this week, Luke and Eleanor begin a much-requested series on the factors that led to the rise, dominance, and fall of feudalism during and after the Middle Ages. the series will focus on how feudalism and the feudal mode of production came to be and how it shaped our world today in eventually giving way to capitalism. but before we actually get to feudalism, we have to set the stage by discussing historical materialism and what it says about the development of society and culture.