Vassalage

Reciprocal obligations

Even if vassalage combines two free men, it is however obvious that these men are not equal: the lord has more to be able the vassal one. Indeed, it has the right of round of applause, i.e. the right to punish, force and judge. The vassal one is put under the protection of more powerful. Nevertheless this power must much with the number, the honesty and the relative power of its vassal, from where reciprocity. One thus speaks about bilateral contract because it engages the two parts with the act which have obligations one towards the other.

Duties of vassal towards its lord

The contract can be summarized with auxilium, i.e. the assistance, and with consilium, the council (and not " idiot C ilium").

The duties of vassal towards its lord are initially prohibitions: the vassal one should not harm its lord, his family and her goods. Obligations altogether rather vague.

The vassal one owes the military aid with its lord: when this one is attacked, the vassal one must come with its weapons to defend it. The vassal one is also in charge of the guard of the castle (estage) and the escort of its lord. When the lord attacks another, the military service (Ost) is limited to 40 days. But the vassal remainder obviously at the sides of its lord if the conflict exceeds this duration. It will be compensated out of money beyond 40 days for combat.

The vassal one must also ensure an financial aid: assistance with the 4 cases (in France and England); the vassal one must give money or gifts to its lord when it Marie her oldest daughter, when it adoube his/her oldest son, when it leaves to the Croisade and when it is made prisoner and that it owes a ransom.

Lastly, the vassal east compels to provide councils at the request of his lord: it must take part in the feudal assemblies, at the courts of justice of the lord like to the liturgical festivals. The whole of vassal of a lord is thus welded by these key periods.

Duties of the lord towards his vassal

The expenditure of vassal is thus considerable: it must buy and maintain a horse and weapons; it must be able to nourish and ensure a certain way of life. It is to answer these requirements which the lord must give a Fief to his vassal. This stronghold is in general a ground which brings back incomes to vassal (Redevance S). The stronghold is taken on the grounds or the incomes of the lord.

The lord must also protect his vassal against his enemies and return good justice to him.

The problem of the stronghold

Eminent property and useful property, the concept of property to the Middle Ages

More exactly it is about the feudal design of the real estate. Thus one speaks about eminent property for the lord suzerain who is directly the owner of the grounds conceded with vassal (that he is lord or commoner). And one speaks about useful property for the vassal one, i.e. the right to exploit the stronghold for his own account. If a lord has grounds directly and that it exploits them for his own account or by a tenant (or vassal) this one is not itself vassal of another. In general, the suzerain (or conceding lord) alienated only part of his field and exerted the useful property of another part of the field. Thus the frank kings exerted the useful property on the Parisian grounds, but exerted only one eminent property for the other fields. This design is close to the dismemberment to propiété more modern than is usufruct. The usufructuary could be thus comparable to the tenant, and to the bare owner with conceding.

Thus, the paid homage is not enough to determine if a lord or a commoner is the vassal one of another. It should be known if it has or not the eminent property of its stronghold. If the answer is positive and although paying the homage, it cannot be described as vassal, and the lord to whom it pays the homage does not have any right on the grounds of this one.

Nature of the stronghold

The principle of giving a landed property in exchange of services, in particular military, goes back to late Antiquity. At the time Carolingian, this ground is called benefit ; with the central Middle Ages, it is named stronghold in the sources. The word stronghold gave the feudal adjective then .

The stronghold can be several natures:

Generally, it is a ground with the incomes which are attached there; between the 11th century and the 13th century, the money is rare and circulates still with difficulty. The lord thus gives a ground to his vassal, with his peasants.
the stronghold is more rarely a function, a right of round of applause, tolls, Dîme S (ecclesiastical tax).
At the end of the Middle Ages, the stronghold is more and more a Rente.

Evolution of the statute of the stronghold

The stronghold enters gradually the heritage of the vassal ones; to the beginning, the stronghold was granted by the lord to his vassal on a purely basis for life. The lord thus organized a new ceremony of homage for the heir. But more and more, the stronghold becomes transmissible, with the help of an amount of money (right of relief). Little by little, the goal of the homage is not any more the reciprocal service and duties but well the stronghold. The vassal ones thus multiply the homages to accumulate the strongholds. The problem comes when two lords having vassal jointly enter in war. One initially thought of the solution of the reserve of fidelity then to the liege Hommage (or preferential homage). (NB: if several liege homages then oldest precedes)

Ceremony of entry in vassalage

Characteristics of the ceremony

By ceremony of Homage (not to be confused with that of the dubbing which makes of a man a knight), the vassal one becomes the man of a lord. The documents which describe this ceremony are abundant, as well the texts as the iconographic sources.

The homage is a public ceremony which proceeds in general with the castle of the lord, in front of witnesses. There thus does not need written contract. The rites and the gestures of this ceremony are important; but the order of these gestures are different according to the areas.

The vassal one is félon which breaks the contract of vassalage. The lord can then proclaim the seizure of his stronghold seldom implemented until 1220 when Philippe Auguste proclaims the Jean seizure Without Ground, seizure which it will apply to show the example. However, nothing mentions in the texts which the lord is punished if it is him which misses upon its engagements towards its vassal.

Changes in the operation of the vassalic relations

Starting from second half of the 12th century, the king of France increases his capacity by using the system feodo-vassalic. He places itself at the top of a pyramid of homages:

it makes lend oath of fidelity to its back-vassal;
it acquires territories by the war (Normandy for example);
it acquires territories by proposing revenues in exchange of strongholds (stronghold of purse);
it increases its prestige and its authority by judging in Appel any judgment.

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