Editing Commendation ceremony (section)

==Act of homage==
[[Image:King Charlemagne receiving the Oath of Fidelity and Homage from one of his great Feudatories or High Barons.png|right|thumb|King Charlemagne receiving the Oath of Fidelity and Homage from one of his great [[vassal]]s: facsimile of a monochrome miniature in a 14th-century Ms of the "Chronicles of St. Denis." (Library of the Arsenal)]]
The would-be vassal appeared bareheaded and weaponless as a sign of his submission to the will of the lord and knelt before him. The vassal would clasp his hands before him in the ultimate sign of submission, the typical Christian prayer pose, and would stretch his clasped hands outward to his lord.

The lord in turn grasped the vassal's hands between his own, showing he was the superior in the relationship, a symbolic act known variously as the {{lang|la|immixtio manuum}} (Latin), {{lang|de|Handgang}} (German), or {{lang|no|håndgang}} (Norwegian).<ref>Duggan, Anne (2000). ''Nobles and Nobility in Medieval Europe: Concepts, Origins, Transformations'', Boydell, Woodbridge, p. 211. {{ISBN|0-85115-769-6}}.</ref> The vassal would announce he wished to become "the man", and the lord would announce his acceptance. The act of homage was complete.

{{quote|text=The vassus thus entered into a new realm of protection and mutual services. Through the touching of hands the warrior chief caused to pass from this own body into the body of the vassal something like a sacred fluid, the ''hail''. Made [[taboo]], as it were, the vassal thereupon fell under the charismatic power, pagan in origin, of the lord: his ''mundeburdium'', or ''mainbour'',  true power, at once possessive and protective.<ref>Rouche 1987 p 429</ref>}}

The physical position for [[Western Christianity|Western Christian]] prayer that is thought of as typical today—kneeling, with hands clasped—may originate from the commendation ceremony.<ref>West, Charles (2013). ''Fiefs, Homage and the ‘Investiture Quarrel’'', Cambridge University Press, p. 211 {{doi|10.1017/CBO9781139237024.011}}.</ref> Before this time, European Christians prayed in the ''[[orans]]'', which is the Latin, or "praying" position that people had used in antiquity: standing, with hands outstretched, a gesture still used today in many Christian rituals.

[[Image:Peter Paul Rubens 050.jpg|thumb|right|230px|Papacy and monarchy: Catholic [[Marie de' Medici]] assumes the traditional pose of a vassal in homage at her coronation following [[Henry IV of France|Henry IV]]'s assassination, as painted by [[Peter Paul Rubens]].]]

The gesture of homage (though without any feudal significance) survives in the ceremony for conferring degrees at the [[University of Cambridge]].

[[Eginhard]] records the solemn commendation ceremony made to [[Pippin the Younger|Pippin]] by [[Tassilo III of Bavaria|Tassilo, duke of Bavaria]] in 757, ("commending himself in vassalage between the hands" (''in vasatico se commendans per manus''), he swore&mdash;and the word used is "''[[sacrament]]a''"&mdash;, placing his hands on the relics of the saints, which had apparently been assembled at Compiègne for the solemn occasion, and promised fidelity to the king and to his sons: the relics touched were those of Saint Denis, Saint Rusticus and Saint Éleuthère, Saint Martin and Saint Germain, a daunting array of witnesses. And the men of high birth who accompanied him swore likewise "...and numerous others", Eginhard adds.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20091205213132/http://www.noctes-gallicanae.org/Charlemagne/Annales/Pepin_le_Bref.htm Eginhard, Annals 757]</ref>