Vassal
The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (September 2017) |
A vassal
In contrast, fealty (fidelitas) was sworn, unconditional loyalty to a monarch.[4]
European vassalage
In fully developed vassalage, the lord and the vassal would take part in a
Feudal society was increasingly based on the concept of "lordship" (French
In the time of
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 As co-ordinated cavalry superseded disorganized infantry, armies became more expensive to maintain.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
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
See also
- Feudalism in the Holy Roman Empire
- Freeborn
- Lehnsmann
- Mandala (political model)
- Suzerainty
- Thegn
- Vavasour, a type of vassal
- Zamindar
- Multiple vassalage
Similar terms
- shogunate in Japan
- Scottish Clantreaties of offensive and defensive alliance
- Nöken (plural: nöker) was the Mongolterm for a tribal leader acknowledging another as his liege
- Villein, a serf, or low-born worker under feudalism
Notes
- Gallo-Romanprecedents, according to Magnou-Nortier 1975.
References
- Citations
- ISBN 0-8122-1427-7.
- ^ "liege subject". The Free Dictionary. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
- ^ F. L. Ganshof, "Benefice and Vassalage in the Age of Charlemagne" Cambridge Historical Journal 6.2 (1939:147-75).
- ^ Ganshof 151 note 23 and passim; the essential point was made again, and the documents on which the historian's view of vassalage are based were reviewed, with translation and commentary, by Elizabeth Magnou-Nortier, Foi et Fidélité. Recherches sur l'évolution des liens personnels chez les Francs du VIIe au IXe siècle (University of Toulouse Press) 1975.
- ^ "at". Noctes-gallicanae.org. Archived from the original on 2009-12-05. Retrieved 2012-02-13.
- ^ Ganshof, François Louis, Feudalism translated 1964
- 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 ISBN 0-674-39974-9.
External links
- Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. .