Final answer:
Nobles seized power from weak regional kings by controlling large farms, raising private armies, and establishing a feudal system that weakened the central monarchy and favored the ascent of powerful aristocratic dynasties.
Step-by-step explanation:
Nobles owned large farms and seized power from the weak regional kings. Feudal societies in the ninth century featured a hierarchical system where the nobility, known as lords, commanded large swaths of land and the allegiance of vassals in exchange for protection and resources. The nobles fortified their lands, raised private armies, and extracted resources such as grain and cloth from the villages, contributing to the decline of central royal authority and the rise of feudal power.
In cases such as the Merovingian kingdom, increasing aristocratic power and partible inheritance led to fragmented estates and weakened kings, allowing for the ascent of powerful dynasties like the Carolingians. Over time, as aristocrats gained control over land, economies reverted to manorial systems, wherein each aristocratic clan requisitioned goods directly from their estates, bypassing market mechanisms. This concentration of land and power in the hands of the nobility often came at the expense of smallholder farmers and the poor, who faced extortion and dispossession by the wealthy landowners.