Feudal duties were the set of reciprocal financial, military and legal obligations among the warrior nobility in a

feudal system Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...

. Translated into English by

Philip Grierson Philip Grierson, FBA (15 November 1910 – 15 January 2006) was a British historian and numismatist, emeritus professor of numismatics at Cambridge University and a fellow of Gonville and Caius College for over seventy years. During his long an ...

as ''Feudalism'', 1st ed., London, 1952. These duties developed in both Europe and Japan with the decentralisation of empire and due to lack of monetary liquidity, as groups of warriors took over the social, political, judicial, and economic spheres of the territory they controlled. While many feudal duties were based upon control of a parcel of land and its productive resources, even landless

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

s owed feudal duties such as direct military service in their

lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

behest. Feudal duties were not uniform over time or across political boundaries. And in their later development also included duties from and to the

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasants ...

population, such as abergement. Feudal duties ran both ways, both up and down the feudal hierarchy; however, aside from distribution of land and

maintenance Maintenance may refer to: Biological science * Maintenance of an organism * Maintenance respiration Non-technical maintenance * Alimony, also called ''maintenance'' in British English * Champerty and maintenance, two related legal doctrine ...

of landless retainers, the main obligation of the feudal lord was to protect his

vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain. W ...

s, both militarily from incursion and judicially via court justice. In addition to lands, the lord could grant what were called "immunities", but were rights to conduct governmental functions such as the collecting of taxes and tolls, the holding of judicial proceedings, and even the coinage of money. In addition there were contingent duties the lord owed such as the duty to take back a fief that was rejected by an heir ('' droit de déguerpissement''). Sometimes, particularly in the Frankish kingdoms, a lord would grant a fief to an assemblage of men rather than to a single vassal. These grants were called '' bans'' and included extensive governmental autonomy, or immunities. Duties owed by a vassal to his lord can be categorised into four types: * Military (''auxilium''), which included personal service, providing troops (raising levies), and later

scutage Scutage is a medieval English tax levied on holders of a knight's fee under the feudal land tenure of knight-service. Under feudalism the king, through his vassals, provided land to knights for their support. The knights owed the king military s ...

in lieu of service. Military duties also included work on fortifications and roads and bridges, thus the '' trinoda necessitas''. * Court duties (''consilium''), which encompassed everything from security (being a guard) through rendering advice in council, providing

squire In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight. Use of the term evolved over time. Initially, a squire served as a knight's apprentice. Later, a village leader or a lord of the manor might come to be known as a " ...

s and even in some cases providing ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

'' hostages. * Special taxes (aids), often called

feudal aid Feudal aid is the legal term for one of the financial duties required of a feudal tenant or vassal to his lord. Variations on the feudal aid were collected in England, France, Germany and Italy during the Middle Ages, although the exact circumstance ...

s, were monies due upon certain contingent events, such as contributing to the lord's ransom, or to pageant-like events at court such as royal marriages.An example of such a recurring aid was support for the ''baillée des roses'' held each Spring for the French parliaments. , citing * Incidents, which included such things as a negotiated kickback to the lord upon being granted a fief (politely called a ''receipt''), the duty to feed and house the lord and his retinue when the lord visited (''

droit de gîte A droit ( French for ''right'' or ''Law'') is a legal title, claim or due. Droits of admiralty (English law) The term is used in English law in the phrase " droits of admiralty". This refers to certain customary rights or perquisites, formerly ...

''), allowing the lord to hunt or fish on his land ('' droit de garenne'') and being subject to the residual lordly rights of guardianship upon minority inheritance, and forfeiture upon a failure of heirs or failure to observe his feudal obligations. In Europe, church lands were also held with feudal duties. While some churchmen did provide direct military service, most either hired substitutes, paid scutage, or later converted the duty to one of prayer,

frankalmoin Frank almoin, frankalmoign or frankalmoigne () was one of the feudal land tenures in feudal England. Its literal meaning is 'free pity/mercy', from Norman French , 'free alms', from Late Latin , from Greek (), 'pity, alms', from () 'merciful', ...

List

Feudal duties included, but were not limited to: *

Amober Formerly in Welsh law, an amober, or amobyr, was a maiden-fee paid to a lord on the marriage of a maiden in his manor. The term is similar to the English feudal ''merchet''.Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade. An Introduction to Late Modern English'. Edi ...

- fee paid to a lord on the marriage of a maiden in his manor *

Appanage An appanage, or apanage (; french: apanage ), is the grant of an estate, title, office or other thing of value to a younger child of a sovereign, who would otherwise have no inheritance under the system of primogeniture. It was common in much o ...

- concession of a fief by the sovereign to his younger sons * Avera and inward - feudal obligations assessed against a

royal demesne Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it ...

