However, certain elements were common, or at least general, in the mature feudalism of Western Europe in the years from 1000 to 1200. Although historians dogged by the need to generalize speak of feudalism, actually feudal institutions varied greatly from district to district. Thence it was transplanted in Spain, the British Isles, and eastern Germany. From these precedents and from sheer necessity, feudalism was created in the Carolingian state in the ninth and tenth centuries. Among the Germanic tribes beyond the imperial frontiers, a roughly similar system of armed personal retainers had existed. Already, in the last chaotic centuries of imperial rule, Roman magnates had supported, and had been supported by, groups of clients. Since there was no central government capable of providing this security, men fell back on their own resources, making local arrangements. Feudalism was the natural response to the greatest political need of the Dark Ages: security.
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