A vavasour (also vavasor;

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intel ...

''vavassor'', ''vavassour''; Modern French ''vavasseur'';

Late Latin Late Latin ( la, Latinitas serior) is the scholarly name for the form of Literary Latin of late antiquity.Roberts (1996), p. 537. English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the , and continuing into the 7th century in t ...

''vavassor''), is a term in

feudal law 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 ...

. A vavasour was the

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 suzerai ...

tenant Tenant may refer to: Real estate *Tenant, the holder of a leasehold estate in real estate *Tenant-in-chief, in feudal land law *Tenement (law), the holder of a legal interest in real estate *Tenant farmer *Anchor tenant, one of the larger stores ...

of a

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or kn ...

, one who held his tenancy under a baron, and who also had tenants under him.

Definition and derivation

The derivation of the word is obscure. It may be derived from ''vassi ad valvas'' (at the folding-doors, valvae), i.e. servants of the royal antechamber.

Du Cange Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange (; December 18, 1610 in Amiens – October 23, 1688 in Paris, aged 77), also known simply as Charles Dufresne, was a distinguished French philologist and historian of the Middle Ages and Byzantium. Life Educat ...

regarded it merely as an obscure variant of ''vassus'', probably from ''vassus vassorum'' "

of the vassals". Alternative spellings include vavasor, valvasor, vasseur, vasvassor, oavassor, and others. In its most general sense the word thus indicated a mediate vassal, i.e. one holding a

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form ...

under a vassal. The word was, however, applied at various times to the most diverse ranks in the feudal hierarchy, being used practically as the synonym of vassal. Thus

tenants-in-chief In medieval and early modern Europe, the term ''tenant-in-chief'' (or ''vassal-in-chief'') denoted a person who held his lands under various forms of feudal land tenure directly from the king or territorial prince to whom he did homage, as oppos ...

of the crown are described by the Emperor

Conrad II Conrad II ( – 4 June 1039), also known as and , was the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1027 until his death in 1039. The first of a succession of four Salian emperors, who reigned for one century until 1125, Conrad ruled the kingdoms ...

as ''valvassores majores'', as distinguished from mediate tenants, ''valvassores minores''. Gradually the term without qualification was found convenient for describing sub-vassals, tenants-in-chief being called ''capitanei'' or ''barones''; but its implication, however, still varied in different places and times. Bracton ranked the ''magnates seu valvassores'' between

s and

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 Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

s; for him they are "men of great dignity," and in this order they are found in a charter of

Henry II of England Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (french: link=no, Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry Plantagenet, was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189, and as such, was the first Angevin kin ...

(1166). But in the '' regestum'' of Philip II Augustus we find that five vavassors are reckoned as the equivalent of one knight. Finally, Du Cange quotes two charters, one of 1187, another of 1349, in which vavassors are clearly distinguished from nobles. Vavasours subdivide again to vassals, exchanging land and cattle, human or otherwise, against

fealty An oath of fealty, from the Latin ''fidelitas'' (faithfulness), is a pledge of allegiance of one person to another. Definition In medieval Europe, the swearing of fealty took the form of an oath made by a vassal, or subordinate, to his lord. "Fea ...

. - ''Motley''.

In fiction

* Used as a Christian name (Colonel Vavasour Devorax) in the novel ''A Crowning Mercy'' by

Bernard Cornwell Bernard Cornwell (born 23 February 1944) is an English-American author of historical novels and a history of the Waterloo Campaign. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe. He has also written ''The Saxon ...

and Susannah Kells (aka Judy Cornwell). * Used twice as a surname by Dorothy L. Sayers, once in '' Murder Must Advertise'' (Miss Ethel Vavasour, Jim Tallboy's girlfriend), and once in ''

Have His Carcase ''Have His Carcase'' is a 1932 locked-room mystery by Dorothy L. Sayers, her seventh novel featuring Lord Peter Wimsey and the second in which Harriet Vane appears. Plot During a hiking holiday on the South West coast of England, the detec ...

'' (Maurice Vavasour, a pseudonym of the murderer). * Used as a surname by

John Banville William John Banville (born 8 December 1945) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, adapter of dramas and screenwriter. Though he has been described as "the heir to Proust, via Nabokov", Banville himself maintains that W. B. Yeats and Henry J ...

in '' The Sea'' (Miss Vavasour). * Used in Arthurian Romances, by Chretien de Troyes in ''Perceval: The Story of the Grail'' (Everyman Classics 1991). "You can say that the vavasor who fitted on your spur taught and instructed you." p. 397. * Vavasor is a surname in Anthony Trollope's '' Can You Forgive Her?'' * Used in '' The Sandman'' graphic novel (1989, issue 10) as well as its television adaptation (2022, episode 7) * Vavasor is the surname of a ''

Some Girls ''Some Girls'' is the 14th UK and 16th US album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 9 June 1978 by Rolling Stones Records. It was recorded in sessions held between October 1977 and February 1978 at Pathé Marconi Studios in ...

'' character - Holli Jane Vavasor, played by Natasha Jonas. * Used as the Christian name of Sir Vavasour Firebrace, a proud baronet, in

Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a centr ...

's ''

Sybil Sibyls were oracular women believed to possess prophetic powers in ancient Greece. Sybil or Sibyl may also refer to: Films * ''Sybil'' (1921 film) * ''Sybil'' (1976 film), a film starring Sally Field * ''Sybil'' (2007 film), a remake of the 19 ...

''. * Used in William Morris' The Well at the World's End where King Peter's subjects are described as "sturdy vavassors" who would not accept "masterful doings".

In popular culture

* In the 1980s

TV series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed b ...

'' The Paper Chase'', Season 2, Episode 16 ("My Dinner with Kingsfield"), Contract Law Professor Charles W. Kingsfield plays the word "vavasor" and earns 60 points in a

Scrabble ''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, read left t ...

game with his student James T. Hart while staying at Hart's residence during a snowstorm that has immobilized Kingsfield's car. He defines the word to Hart (who has never heard it before) as a "medieval term for 'tenant slightly below a baron.''The Paper Chase,'' Season 2, Episode 16: "My Dinner with Kingsfield" (YouTube)
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References

{{reflist Feudalism in France he:ווסור

Definition and derivation

In fiction

In popular culture

See also

References