fief

(noun)

The central element of feudalism that 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. The fees were often lands or revenue-producing real property held in feudal land tenure.

Related Terms

(noun)

An estate of land, especially one held on condition of feudal service.

Related Terms

Examples of fief in the following topics:

  • Feudalism

    • A lord was in broad terms a noble who held land, a vassal was a person who was granted possession of the land by the lord, and a fief was what the land was known as.
    • In exchange for the use of the fief and the protection of the lord, the vassal would provide some sort of service to the lord.
    • The obligations and corresponding rights between lord and vassal concerning the fief formed the basis of the feudal relationship.
    • Holding from the tenant-in-chief was a mesne tenant—generally a knight or baron who was sometimes a tenant-in-chief in their capacity as holder of other fiefs.
    • Before a lord could grant land (a fief) to someone, he had to make that person a vassal.

  • Society Under the Zhou Dynasty

    • Over time, the central power of the Zhou Dynasty slowly weakened, and the lords of the fiefs originally bestowed by the Zhou came to equal the kings in wealth and influence.
    • They began to actively compete with them for power, and the fiefs gained independence as individual states.

  • The Hohenzollerns

    • The Swabian branch ruled the principalities of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (both fiefs of the Holy Roman Empire) until 1849, and also ruled Romania from 1866 to 1947.
    • Prussia lay outside the Holy Roman Empire and the electors of Brandenburg held it as a fief of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, to which the electors paid homage.

  • The Peace of Westphalia

    • Sweden received Western Pomerania, Wismar, and the Prince-Bishoprics of Bremen and Verden as hereditary fiefs, thus gaining a seat and vote in the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire.

  • Daily Medieval Life

    • During the 11th and 12th centuries, these lands, or fiefs, came to be considered hereditary, and in most areas they were no longer divisible between all the heirs as had been the case in the early medieval period.
    • Instead, most fiefs and lands went to the eldest son.

  • The Manor System

    • The lord was supported economically from his own direct landholding in a manor (sometimes called a fief), and from the obligatory contributions of the peasant population who fell under the jurisdiction of the lord and his court.