But, by way of compensation, the dissolution of the State raises up at this very time a military generation.

Each petty chieftain has planted his feet firmly on the domain he occupies, or which he withholds; he no longer keeps it in trust, or for use, but as property, and an inheritance.

It is his own manor, his own village, his own earldom; it no longer belongs to the king; he contends for it in his own right.

The benefactor, the conservator at this time is the man capable of fighting, of defending others, and such really is the character of the newly established class.
The noble, in the language of the day, is the man of war, the soldier (miles), and it is he who lays the second foundation of modern society.
In the tenth century his extraction is of little consequence.

He is oftentimes a Carlovingian count, a beneficiary of the king, the sturdy proprietor of one of the last of the Frank estates.