimate, as demonstrated for example by the Peace of God movement against noble violence and banditry. Similarly in twelfth-century Languedoc, a critical examination of the lesser nobility suggests that banditry is likely to have been a major source of revenue. It is also likely that it was against such noble bandits that villages like Moussoulens were fortified, a tactic which does not suggest an acceptance of aristocratic rights to such violent exactions. The behaviour of many of the greater nobles does not seem to have been substantially different, as the operation of a protection racket on the major roads by members of the higher nobility demonstrates. Medieval feudalism in any form currently dominant among historians does not describe medieval Languedoc. Rather, historians should view this society in terms of active and evolving social conflict.