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what did they have before the monarchy?

Lots of smaller kingdoms like Northumbria, which were unable to defend against Saxons, Danes and ultimately, Normans.

Feudalism and monarchy are awful and oppressive, but both are still better than being raided.

France was getting raided too despite being a monarchy.

The Roman republic became too large for an effective administration, which led to a lot of power staying in the hands of the few, and had a lot of flaws and blindspots. But despite that, it was still a way better system than what came next.

Better systems give higher probability of a better outcome, but don't guarantee it. But we're discussing Britain here, it haven't been invaded since Normans and had low amount of revolutions and civil wars compared to most of other countries over the last thousand years.

As for Romans, they, and most of Mediterranean experienced objectively best living conditions in all of humanity until modern times during 1st and 2nd centuries. Which is exactly the principate period.

Edit:

My point is not that monarchies or empires are better. It is that they are more effective for that technological level.

Lots of smaller monarchies, which isn't necessarily a bad thing provided there's freedom of movement, so that you can move to the monarchy that fits you best

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