Feudalism emerged simultaneously from top-down grants and bottom-up accumulation of power

Evidence

But this same result was reached by the social process which started from the opposite end. The intermediate layers developed not only through power distribution from the top but also through accumulation from below. Originally free but small land owners gave their land to more powerful lords in order to receive it back as feudal tenures. At the same time, these landlords more and more increased their power, against which the weakened royalty could not stand up, and in those of their representatives that had advanced highest toward the top, themselves attained royal power. — Georg Simmel, The Sociology of Georg Simmel, 5490

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Milgrom’s law-merchant analysis: institutions built from below via accumulation, not only imposed from above.