What is the meaning of the term fief?
Definition of fief 1 : a feudal estate : fee. 2 : something over which one has rights or exercises control a politician’s fief.
What are examples of a fief?
An example of a fief is a legal practice the Middle Ages where society was built on relationships and classes. An example of a fief is a piece of land that is entrusted to someone for their use and the use of their heirs. An estate held of a superior on condition of military service.
What is another name for a fief?
In this page you can discover 10 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for fief, like: dukedom, fee, feoff, vassal, thegn, commandery, bishopric, housecarl, earldom and tenants-in-chief.
What is a fief in government?
A fief (/fiːf/; Latin: feudum) was the central element of feudalism. It consisted of heritable property or rights granted by an overlord to a vassal who held it in fealty (or “in fee”) in return for a form of feudal allegiance and service, usually given by the personal ceremonies of homage and fealty.
What is a lord’s land 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.
Who actually owned a fief?
Fiefs were worked by serfs, who made up about 90% of the population. The remaining 10% were knights, lords, and members of the nobility. Only knights who showed exemplary skill in their work were given the right to a fief owned by their lord.
What is the opposite of fief?
The word fief typically refers to an estate of land, or to a person’s sphere of control. There are no categorical antonyms for this word.
Who was the owner of a fief?
Under the feudal system, a fief was a piece of land. This is short for fiefdom. Words that go along with fief are vassal and feudal lord; the lord (kind of like our landlords) owned the fief and the vassal was subject to all of his rules. If you were the lord of a fief, your tenant was your servant.
What is the difference between a fief and a manor?
Its basic unit was the manor, a self-sufficient landed estate, or fief that was under the control of a lord who enjoyed a variety of rights over it and the peasants attached to it by means of serfdom.
What are two other names for a lord’s estate?
the manorial – this is the manor and its land, the seignory – these are the rights granted to the holder of the manor.
What is the difference between vassal and fief?
vassal, in feudal society, one invested with a fief in return for services to an overlord. Some vassals did not have fiefs and lived at their lord’s court as his household knights. Certain vassals who held their fiefs directly from the crown were tenants in chief and formed the most important feudal group, the barons.
Is a fief a peasant?
The fief normally consisted of land to which a number of unfree peasants were attached and was supposed to be sufficient to support the vassal and to secure his knight service for the lord. Its size varied greatly, according to the income it could provide.
How do you use fief in a sentence?
Fief sentence example
- Each fief was organized like the kingdom.
- The help afforded by Ertoghrul to the Seljukian monarch on a critical occasion led to the addition of Sugut to his fief, with which he was now formally invested.
- His daughter Marie sold the fief of Coucy to Louis, duke of Orleans, in 1400.
What is another name for vassal of the king?
In this page you can discover 28 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for vassal, like: subordinate, subject, tenant, servant, fief, slave, dependent, peasant, feudatory, liege and liegeman.
What is the land owned by a lord called?
What does lady of the manor mean?
a lady having jurisdiction of a manor; also, the wife of a manor lord.
Who rules a fiefdom?
Who protected the Lord’s lands?
A king (or lord) ruled large areas of land. To protect his land from invasion, the king gave parts of it to local lords, who were called vassals. In return, his vassals promised to fight to defend the king’s land. Vassals ruled lands granted to them by their king.
What does the name fief mean?
fief ( fiːf) or feoff n (Historical Terms) (in feudal Europe) the property or fee granted to a vassal for his maintenance by his lord in return for service [C17: from Old French fie, of Germanic…
What does the word fief mean?
Wiktionary. fief. n. 1 An estate held of a superior on condition of military service. 2 Something over which one has rights or exercises control. 3 (qualifier: metaphor) An area of dominion, especially in a corporate or governmental bureaucracy.
How would you describe a fief?
– I think they have too many nonsensical social rules — for example if you have sexual intercourse whenever you want you might be labelled a “slut”. – I think they sometimes judge others for the strangest reasons — they sometimes discriminate against each other because of e.g. physical appearance, sex, financial situations, or disabilities. – Some of the
What best describes a fief?
A fief (/fiːf/; Latin: feudum) was the central element of feudalism. It consisted of heritable property or rights granted by an overlord to a vassal who held it in fealty (or “in fee”) in return for a form of feudal allegiance and service, usually given by the personal ceremonies of homage and fealty.