ABSTRACT
Feudalism had considerably less impact on four peripheral regions of Europe. Four, indeed, preserved or developed democratic-republicanism during the Middle Ages: the alpine lands of Switzerland, Frisia and the Lowlands, Scandinavia and the north, and parts of Scotland. All were covenantal societies. On the European continent, the major exceptions to the feudal order were located in the heart of Europe, in the mountain valleys where liberty-loving people fled to escape the burdens of imperialism and feudalism and to carve free lives for themselves in their own communities. The Swiss invented or reinvented federalism in Europe and, indeed, represented the greatest expression of federalism in the world between the time of the Israelite tribal federation and the establishment of the United States of America. The development of Swiss federalism is a classic case study in the use of covenants as devices to promote federal political integration.
