Original: The development of the vassal, in a society that was increasingly organised around the concept of "lordship"— in French the seigneur— provides one of the threads by which the onlooker can see the Early Middle Ages evolving out of Late Antiquity.
Simplified: Western vassalage The development of the vassal, in a society that was increasingly organised around the concept of "lordship"— in French the seigneur— is one sign that Antiquity ended and the Early Middle Ages began.