The development of the vassal , in a society that was increasingly organised around the concept of `` lordship '' -- in MISC@1 the seigneur -- provides one of the threads by which the onlooker can see the Early Middle Ages evolving out of Late Antiquity .

MISC@2 vassalage The development of the vassal , in a society that was increasingly organised around the concept of `` lordship '' -- in MISC@1 the seigneur -- is one sign that Antiquity ended and the Early Middle Ages began .
