[Marxism] Conflict Amongst Feudal Lords Query

["Calvin Broadbent" <calvinbroadbent@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

I wondered if anyone could help me answer a query I have. How do we account
for conflict amongst the ruling class under feudalism? Unlike in capitalism,
it would appear that competition is not an inbuilt facet of feudal
economies. So the only sources of conflict in Feudalism would appear to be
conflict over land ownership between emiserated serfs and landowners or
amongst greedy or power-hungry landowners. Why should a centralised and
unifying monarch appear desirable or necessary to disparate feudal lords?
Or, for those who have seen the film 'Hero', why should an all-powerful
monarch be a source of stability in the context of warring fiefdoms (i.e.
why did the Feudal aristocracy tend to war with one another)? What were the
sources of social dynamism in the feudal economy (since it would appear, on
the surface, to be a relatively static social arrangement)? Where do kings
come from?!

I would greatly appreciate even a cursory answer to the above queries. Is
Perry Anderson's *Passages from Antiquity* a useful book to read on the
subject?

thanks a lot.

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