Page 222 - Western Civilization A Brief History, Volume I To 1715 9th - Jackson J. Spielvogel

individual who served a lord in a military capacity was known as a vassal.
Both the breakdown of governments, which allowed powerful nobles to take control of large areas of land, and a change in fighting techniques contributed to this process. The Frankish army had originally consisted of foot soldiers dressed in coats of mail and armed with swords. But with the introduction of larger horses and the stirrup in the eighth century, a military change began to occur. Earlier, horsemen had been throwers of spears. Now they wore armored coats of mail (the larger horse could carry the weight) and wielded long lances that enabled them to act as battering rams (the stirrups kept the riders on their horses). For almost five hundred years, warfare in Europe would be domi- nated by heavily armored cavalry, or knights, as they came to be called.
Of course, a horse, armor, and weapons were expen- sive to purchase and maintain, and learning to wield these instruments skillfully on horseback took much time and practice. Consequently, lords who wanted men to fight for them had to grant each vassal a piece of land that provided for the support of the vassal and his family. In return, the vassal provided fighting skills. In the early Middle Ages, when trade was minimal and wealth was based primarily on landholdings, land became the most important gift a lord could give to a vassal in return for military service.
The relationship between lord and vassal was made official by a public ceremony. To become a vassal, a man performed an act of homage to his lord, as described in this passage from a medieval digest of law:
The man should put his hands together as a sign of humility, and place them between the two hands of his lord as a token that he vows everything to him and promises faith to him; and the lord should receive him and promise to keep faith with him. Then the man should say: “Sir, I enter your homage and faith and become your man by mouth and hands [that is, by taking the oath and placing his hands between those of the lord], and I swear and promise to keep faith and loyalty to you against all others, and to guard your rights with all my strength.”8
As in the earlier Germanic band, loyalty to one’s lord was the chief virtue (see the box on p. 185).
Fief-Holding
The land or some other type of income granted to a vassal in return for military service came to be known
A Knight’s Equipment Showing Saddle and Stirrups. In return for his fighting skills, a knight received a piece of land from his lord that provided for his economic support. Pictured here is a charging knight with his equipment. The introduction of the high saddle, stirrup, and larger horses allowed horsemen to wear heavier armor and to wield long lances, vastly improving the fighting ability of the cavalry.
as a fief (FEEF). In time, many vassals who held such grants of land came to exercise rights of jurisdiction or political and legal authority within their fiefs. As the Carolingian world disintegrated politically under the impact of internal dissension and invasions, an increas- ing number of powerful lords arose. Instead of a single government, many people were now responsible for keeping order.
Fief-holding also became increasingly complicated with the development of subinfeudation. The vas- sals of a king, who were themselves great lords, might also have vassals who would owe them military serv- ice in return for a grant of land from their estates. Those vassals, in turn, might likewise have vassals, who at this low level would be simple knights with
184 Chapter 8 European Civilization in the Early Middle Ages, 750–1000
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