vassal

What it means

1. historicallawThe grantee of a fief, a subordinate granted use of a superior's land and its income in exchange for vows of fidelity and homage and (typically) military service.

   The manor's vassals owed first fruits and a tithe to the parish church, another 10% to the lord (including at least 50 eels), a week or two each year of service in the manor's upkeep, and service in the local fyrd.

   1 more example

   It was superimposed on rules of conduct evolved at an earlier date as the spontaneous expression of class consciousness; rules that pertained to the fealty of vassals (the transition appears clearly, towards the end of the eleventh century, in the Book of the Christian Life by Bishop Bonizo of Sutri, for whom the knight is, first and foremost, an enfeoffed vassal ) and constituted above all a class code of noble and 'courteous' people.

   2002, Marc Bloch, Feudal Society: Vol 2: Social Classes and Political Organisation, page 38

   Synonyms: feudatory, feudal tenant

2. historicalAny direct subordinate bound by such vows to a superior.

   The king ordered his vassals to join him on the crusade unless they had a written note signed by the archbishop or pope.

   Synonyms: subject, dependant, bondsman, villein, serf, helot, thrall, servant

3. figurativelyAny subordinate bound by similar close ties.

   The vassals of his anger.

   1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC

In a sentence

The manor's vassals owed first fruits and a tithe to the parish church, another 10% to the lord (including at least 50 eels), a week or two each year of service in the manor's upkeep, and service in the local fyrd.

Where it comes from

1. Proto-Celtic*wastos“servant”
2. Gaulish*wassos“young man, squire”
3. Latinvassus“servant”
4. Medieval Latinvassallus“manservant, domestic, retainer”
5. Old Frenchvassal
6. Middle Englishvassal
7. Englishvassal

From Middle English vassal, from Old French vassal, from Medieval Latin vassallus (“manservant, domestic, retainer”), from Latin vassus (“servant”), from Gaulish *wassos (“young man, squire”), from Proto-Celtic *wastos (“servant”) (compare Old Irish foss and Welsh gwas).