Feudalism is a term with many meanings, but in its strictest sense it is about lords, vassals and fiefs. Susan Reynolds has resurrected this narrow notion of feudalism as an object of intellectual debate among medievalists in her book Fiefs and Vassals. In addition to her razor-sharp criticism, Reynolds' erudition has played an important role in the book's success. It is well researched, its author having absorbed the wealth of sources and available literature. Whether it be the Frankish era or German, French, Italian and English feudalism none of them escapes Reynolds' scrutiny. Yet, something is lacking. In many ways Reynolds' book is a riposte to Qu'est-ce que la fe'odalité? by Belgian writer, Franc,ois-Louis Ganshof. Reynolds relentlessly destroys the beautiful construct feudalism had become in Ganshof's classic work. However, in doing so she has neglected the sources that were central to 'Ganshofian feudalism'. When Ganshof wrote his monograph, it was apparent to him beyond any doubt that feudalism was born between Loire and Rhine: in other words, that this region was the heartland of feudalism. He, therefore, was very keen on using sources from between Loire and Rhine, particularly texts from the centre of this region, Flanders and Lotharingia.

It is easy to criticise Ganshof's method. Moreover, complaints about 'belgocentrism' in the study of feudalism during the 1970s and 1980s were not completely unjustified. Ganshof was a Belgian, and medieval Flanders and Lotharingia together on a map look suspiciously like some kind of medieval greater Belgium. Subsequent research has shown that Mediterranean feudalism should not be so readily discarded, but historical research has in the meantime overcorrected. Some authors now claim that feudalism started in the Mediterranean. Flanders and Lotharingia are conveniently neglected. Fiefs and vassals continues that trend. In Susan Reynolds' book Flanders and Lotharingia disappear into the cracks between France and Germany. Only a few sources from these territories have been consulted and when they are used the author's interpretation is questionable. For example, Reynolds states (on p. 304 ) that in Flanders separate courts for fiefholders seem to have come into existence by the end of the thirteenth century. She refers to Ganshof's rather outdated Recherches sur les tribunaux de chaâtellenie en Flandre, a book which, though useful for its discussion on feudal courts in general, lacks authority on the comital feudal courts.