vassal

Vassal refers to a person who has entered into a feudal relationship with a lord, receiving protection and the use of land, a fief, in exchange for loyalty and service. The word derives from Old French vasal, from a West Germanic source related to the word for servant or dependent.

In medieval Europe, a vassal pledged homage and fealty to a lord and owed military service, counsel at the lord's court, and various other duties. The fief could be hereditary or held for life, and a vassal might itself grant portions of land to sub-vassals, a practice known as subinfeudation. The lord was obliged to protect the vassal and to administer justice, while the vassal owed allegiance to the lord and performed the agreed services, sometimes including payments or rents and hospitality.

The relationship was formalized through ceremonies of homage and fealty, and could become complex when a vassal owed allegiance to more than one overlord, in which case the vassal's primary loyalty was to a liege lord.

Vassalage was most characteristic of medieval Western Europe, though similar arrangements appeared elsewhere. As centralized monarchies grew and standing armies and bureaucracies developed, formal feudal vassalage declined in the early modern period. In modern usage, the term can also describe a subordinate state under suzerainty or a person who owes service or allegiance to a greater authority.