Abstract
Molinari sees the feudal regime as having emerged out of the conquest of Europe by barbarian hordes who lived as nomadic plunders until they realized they could get more from the exploited peasantry by regularizing their tribute in the form of taxes. Thus they became “stationery bandits” who provided some degree of security for land use and trade. This was especially true for the “free cities” which sheltered the industrious bourgeoisie and created opportunities for continent-wide trade. Gradually the nobility in France ossified as “servants of the crown” and were eventually overthrown in the Revolution of 1789. Today the aristocracy is an anachronism which will eventually disappear and will be replaced by a new “natural nobility” based upon merit acquired in the free market.
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Hart, D.M., Chartier, G., Kenyon, R.M., Long, R.T. (2018). Gustave de Molinari, “The Nobility as Conquering Plunderers” (1852). In: Hart, D., Chartier, G., Kenyon, R., Long, R. (eds) Social Class and State Power. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64894-1_19
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64894-1_19
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