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The ceremonies of vassalage and homage were the central rituals of the feudal system in the High Middle Ages. Through these ceremonies, a man entered into the relationship of vassal to a lord, swore loyalty and service, and received the fief that would support him. The ceremonies were solemn, public, and highly symbolic, and they were an essential part of the political, social, and legal life of medieval Europe. The forms of the ceremonies varied from region to region and from century to century, but they shared a common core: the symbolic act of submission and loyalty, the oath of fealty, and the formal grant of the fief.
The Libri Feudorum (the Lombard compilation of feudal law that circulated as an appendix to the Corpus Iuris Civilis from the late twelfth century) is the primary source for the formal ceremony. Marc Bloch, “Feudal Society” (1939–40), is the modern starting-point. The regional variation between French, German, English, and Italian practice is treated throughout.
The Ceremony of Homage
The ceremony of homage was the central ritual of the feudal relationship. The ceremony typically took place in a public place — a church, a castle, a hall — and it was attended by witnesses, who served as guarantors of the obligations undertaken. The vassal, dressed in the simple clothing appropriate to the ceremony, approached the lord and, in some forms of the ceremony, removed his sword and other symbols of his rank as a sign of submission. The vassal then knelt before the lord, placed his hands between the lord’s hands, and declared his homage with a formula that varied from region to region.
The most common form of the formula in France was: “I become your man from this day forward, of life and limb, and of earthly honor, to be faithful and loyal to you against all others.” The formula was a solemn declaration of the vassal’s loyalty to the lord, and it was a binding obligation under the feudal law. The vassal promised to be the lord’s man against all others, with the exception of his other lords and the overlord to whom the lord himself owed homage.
The act of placing the hands between the lord’s hands was a symbolic gesture of submission and trust. The vassal’s hands were unarmed and vulnerable, and the gesture expressed the vassal’s willingness to place himself in the lord’s power. The lord, in turn, accepted the vassal’s hands in a gesture of acceptance and protection. The act was a mutual commitment: the vassal committed himself to loyalty and service, and the lord committed himself to protection and support.
The Oath of Fealty
The oath of fealty followed the medieval period, and it was the religious dimension of the feudal relationship. The vassal swore on a sacred object — a relic, the Bible, the Eucharist — to be faithful to the lord and to perform the obligations of the fief. The oath was a sacrilegious obligation that could be enforced by the Church as well as by the feudal court, and it added a religious sanction to the feudal obligation.
The oath of fealty was binding in a way that the homage was not. The homage was a political and social act that could be modified by agreement between the lord and the vassal, but the oath of fealty was a religious act that was binding on the vassal’s conscience. A vassal who broke his oath of fealty was guilty of perjury, a grave sin in the medieval Church, and he could be excommunicated by the Church in addition to losing his fief. The oath of fealty was therefore a powerful incentive to loyalty, and it added a religious dimension to the feudal relationship.
The Investiture
The investiture was the formal grant of the fief, and it was the conclusion of the feudal ceremony. The lord handed the vassal a symbolic object — a twig, a clod of earth, a piece of turf, a key, a sword — that represented the fief, and he declared the vassal the holder of the fief. The investiture was a public act that witnessed the transfer of the fief from the lord to the vassal, and it provided evidence of the vassal’s right to the fief.
The symbolic object of the investiture varied from region to region and from fief to fief. In France, a twig or a clod of earth was often used, representing the transfer of the land. In Germany, a banner or a standard was sometimes used, representing the military obligation. In England, a sword or a charter was often used, representing the right to hold the land and to administer justice within it. The symbolic object was a concrete representation of the abstract right of the fief, and it served as evidence of the transfer in the event of a dispute.
Variations and Special Forms
The ceremonies of vassalage and homage varied from region to region and from century to century. The simplest form of the ceremony involved only the vassal, the lord, and the witnesses, but the more elaborate forms involved the Church, the aristocratic household, and the public ceremonies of the feudal court. The ceremony of homage for a bishop or an abbot, for example, was different from the ceremony for a knight or a lord, and the ceremony of homage for a woman (who could hold a fief in her own right in some regions) was also different from the ceremony for a man.
The ceremony of homage for a bishop or an abbot involved a special form of submission that took into account the religious character of the vassal. The bishop or abbot did not kneel before the lord in the usual way, but knelt on a cushion or a prie-dieu as a sign of his religious dignity. The bishop or abbot did not place his hands in the lord’s hands, but placed them on the book of the Gospels or on a relic of the saints. The bishop or abbot swore fealty with a modified formula that took into account the religious nature of the obligation.
The ceremony of homage for a woman was similar to the ceremony for a man, but it took into account the gender of the vassal. The woman knelt before the lord and placed her hands in his hands, and she swore fealty with a formula that was similar to the formula for a man. The woman received the fief with a ceremony that was similar to the ceremony for a man, and she held the fief with the same rights and obligations as a man. The woman could transmit the fief to her heirs, and she could exercise jurisdiction within the fief as a male vassal could.
The Significance of the Ceremonies
The ceremonies of vassalage and homage were central to the feudal system of the High Middle Ages, and they played a major role in the political, social, and legal life of medieval Europe. The ceremonies created a public record of the feudal relationship, and they provided a forum for the resolution of disputes. The ceremonies also created a sense of community among the aristocratic class, and they reinforced the values of loyalty, service, and honor that were central to the aristocratic ideal.
The ceremonies of vassalage and homage continued to be performed throughout the medieval period, but they gradually declined in importance as the feudal system itself declined. By the Late Middle Ages, the ceremonies were rarely performed outside of formal ceremonies of the royal court and the aristocratic household, and they had become largely ceremonial in character. The feudal relationships that the ceremonies had created were increasingly replaced by other forms of political organization, including the royal bureaucracy, the standing army, and the nation-state.
Sources
Principal sources used in this article:
- Susan Reynolds, Fiefs and Vassals (Oxford, 1994), chs. 1–3.
Further reading:
- Marc Bloch, Feudal Society (1961), vol. 1.
For a recent single-volume synthesis with full scholarly apparatus, see the relevant chapter of Barbara H. Rosenwein, A Short History of the Middle Ages (University of Toronto Press, 2014).