I know I have mentioned this before- Alfred the Great's organisation of Wessex, with the formation of towns as burhs: fortified, able to defend themselves against small threats, but with a responsibility to send troops for area or national defence.
Small isolated settlements are too vulnerable if marauder bands exist in any number; large cities are too dependent on supply lines. This problem is compounded when those supply lines are based on those vulnerable rural communities!
So: reorganisation of society into small, defensible, flexible settlements. I am not sure if the power structure is best described as "devolved" or "feudal."
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