Could a vassal have more than one lord?

A person could be both lord and vassal. Some knights with large fiefs gave small pieces of land to other knights; this created many levels of obligations. One knight could serve many lords; no prohibition against knight accepting fiefs from more than one noble.

What was the role of vassals in medieval times?

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. The obligations often included military support by knights in exchange for certain privileges, usually including land held as a tenant or fief.

What did vassals do for their lords?

Under the feudal contract, the lord had the duty to provide the fief for his vassal, to protect him, and to do him justice in his court. In return, the lord had the right to demand the services attached to the fief (military, judicial, administrative) and a right to various “incomes” known as feudal incidents.

How could someone be a vassal and a king at the same time?

A lord possessed complete sovereignty over land, or acted in the service of another sovereign, usually a king. If a lord acted in the service of a king, the lord was considered a vassal of the king.

Can a king be a vassal?

A vassal king is a king that owes allegiance to another king or emperor. This situation occurred in England after the Norman invasion of 1066.

How was the relationship between the lord and the vassal?

A lord was in broad terms a noble who held land, a vassal was a person who was granted possession of the land by the lord, and a fief was what the land was known as. In exchange for the use of the fief and the protection of the lord, the vassal would provide some sort of service to the lord.

What was life like for a vassal in medieval times?

One of the main duties of medieval vassals during the middle ages was to keep the manor and watch over the daily activities within the manor. They were also more powerful than other workers in the estate such as the peasants. They usually had privileges which included judicial rights.

Why did vassals have to serve lords?

1b. Why did the vassals have to serve lords? The vassals had to serve lords because he promised to serve a lord in exchange for land. I think that the lords benefited more from feudalism because of the systems of promises that governed the realtionships between lords and the vassals.

What was the agreement made between a lord and vassal?

A feudal contract was an exchange of pledges established by custom and tradition that created the economic and political relationship between lords and vassals, or lesser lords. It was based on an exchange of land for loyalty and military service.

Who would a nobleman make his vassal?

Within a fiefs, a vassal acted as a local lord and could give portions of it to vassals of his own. Someone might be the vassal of one person, but the lord of another. Knights were warriors who fought on horseback. In return for land, they pledged themselves as vassals to the king.

Can a noble be a vassal?

What is the land owned by a lord called?

A demesne (/dɪˈmeɪn/ di-MAYN) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants.

How were vassals different from Lords in feudalism?

The nobles then became feudal lords and those below them became vassals. There were also some vassals that served directly under the king. There were others still that had control of their own lands and did not live in the home of the lord that they were under control of.

What are the duties of a vassal?

Another important duty of a vassal was to attend to his feudal lord during court. He was also responsible for recruiting more men for his lord’s army, protecting and managing his lord’s manor, supervising all of the serfs and peasants who lived on the manor, and acting as a mercenary for his lord.

What kind of land did vassals have?

The land that vassals were granted commonly contained farm lands, pastures, churches and andmills. Vassals either lived in the castle of their feudal lord or they sometimes had the privilege of owning their own manor. A vassal’s main duty was to be the assistant, or second in command, to whomever their direct feudal lord was.

What is a tenant in chief in a feudal system?

Immediately below him would be his vassals, men who held fiefs directly from the king, called tenants-in-chief. They in turn would be feudal lords; that is, they would give out various parts of their own property as fiefs to their own vassals.