An ''Afterlehen'' or ''Afterlehn'' ''(plural: Afterlehne, Afterlehen)'' is 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 ...
that the
liege lord
Homage (from Medieval Latin , lit. "pertaining to a man") in the Middle Ages was the ceremony in which a feudal tenant or vassal pledged reverence and submission to his feudal lord, receiving in exchange the symbolic title to his new position (inv ...
has himself been given as a fief and has then, in turn, enfeoffed it wholly or partially to a lesser
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 ...
or vassals. The term is German. It is variously referred to in English as a mesne-fief
[Fahrenkrüger (1801), 2nd Part, p. 26. Retrieved 11 May 201]
(in German-English)
/ref> or mesne-tenure,Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
From the accession of Otto I in 962 unt ...
these mesne fiefs even became inheritable over time and could have up to five "stations" between the actual holder of the fief and the overarching liege lord.''Despotism and capitalism: a historical comparison of Europe and Indonesia''
by Tilman Schiel (1985). Retrieved 8 Feb 2014.
An example of an ''Afterlehen'' is
Rothenberg Castle in
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
.
See also
*
Feudalism in the Holy Roman Empire
*
Mesne lord
A mesne lord () was a lord in the feudal system who had vassals who held land from him, but who was himself the vassal of a higher lord. Owing to '' Quia Emptores'', the concept of a mesne lordship technically still exists today: the partitioni ...
References
Literature
* Jürgen Dendorfer/ Roman Deutinger (eds.): ''Das Lehnswesen im Hochmittelalter. Forschungskonstrukte – Quellenbefunde – Deutungsrelevanz''. Thorbecke, Ostfildern, 2010,
Review
* Fahrenkrüger, Johann Anton: ''Nathan Bailey's Dictionary English-German and German-English — Englisch-Deutsches und Deutsch-Englisches Wörterbuch. Gänzlich umgearbeitet. Zweiter Theil. Deutsch-Englisch. Zehnte, verbesserte und vermehrte, Auflage.'', Friedrich Frommann, Leipzig und Jena 180
(in German and English)*
François Louis Ganshof: ''Was ist das Lehnswesen?'', 7th edn., Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt, 1989.
* Karl-Heinz Spieß: Stichwort „Lehn(s)recht, Lehnswesen.“ In: ''Handwörterbuch zur deutschen Rechtsgeschichte.'' Vol. 2, Berlin, 1978. Sp. 1725–1741
* Karl-Heinz Spieß: ''Das Lehnswesen in Deutschland im hohen und späten Mittelalter''. 2nd improved and expanded edition, Steiner, Stuttgart, 2009, {{ISBN, 978-3-515-09180-0