the.com/vassal
a medieval middleman who swore loyalty upward and squeezed everyone downward.
means A person in feudal society who pledged loyalty and service to a lord in exchange for protection and the right to hold land.
from From the Old French 'vassal,' borrowed into Medieval Latin as 'vassallus,' both reaching back to a Celtic root meaning 'young man' or 'servant' — a cousin of Welsh 'gwas,' meaning 'servant' or 'youth.' So buried in this lofty title of feudal rank is the humbler idea of a lad in someone's service, the boy who fetched and carried before he ever swore an oath.
- holy hands
- Loyalty was sealed by clasping hands and kissing the lord.
- land deal
- Service traded for a fief, usually farmland and peasants.
- double duty
- Could be vassal to several lords at once, awkwardly.
- liege fix
- A liege lord outranked all other claims on you.
- war debt
- Owed roughly 40 days of armed service yearly.
for instance
feudal vassals of charlemagne — frankish nobles who swore oaths of allegiance and provided armed knights to the emperor around 800 ce