* Carucage - land tax based on the size (variously calculated) of the taxpayer's estate *

Castle-guard Castle-guard was an arrangement under the feudal system, by which the duty of finding knights to guard royal castles was imposed on certain manors, knight's fees or baronies. The greater barons provided for the guard of their castles by exacting ...

- provision of knights to guard royal castles *

Chiefage A chiefage, or chevage, according to Henry de Bracton, was a tribute by the head; or a kind of poll-money paid by those who held lands in villeinage, or otherwise, to their lords, in acknowledgement. The word seems also to have been used for a sum ...

- a

poll Poll, polled, or polling may refer to: Figurative head counts * Poll, a formal election ** Election verification exit poll, a survey taken to verify election counts ** Polling, voting to make decisions or determine opinions ** Polling places o ...

-money paid to their lords by those who held lands *

Corvée Corvée () is a form of unpaid, forced labour, that is intermittent in nature lasting for limited periods of time: typically for only a certain number of days' work each year. Statute labour is a corvée imposed by a state for the purposes of ...

- unpaid, unfree intermittent labour for limited periods of time *

Droit de gîte A droit ( French for ''right'' or ''Law'') is a legal title, claim or due. Droits of admiralty (English law) The term is used in English law in the phrase " droits of admiralty". This refers to certain customary rights or perquisites, formerly ...

- duty to feed and house the lord and his retinue when the lord visited * Droit de garenne - allowing the lord to hunt or fish on a

's land *

Feudal aid Feudal aid is the legal term for one of the financial duties required of a feudal tenant or vassal to his lord. Variations on the feudal aid were collected in England, France, Germany and Italy during the Middle Ages, although the exact circumstance ...

- payment to a lord on certain occasions, such as the knighting of his eldest son, marriage of his eldest daughter *

Feudal maintenance Feudal maintenance under feudal systems of government, was the money payment to soldiers who fought in the interest and at the command of their lord. Such soldiers comprised private armies, each with uniquely identifiable livery A livery is ...

- money payment to soldiers fighting in the interest and at the command of their lord *

Frankalmoin Frank almoin, frankalmoign or frankalmoigne () was one of the feudal land tenures in feudal England. Its literal meaning is 'free pity/mercy', from Norman French , 'free alms', from Late Latin , from Greek (), 'pity, alms', from () 'merciful', ...

- land held by an ecclesiastical body free of secular service, commonly in return for religious services. *

Knight-service Knight-service was a form of feudal land tenure under which a knight held a fief or estate of land termed a knight's fee (''fee'' being synonymous with ''fief'') from an overlord conditional on him as tenant performing military service for his ov ...

- duty of a knight as tenant to perform military service for his overlord *

Merchet Merchet (also: -ett, -ete, -eit, -eat, -iett, -i(e)te, -iatte, mershet(e), marchet, -eit, market) () was a fine paid on a marriage during the Middle Ages in England. The word derives from the plural form of daughter, ''merched'', in old Welsh. Mer ...

- fee paid on a marriage *

Patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

- protection and support to a client, who owed loyalty and service in return *

Scot and lot Scot and lot is a phrase common in the records of English, Welsh and Irish medieval boroughs, referring to local rights and obligations. The term ''scot'' comes from the Old English word ''sceat'', an ordinary coin in Anglo-Saxon times, equivalen ...

- local levies and their associated obligations and rights, such as for drainage *

Scutage Scutage is a medieval English tax levied on holders of a knight's fee under the feudal land tenure of knight-service. Under feudalism the king, through his vassals, provided land to knights for their support. The knights owed the king military s ...

- a payment accepted as an alternative to knight-service *

Serjeanty Under feudalism in France and England during the Middle Ages, tenure by serjeanty () was a form of tenure in return for a specified duty other than standard knight-service. Etymology The word comes from the French noun , itself from the Latin , ...

- tenure in return for a specified duty other than standard knight-service *

Socage Socage () was one of the feudal duties and land tenure forms in the Feudalism, English feudal system. It eventually evolved into the freehold tenure called "free and common socage", which did not involve feudal duties. Farmers held land in excha ...

- tenure in return for a specified duty (usually money) other than standard knight-service *

Taille The ''taille'' () was a direct land tax on the French peasantry and non-nobles in ''Ancien Régime'' France. The tax was imposed on each household and was based on how much land it held, and was directly paid to the state. History Originally o ...

- a direct land tax on the French peasantry and non-nobles *

Tallage Tallage or talliage (from the French ''tailler, i.e. '' a part cut out of the whole) may have signified at first any tax, but became in England and France a land use or land tenure tax. Later in England it was further limited to assessments by the ...

- an occasional payment exacted by king and barons

Notes and references

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