“The Abbey was the highest administrative creation of the middle ages.”

—  Henry Adams

Mont Saint Michel and Chartres (1904)
Context: Every ounce of food must be brought from the mainland, or fished from the sea. All the tenants and their farms, their rents and contributions, must be looked after. No secular prince had a more serious task of administration, and none did it so well. Tenants always preferred an Abbot or Bishop for landlord. The Abbey was the highest administrative creation of the middle ages.

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Henry Adams 311
journalist, historian, academic, novelist 1838–1918

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