in fief

prepositional phrase

As a heritable right, according to the prevailing feudal obligations.

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Meanings

prepositional phrase
  1. historicalAs a heritable right, according to the prevailing feudal obligations.

    Sometimes the duchy was granted in fief, sometimes held by the king in person.

    2011, Norman Davies, Vanished Kingdoms, Penguin, published 2012, page 106
    2 more examples

    In some cases, sovereignties have been given in fief, and sovereigns have voluntarily rendered themselves feudatories to others […].

    1819, Abraham Rees, The Cyclopædia, volume 34, page 11

    William the Conqueror's insistence that the men who accompanied him from Normandy hold their English lands from him in fief was an innovation, not the simple importation of an established French "feudal system."

    1998, Constance Brittain Bouchard, Strong of Body, Brave and Noble, page 42
Cite this entry
APA

in fief. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20fief

MLA

“in fief.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20fief. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “in fief,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20fief.

Source: in fief on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.