Editing Vassal (section)

{{Short description|Person aligned with a lord or monarch}}
{{For multi|subsidiary states|Vassal state|other uses}}
{{globalize|date=September 2017}}

{{English feudalism}}
[[File:Lehenbuch pfalzgraf friedrichs-r2.jpg|thumb|A vassal swears the oath of fealty before [[Frederick I, Elector Palatine|Count Palatine Frederick I of the Palatinate]].]]

A '''vassal'''<ref>Hughes, Michael (1992). ''Early Modern Germany, 1477–1806'', MacMillan Press and University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, p. 18. {{ISBN|0-8122-1427-7}}.</ref> or '''liege subject'''<ref name="LiegeSubjectDefinit">{{cite web |title=liege subject |url=https://www.thefreedictionary.com/liege+subject |website=[[The Free Dictionary]] |access-date=11 November 2020}}</ref> is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a [[lord]] or [[monarch]], in the context of the [[feudal]] system in [[medieval Europe]]. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a [[suzerain]]. The rights and obligations of a vassal are called '''vassalage''', while the rights and obligations of a suzerain are called [[suzerainty]].
The obligations of a vassal often included military support by knights in exchange for certain privileges, usually including land held as a tenant or [[fief]].<ref>F. L. Ganshof, "Benefice and Vassalage in the Age of Charlemagne" ''Cambridge Historical Journal'' '''6'''.2 (1939:147-75).</ref> The term is also applied to similar arrangements in other feudal societies.

In contrast, [[fealty]] (''fidelitas'') was sworn, unconditional loyalty to a monarch.<ref>Ganshof 151 note 23 and ''passim''; the essential point was made again, and the documents on which the historian's view of vassalage are based were reviewed, with translation and commentary, by Elizabeth Magnou-Nortier, ''Foi et Fidélité. Recherches sur l'évolution des liens personnels chez les Francs du VIIe au IXe siècle'' (University of Toulouse Press) 1975.</ref>