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 In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain. While the rights and obligations of a vassal are called vassalage, and the rights and obligations of a suzerain are called

suzerainty Suzerainty () is the rights and obligations of a person, state or other polity who controls the foreign policy and relations of a tributary state, while allowing the tributary state to have internal autonomy. While the subordinate party is calle ...

. The obligations of a vassal often included military support by knights in exchange for certain privileges, usually including land held as a tenant or fief. The term is also applied to similar arrangements in other feudal societies. In contrast,

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. "Fe ...

(''fidelitas'') was sworn, unconditional loyalty to a monarch.

European vassalage

In fully developed vassalage, the lord and the vassal would take part in a

commendation ceremony A commendation ceremony (''commendatio'') is a formal ceremony that evolved during the Early Medieval period to create a bond between a lord and his fighting man, called his vassal. The first recorded ceremony of ''commendatio'' was in 7th century ...

composed of two parts, the homage and the

, including the use of Christian sacraments to show its sacred importance. According to

Eginhard Einhard (also Eginhard or Einhart; la, E(g)inhardus; 775 – 14 March 840) was a Frankish scholar and courtier. Einhard was a dedicated servant of Charlemagne and his son Louis the Pious; his main work is a biography of Charlemagne, the ''Vita ...

's brief description, the ''commendatio'' made to Pippin the Younger in 757 by

Tassilo III, Duke of Bavaria Tassilo III ( 741 – c. 796) was the duke of Bavaria from 748 to 788, the last of the house of the Agilolfings. The Son of Duke Odilo of Bavaria and Hitrud, the Daughter of Charles Martell. Tassilo, then still a child, began his rule as a Franki ...

, involved the relics of Saints Denis, Rusticus, Éleuthère,

Martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Au ...

, and Germain – apparently assembled at Compiegne for the event. Such refinements were not included from the outset when it was time of crisis, war, hunger, etc. Under feudalism, those who were weakest needed the protection of the knights who owned the weapons and knew how to fight. Feudal society was increasingly based on the concept of "lordship" (French '' seigneur''), which was one of the distinguishing features of the Early Middle Ages and had evolved from times of Late Antiquity. In the time of Charlemagne (ruled 768–814), the connection slowly developed between vassalage and the grant of land, the main form of wealth at that time. Contemporaneous social developments included agricultural " manorialism" and the social and legal structures labelled — but only since the 18th century — " feudalism". These developments proceeded at different rates in various regions. In Merovingian times (5th century to 752), monarchs would reward only the greatest and most trusted vassals with lands. Even at the most extreme devolution of any remnants of central power, in 10th-century France, the majority of vassals still had no fixed estates. Ganshof, François Louis, ''Feudalism'' translated 1964 The stratification of a fighting band of vassals into distinct groups might roughly correlate with the new term " fief" that had started to supersede "benefice" in the 9th century. An "upper" group comprised great territorial magnates, who were strong enough to ensure the inheritance of their benefice to the heirs of their family. A "lower" group consisted of landless knights attached to a count or duke. This social settling process also received impetus in fundamental changes in the conduct of warfare. As co-ordinated cavalry superseded disorganized infantry, armies became more expensive to maintain. A vassal needed economic resources to equip the cavalry he was bound to contribute to his lord to fight his frequent wars. Such resources, in the absence of a money economy, came only from land and its associated assets, which included peasants as well as wood and water.

Difference between "vassal" and "vassal state"

Many empires have set up

vassal state A vassal state is any state that has a mutual obligation to a superior state or empire, in a status similar to that of a vassal in the feudal system in medieval Europe. Vassal states were common among the empires of the Near East, dating back to t ...

s, based on tribes, kingdoms, or city-states, the subjects of which they wish to control without having to conquer or directly govern them. In these cases a subordinate state (such as a dependency, residency,

client state A client state, in international relations, is a state that is economically, politically, and/or militarily subordinate to another more powerful state (called the "controlling state"). A client state may variously be described as satellite state, ...

or protectorate) has retained internal autonomy, but has lost independence in foreign policy, while also, in many instances, paying formal tribute, or providing troops when requested. This is a similar relationship to vassals, but vassals hold fiefdoms which are present in the actual territory of the monarch. In this framework, a "formal colony" or "junior ally" might also be regarded as a vassal state in terms of international relations, analogous to a domestic "fief-holder" or "trustee". The concept of a vassal state uses the concept of personal vassalry to theorize formally hegemonic relationships between states – even those using non-personal forms of rule. Imperial states to which this terminology has been applied include, for instance: Ancient Rome, the Mongol Empire,

Imperial China The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the ''Book of Documents'' (early chapte ...

and the British Empire.

Notes

References

;Citations ;Sources * Cantor, Norman, ''The Civilization of the Middle Ages'' 1993. * Rouche, Michel, "Private life conquers state and society," in ''A History of Private Life'' vol I, Paul Veyne, editor, Harvard University Press 1987 .

External links

* {{Authority control Feudalism Medieval titles

European vassalage

Difference between "vassal" and "vassal state"

See also

Similar terms

Notes

References

External links