What Does vassalage Mean
Vassal is the relationship that, in ancient times, an individual maintained with his lord . Said bond implied loyalty and, in turn, dependence and submission : the vassal had to provide military and political assistance to the lord, who in return gave him land for his usufruct.
The vassalage was regulated by a bilateral contract (with obligations for both parties). If the vassal or lord committed a serious breach, the bond could be dissolved. Importantly, the relationship was forged between two free men (a commoner and a noble, or a noble of lower status and a noble of higher status).
Everything began by means of a ceremony of homage and investiture , in which said contract was consecrated so that the relationship of vassalage began to take effect. In short, the vassal had to rest his hands on the lord's and declare himself "his man", as well as swear allegiance to him .
Then, the lord gave the vassal a branch or a handful of land to symbolize the lands he would give him.
In addition to the military service , the vassal promised to offer his lord financial aid and advice; the other, for his part, promised him military protection, judicial defense and maintenance, in addition to the lands.
It should not be confused between servitude and vassalage. In the first case, the serf was almost a slave and his feudal lord could sell him along with the land he exploited. In vassalage, the bond was between people of a similar class.
Despite these differences, it is important to note that vassalage was only voluntary in its early days ; as the lords became more and more powerful, they finally succeeded in making this regime compulsory , so that no man could choose not to submit to it.
Many times the vassals of a lord were, in turn, lords of other vassals. This means that a person could be a vassal with respect to another, but simultaneously have the privileges of lord before other subjects. In this way, a social pyramid headed by the emperor or the king was created.
This pyramid , often called feudal or vassalage , represented a network of feudo-vassal or vassal type relationships, characterized by the promises explained above.
At the top of a feudal pyramid was the emperor, followed by the kings, the high nobility (counts, marquis and dukes), the intermediate nobility (lords) and, finally, the lower nobility (barons, viscounts, knights, infanzones, squires and hidalgos, among others). At each level of the pyramid, the size of the fiefdom was also particular, which could encompass, for example, a village, a region or an entire region.
Historians argue that vassalage began to decline when empires lost power and authority was decentralized. Many fiefdoms, in this context, became hereditary . Eventually this social relationship dissolved and other kinds of political and economic ties began to emerge, often governed by the institution known as the market .
With regard to the etymology of the word vassal, we can say that its most remote origin is found in the terms gwas (in Welsh, "servant" or "young man"), foss (in Irish, "servant") and goaz (in Breton , " Man " or "servant"). On the other hand, this also relates it to the Indo-European root wasso- , which served to denote the concept of "young squire."
From all this arose vassus , the classical Latin term for "servants", which later derived in vassallus , already in medieval Latin. In the Gallo-Romance languages there was also vassellitus , a diminutive of vassallus to speak of a "young nobleman", a " page " or a "squire."