Feudalism’s crisis begins when the aristocracy loses its military-technical monopoly
Evidence
Even feudal lords were possessors of a particular technical capacity, military capacity, and it is precisely from the moment at which the aristocracy loses its monopoly of technico-military capacity that the crisis of feudalism begins. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 255
Categorization
- XREF: Links to the broader Gramscian point that class power rests on control of technical/intellectual capacities, relevant to how colonizers maintained hegemony through knowledge monopolies. — connects to: European absolute monarchies emerged from the suppression of feudal nobility — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2042; Mafia failed to appear where ruling classes retained the monopoly on force; Aristocracies fail militarily because they fear mobilizing masses or strong generals — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 671 (+2 more)
- corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 255
Broader Connections
- European absolute monarchies emerged from the suppression of feudal nobility
#expands(0.85) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2042 - Mafia failed to appear where ruling classes retained the monopoly on force
#corroborates(0.80) - Aristocracies fail militarily because they fear mobilizing masses or strong generals
#expands(0.75) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 671 - Limitations on monarchy led to the rise of paid armies.
#contradicts(0.75) — Winston Churchill, A History of the English-Speaking…, 461