The vassals swore allegiance to the feudal lord.
Vassal is someone who, in ancient times, was forced to pay a fief . It was the subject of a sovereign or any other type of supreme government , and he was linked to some lord (noble) through a bond of vassalage.
The concept is typical of feudalism , a system of social organization that predominated in the western region of Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries . This society was based on the cultivation of the land by serfs or vassals, who had to deliver part of their production to the lord (who, in turn, was loyal to a king).
Characteristics of a vassal
The vassal was the man who asked for protection from a superior nobleman (from the point of view of the social hierarchy) and to whom he swore fidelity on his behalf. Both established a vassalage contract that implied mutual obligations.
The lord granted the usufruct of a fief to the vassal, who administered it and took advantage of its income although without having ownership. The lord received part of the agricultural production in exchange.
The formation of a pyramid of vassalage was possible, with various relationships between lords and vassals. At the top was the emperor and below, successively, appeared the kings, dukes or counts, lords of large fiefs, etc.
Currently, the notion of vassal is used to name the individual who is dependent on another person or who recognizes another subject as superior . For example: “I hate these millionaires who have dozens of vassals around them willing to obey their whims.”
Medieval society had vassals.
The fall of vassalage
The feudal pyramid began to dissolve from its peak, when the Carolingian Empire had to face the internal disputes of its heirs throughout the 800s. At the same time, feudalism began to lose strength, as the vassals enjoyed more rights. Eventually, the lords lost the possibility of separating vassals from the fiefs, since they became hereditary.
This phenomenon of fading of the link between vassals and feudal lords, which originated in the imperial institution, was only legally expressed after several centuries, when the kings were recognized as emperors in their own kingdoms . For this purpose, the legacy of Roman law was of great help, which was rediscovered by glossators, compilers and scholars of the Bolognese school. In short, the kings were considered vassals of the pontiff, but they were disconnected from the feudal relationship with the emperors.
Something similar happened with some of the most important members of the nobility, who became full sovereigns in law ( de jure , as happened with the kingdom of Portugal, which ceased to be a county of León) or in fact ( de facto , such as the state of Burgundy or the Catalan counties).
Bond between vassal and lord
The relationships between vassals and lords could be very peculiar: the king of France was lord of the king of England; the king of Poland (with his lands in Prussia), from the Margrave of Brandenburg, who in turn was a vassal of the Roman Emperor Germanicus. In many cases, the true power that each party had did not correspond to the position they occupied in the feudal contract, but was exactly the opposite.
Likewise, excommunication (the Church's power to permanently or temporarily expel an individual from the confession) gave the possibility of ignoring the obligations as a vassal; This made it a powerful resource for the ecclesiastical authorities, which they did not hesitate to use on several occasions.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that in the Late Middle Ages the dissolution of the bond between vassals and lords was even more noticeable, especially as a result of the crisis of the 14th century, when there was a marked separation between the high nobles and the impoverished lower nobles. , parallel to a strengthening of royal power and a political growth of the bourgeoisie of the cities.