A Reminiscence Of Gratillonius

Poul Anderson, The High Crusade, CHAPTER XVIII.

See Interstellar Feudalism.

The Wersgorix had destroyed civilization on the planets that they conquered;

the English alliance gives the enslaved populations arms and leadership;

the freed slaves attack the Wersgorix so savagely that the latter flee to the alliance for protection;

with no experience of such horrific conflicts, Sir Roger's allies increasingly accept his sole leadership;

the toppling of the Wersgor system creates a power vacuum but also urgent necessities to organize society and to prepare against counterattack;

Sir Roger:

"...had a solution to these problems, one hammered out in Europe during those not dissimilar centuries after Rome fell: the feudal system." (p. 123)