A vassal is a person or entity in the medieval European feudal system who pledged loyalty, homage, and military service (fealty) to a higher lord or monarch (suzerain) in exchange for protection and the granting of land, known as a fief. This subordinate relationship, known as vassalage, meant the vassal provided soldiers for the lord's army and served in their court.
A vassal is a person or state subordinate to a more powerful lord or nation, owing allegiance, tribute, and military support, with historical examples including Normandy under Rolo (recognizing the French King) and Poland as a German vassal in WWII, while modern interpretations suggest countries like the UK or Japan acting as US vassals due to policy alignment.
A vassal refers to one of these lords who swore loyalty to a superior, his suzerain. The term vassalage refers to the relationship between said vassal and his suzerain. Usually, the suzerain granted his vassal land in exchange for taxes and military service in times of need.
VASSAL (מַס, H4989, a body of forced laborers, serfdom). A word found in Lamentations 1:1 (KJV “tributary”) to describe the sad state of Jerusalem after its fall to the Babylonians. This fall from rank and power was, however, nothing new to the Israelites.
While the payment of tribute and military service was common amongst vassal states, the degree of independence and benefits given to vassal states varied. Today, more common terms are puppet state, protectorate, client state, associated state, or satellite state.
: a person under the protection of a feudal lord to whom they have vowed homage and fealty : a feudal tenant. 2. : one in a subservient or subordinate position. vassal adjective.
The Pope was pretty dependent on foreign rulers until the Gregorian Reforms too, so at times he could be considered to have been a vassal of the Holy Roman Empire between the 9th and 11th centuries, with varying degrees of autonomy and subservience.
Each of the king's vassals was also a lord or tenant in chief with vassals of his own. Each vassal would be an overlord to those he granted fiefs while remaining a vassal of the king. The subtenants in turn subdivided the land.
Britannica Dictionary definition of VASSAL. [count] : a person in the past who received protection and land from a lord in return for loyalty and service — often used figuratively to describe a person, country, etc., that is controlled by someone or something more powerful.
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 and elsewhere. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain.
To resolve this the concept of a liege lord existed, which meant that the vassal was loyal to his liege lord above all others, except the king himself, no matter what. However, even this sometimes broke down when a vassal would pledge himself to more than one liege lord.
What is the difference between a lord and a vassal?
In broad terms a lord was a noble who held land, a vassal was a person granted possession of the land by the lord, and the land was known as a fief. In exchange for the use of the fief and protection by the lord, the vassal provided some sort of service to the lord.
Vassal's Principle: Technique by which if the primary fracture (dominant fracture) is stabilized/reduced, then the secondary fractures reduce/maintain themselves in the reduced position due to the presence of ligamentous & other soft tissue attachments.
A holder of land by feudal tenure on conditions of homage and allegiance; the word comes (in late Middle English, via Old French) from medieval Latin vassalius 'retainer', of Celtic origin.
Under the terms of the feudal contract, the lord gave the vassal an estate or fief. Fiefs, which ranged in size from several square miles to a few acres, included peasants to farm the land, buildings on the property and villages within its boundaries. The lord also promised to protect the vassal in case of attack.
fief, in European feudal society, a vassal's source of income, held from his lord in exchange for services. The fief constituted the central institution of feudal society.
In large part, feudalism died out by the 20th century. No major countries used the system after the 1920s. In 1956, the United Nations outlawed serfdom, one of the main labor methods of feudalism, because it was too similar to slavery.
Alexander VI-who reigned 1492-1503- had 3 sons and a famous daughter Lucrezia with whom he had an incestuous relationship. He created 12 new cardinals, among them his own 18-yr old son Cesare, & Alessandro Farnese (later Pope Paul III), the brother of one of the Pope's mistresses, the beautiful Giulia Farnese.
The Articles asserted that the civil power has absolute independence; that the pope is inferior to the General Council and the decrees of the Council of Constance were still binding; that the exercise of pontifical authority should be regulated by the ecclesiastical canons, and that dogmatic decisions of the pope are ...
The nobles were awarded or leased land, called fiefs or fiefdoms, from the king whom they swore their loyalty to. Those who received the fiefs were called the king's vassals. The king was the vassal's lord.
A vassal state is a nation whose sovereignty and independence are significantly limited by a more powerful state. It only possesses the rights and privileges that have been granted to it by this dominant power, rather than exercising full self-governance.
This relationship was foundational to feudalism, where power dynamics were intricately woven into social fabric. Imagine a time when kings ruled vast territories but relied on vassals—nobles who managed lands on their behalf—to maintain order and defend against threats.
