A fief (/fiːf/; Latin: feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal allegiance, services or payments. The fees were often lands, land revenue or revenue-producing real property like a watermill, held in feudal land tenure: these are typically known as fiefs or fiefdoms.[1] However, not only land but anything of value could be held in fee, including governmental office, rights of exploitation such as hunting, fishing or felling trees, monopolies in trade, money rents and tax farms.[1] There never existed a standard feudal system, nor did there exist only one type of fief. Over the ages, depending on the region, there was a broad variety of customs using the same basic legal principles in many variations.[2][3]
^Reynolds, Susan (Wikipedia article Susan Reynolds) (1994). Fiefs and Vassals: The Medieval Evidence Reinterpreted. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
A fief (/fiːf/; Latin: feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights...
Middle Ages, an ecclesiastical fief, held from the Catholic Church, followed all the laws laid down for temporal fiefs. The suzerain, e.g. bishop, abbot...
warrior nobility and revolved around the key concepts of lords, vassals, and fiefs. A broader definition, as described by Marc Bloch (1939), includes not only...
of France (8 close family members) Sovereign princes (3) Dukes of large fiefs (20) Victory princes (4) Victory dukedoms (10) Other dukedoms (3) Counts...
Imperial immediacy (German: Reichsfreiheit or Reichsunmittelbarkeit) was a privileged constitutional and political status rooted in German feudal law under...
establishing him as the ruler of that region and allowing his title and fief to be legitimately inherited by his descendants. This created large numbers...
The Fief of Viborg (1320–1534) was for two centuries a late medieval fief in the southeastern border of Finland and the entire Swedish realm. It was held...
feudalism Harold Sacramentum Fecit Willelmo Duci (Bayeux Tapestry) Fief Ecclesiastical fief Crown land Allodial title Appanage Vassal Feoffment Seignory Subinfeudation...
gave it lands. Dependent fiefs of the Lordship of Stalle included the Fief of Overhem and the Fief of the Roetaert. The Fief of Overhem was located between...
Prusy zakonne) or Teutonic Prussia (Polish: Prusy krzyżackie), as a feudal fief and integral part of the Kingdom of Poland. The monastic state of the Order's...
Tamora Pierce (born December 13, 1954) is an American writer of fantasy fiction for teenagers, known best for stories featuring young heroines. She made...
such as Normandy, a specific type of fief was granted to the lower ranked knights (French: chevaliers) called the fief de haubert, referring to the hauberk...
the Principality of Tiberias or the Tiberiad. The principality became the fief of the families of Saint Omer, Montfaucon (Falcomberques), and then Bures...
Kerak. Baldwin failed to have Sibylla's marriage to Guy annulled and Guy's fief of Ascalon confiscated. In early 1185 he arranged for Raymond to rule as...
constitutional structure of the Empire. Luxembourg remained an independent fief (county) of the Holy Roman Empire, and in 1354, Charles IV elevated it to...
agnatic succession gives priority to or restricts inheritance of a throne or fief to male heirs descended from the original title holder through males only...
Malta, especially in its ancient capital Mdina. King Tancred made Malta a fief of the kingdom and installed a Count of Malta in 1192. As the islands were...
Sigismund I the Old, as its suzerain, granted the territory as a hereditary fief of Poland to Duke Albert per the Treaty of Kraków, a decision that was sealed...
throne under Henry II, adding England to the budding Angevin Empire of fiefs the family had inherited in France including Aquitaine. They reigned for...
1996), 26–27. Reynolds, Susan (1994). "Fiefs and Medieval Property Relations : 3.1 The concept of the fief". Fiefs and Vassals. Oxford University Press...
exchange for certain privileges, usually including land held as a tenant or fief. The term is also applied to similar arrangements in other feudal societies...
Poland, and the eastern part, called the Duchy of Prussia from 1525, a feudal fief of the Crown of Poland up to 1657. The union of Brandenburg and the Duchy...
military service to their lords in return for the lands they had received in fief. Stone castles were built in regions where central authority was weak but...
Global Information
Politics portal