The bond between a lord and a vassal was made in a ceremony that served to solemnize the fief. The arrangement was not forced on the vassal it was profitable for the vassal and made on mutual consent, and it fostered the allegiance necessary for royal control of distant lands. The feudal bond was thus a combination of two key elements: fealty, or an oath of allegiance and pledge of service to the lord, and homage, or an ACKNOWLEDGMENT by the lord of the vassal's tenure. The entire agreement was called a fief, and a lord's collection of fiefs was called a fiefdom. The vassal was also vested with the power to lease the land to others for profit, a practice known as subinfeudation. This land could be passed on to the vassal's heirs, giving the vassal tenure over the land. If a lord acted in the service of a king, the lord was considered a vassal of the king.Īs part of the feudal agreement, the lord promised to protect the vassal and provided the vassal with a plot of land.
A lord possessed complete sovereignty over land, or acted in the service of another sovereign, usually a king. A person became a vassal by pledging political allegiance and providing military, political, and financial service to a lord. At its core, it was an agreement between a lord and a vassal. A series of contractual relationships between the upper classes, designed to maintain control over land.įeudalism flourished between the tenth and thirteenth centuries in western Europe.
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