«The inspiring title of the Italian translation must not lead us to forget the original title of this fundamental work by Duby, published by Gallimard in 1978: Les trois ordres ou l'imaginaire du féodalisme. The three 'orders' considered are - as the subtitle of the Italian translation mentions - priests, warriors and workmen: that is the administrators of the sacred, the legislators and defendants of society and those who contribute to the survival and prosperity of society through their hard work. The inspiration of this research is obvious: the 'functional tripartition' of the Indo-European societies suggested by Georges Dumézil. The book is the result of a three year seminary: from 1970 to 1973. Dumézil himself, in a memorable final session, legitimated this research born from the best-known of his own theses. But this book is not only theory: it captures and explaines - with extraordinary wealth of detail and a fascinating style - the nucleus of the system of values of the European Middle Ages. The Mirror of Feudalism must be considered as a true «classic» in medieval studies of the XX century, along with books such as L'autunno del Medioevo by Johan Huizinga, I re taumaturghi by Marc Bloch and L'allegoria d'amore by Clive S. Lewis» (Franco Cardini).