Feudalism arose from internal usurpation of delegated royal power, not foreign invasion

Evidence

As you can see, this feudalism was a late phenomenon, and it was related not to the invasion, but to the destruction from within of central power. It was an effect, and it had the same effects as an invasion, but it was an invasion that was launched from within by people who had usurped a power that had been delegated to them. — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 216 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Montlosier’s analysis functions very differently from the analysis we saw in the eighteenth century. Montlosier obviously does speak of a relation of domination that results from a war, or rather a multiplicity of wars, but he does not really try to situate it. And he says that the important thing is not really what happened at the time of the Frankish invasion, because relations of domination existed long before that and because they were multiple. Long before the Romans invaded Gaul, there was already a relation of domination between a nobility and a people that paid it tribute. It was the result of an ancient war. The Romans came, and brought their war with them, but they also brought the relationship of domination that existed between their aristocracy and people who were no more than the clients of those rich people, those nobles and aristocrats. That relationship of domination resulted from an old war too. And then the Germans came along, with their own internal relationship of subjugation between those who were free warriors and those who were merely subjects. So what happened at the beginning of the Middle Ages, at the dawn of feudalism, was not just that a victorious people was superimposed on a vanquished people. What was established was a combination of three systems of internal domination: that of the Gauls, that of the Romans, and that of the Germans. — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 245 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Feudal elites can keep leading a bourgeois state without fusing with the bourgeoisie; Dubos redefined feudalism as internal usurpation rather than foreign conquest — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 216; Feudal Europe layered multiple preexisting internal dominations rather than one conquest. — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 245 (+1 more)

Related

• Feudal Europe layered multiple preexisting internal dominations rather than one conquest. (similarity 0.92)
• Dubos redefined feudalism as internal usurpation rather than foreign conquest (similarity 0.90)
• A conquering class can be reframed as internal usurpers rather than foreign invaders (similarity 0.82)
• The Third Estate inverted the Frankish conquest thesis against noble privilege (similarity 0.80)
• Boulainvilliers read Frankish conquest as the origin of feudalism rather than Roman sovereignty (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Dubos redefined feudalism as internal usurpation rather than foreign conquest #corroborates (0.98) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 216
• Feudal Europe layered multiple preexisting internal dominations rather than one conquest. #expands (0.85) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 245