Practice question · Sort into groups
Sort each item by whether it describes the LORD–VASSAL relation or the LORD–PEASANT relation.
Groups: Lord and vassal · Lord and peasant
- A fief granted in return for mounted military service
- Three days of week-work owed on the demesne
- An oath of fealty sworn between armed men of similar rank
- Homage performed with hands between the lord’s hands
- Compulsory paid use of the lord’s mill and oven
Hints
- One relation is between men who both ride to war; the other extracts a surplus from cultivators.
- Ask which of these could be performed by someone who owns a horse and armour.
Show the answer
Lord and vassal: Homage performed with hands between the lord’s hands, A fief granted in return for mounted military service, An oath of fealty sworn between armed men of similar rank
Lord and peasant: Three days of week-work owed on the demesne, Compulsory paid use of the lord’s mill and oven
Why
Keeping the two apart is the single most useful discipline in this topic. They have different logics, one is a political tie between near-equals, the other an economic extraction from subordinates, and they are joined only in the textbook pyramid, which no medieval person drew.
Practise Feudal Society
The app has 4 more questions on this lesson, and keeps your place in the course. History II is free to start.
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