ABSTRACT
It was at the end of the 11th century-that is, at the epoch when the appearance of the bourgeoisies was completing the social constitution of Europe-that royalty began to lay the foundations of the first States worthy of the name. Here again progress began in the West: to be exact, in France. Just as feudality and chivalry and the Clunisian reformation spread from France into other countries, it was in France that the forces operated, or it was from France that the forces came which presently created the new States. It was a vassal of the King of France who founded the English State, and the kingdom of France was the earliest of the continental States. For that matter, the vassal preceded the sovereign. So that in this sketch of the political work of the monarchy we must begin with England.
