“Something with which we still desire to live”. Forms of resistance and royal power in the Regnum italicum between the 10th and 11th centuries

This essay aims to contribute to the reopening of the debate on the emergence of new forms of political and social resistance as a historical turning point that occurred roughly between 950 and 1030. It begins by recalling the closing pages of Bloch’s Société féodale, devoted to the notion of a ‘right of resistance’, and reconstructs its historiographical background. In light of the renewed framework of feudalism studies following the publication of Susan Reynolds’ Feud and Vassals, the essay then proposes to apply Bloch’s insight to the role of the milites in the society of the Regnum italicum from the mid-10th century to the first decades of the 11th, highlighting the role of horizontal ties.