Bogin says that “The granting of fiefs to women represented a fundamental threat to the feudal equation: military strength = land = power.” (23). We see an instance of this in the life of the trobairitz Garsenda (170-173). How did having a woman in charge of a fief challenge this equation? What was this ‘fundamental threat’?

1-Bogin says that “The granting of fiefs to women represented a fundamental threat to the feudal equation: military strength = land = power.” (23). We see an instance of this in the life of the trobairitz Garsenda (170-173). How did having a woman in charge of a fief challenge this equation? What was this ‘fundamental threat’?

2-Bogin introduces the economic, political, and cultural ‘shifts’ starting in the late 10th century that changed the feudal equation of military strength = land = power to the city-based formula money = land = power and laid the groundwork for the Crusades (26-33). Under the veneer of religious motivation bubbled the stark economic constraints that made going on crusade attractive to many younger sons (cf. p. 51). Discuss the working of some of these factors.

You may also choose to compare the situation of such landless men with a problem in our own society, namely the plight of young men without an obvious path to future stability, especially among thocgose who don’t go to college.