April 14, 2008

Feudalism, We Hardly Knew Ye

If I asked you when the feudal system came to an official end in Europe, you'd likely guess a few hundred years ago.

Well you'd be wrong, cuz it officially ended last week... last week!!! I had no idea.

Apparently, a little island in the English Channel has been operating under a kind of classic feudalism until "fiefdom was abolished by the amending of electoral laws to grant universal suffrage and fully elected governance" (courtesy of wikipedia).

Crazy, eh? That islands name is Sark, and it consists of two main parts separated by an isthmus (try saying that with a lisp).

Here's my favorite part of the Wikipedia article:

"In 1991 an unemployed French nuclear physicist
named André Gardes attempted a singlehanded invasion of Sark, armed
with a semi-automatic weapon. He was arrested by the Island's part time police officer while sitting on a bench, changing the gun's magazine."

2 comments:

Holly said...

This is why I love reading your blog.

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