"From the top of the donjon an observer could see the whole region as far as the forest of Compiegne thirty miles away, making Coucy proof against surprise. In design and execution the fortress was the most nearly perfect military structure of medieval Europe, and in size the most audacious," Chapter I, p. 5.

"The dynasty's first recorded act of significance, religious rather than bellicose, was the founding by Aubry de Councy in 1059 of the Benedictine Abbey of Nogent at the foot of the hill. Such a gesture, on a larger scale than the usual donation for perpetual prayers, was meant both to display the importance of the donor and to buy merit to assure his salvation," Chapter 1, p. 7.

"Without adequate irrigation and fertilizers, crop yield could not be raised nor poor soils be made productive. Commerce was not equipped to transport grain in bulk from surplus-producing areas except...