To understand the term vassal, which etymologically comes from the Celtic word gwsai and which means servant, it must be contextualized in the medieval world and in the established social structure, feudalism.
A vassal was any individual, from a peasant to a nobleman, who offered his services to a person of superior rank. In this way, a peasant was the vassal of a feudal lord and this in turn was the vassal of a lord with more power. In other words, between one individual and another a collaboration pact was established, which is known as vassalage.
The vassalage ceremony represented an oath of allegiance and submission to the feudal lord
To formalize the agreement between the vassal and his lord, a ritual was performed, the vassalage ceremony. With this reciprocal commitment, both parties agreed to a strategic alliance. Thus, the feudal lord offered his lands (the fiefdom), the military protection of his army and the protection of the law. In return, the vassal promised to work the land his lord had left him and, at the same time, pledged loyalty to him.
The key aspect to understand the institution of vassalage is the meaning that the land had in the Middle Ages. For the lord who had a fiefdom, someone who worked the land in a productive way was necessary and for the common man it was necessary to work the land in usufruct to survive. In this way, we could say that while the lord possessed the ownership of the fiefdom, the vassal was the one who inhabited it and who carried out the work.
The institution of vassalage was in force for centuries, specifically until the 15th century
Most historians agree that vassalage began to decline when the vassals became economically and socially strong and began to demand rights over the fiefdom in which they lived.
The vassal-lord binomial allows us to understand a part of feudalism. In an analogous way, the worker-employer binomial allows us to understand the functioning of the capitalist system.
Vassals still exist
In the vassalage ceremony, the vassal knelt before his lord and he took his hands and with this ritual both sealed a bond. These types of rituals have disappeared from a legal point of view.
However, the idea of submission implicit in the institution of vassalage continues today. Thus, anyone who submits to a powerful man becomes his vassal.
Photo: Fotolia - jon_chica
