The academic dispute about the feudal revolution around 1000 is, to a large extent, a matter of perspective. Historians have observed that at the turn of the millennium, many of the institutions which had stabilised the social and political order since the 8th century had disappeared. In many places, kings had lost their influence as central authorities and jurisdiction had passed into the hands of local elites who made their own policies. This transformation of the social order meant that people could no longer rely on established procedures to settle disputes and create a stable social order.
However, ordinary people at the time described these developments differently than historians: their view was that, above all, their own behaviour was morally problematic and they thus feared the wrath of a punitive God. Chroniclers such as the Burgundian monk Rodulfus Glaber denounced the behaviour of the elites: in their greed, they bought and sold spiritual offices and ordinations (simony) and harassed churches!