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The word was, however, applied at various times to the most diverse ranks in the feudal hierarchy, being used practically as the synonym of vassal. Thus tenants-in-chief of the crown are described by the Emperor Conrad II as valvassores majores , [ 2 ] as distinguished from mediate tenants, valvassores minores .
Originally it was only used to designate a feudal lord or sire, as well as being one of the names of God. With time its usage spread and, as means of differentiation, noble people began to use Senhor Dom X (as when referring to the kings or members of the high nobility), which translates literally in English as "The Lord, Lord X".
It is also frequently calqued as "lord", the analogous term in the English feudal system. The term grand seigneur has survived in English and French. Today this usually means an elegant, urbane gentleman. Some even use it in a stricter sense to refer to a man whose manners and way of life reflect his noble ancestry and great wealth.
[citation needed] In feudal England a feoffment could only be made of a fee (or "fief"), which is an estate in land, that is to say an ownership of rights over land, rather than ownership of the land itself, the only true owner of which was the monarch under his allodial title.
Nulle terre sans seigneur ("No land without a lord") was a feudal legal maxim; where no other lord can be discovered, the Crown is lord as lord paramount. The principal incidents of a seignory were a feudal oath of homage and fealty; a "quit" or "chief" rent; a "relief" of one year's quit rent, and the right of escheat. In return for these ...
Nulle terre sans seigneur ("No land without a lord") was a feudal legal maxim; where no other lord can be discovered, the Crown is lord as lord paramount. The principal incidents of a seignory were a feudal oath of homage and fealty; a "quit" or "chief" rent; a "relief" of one year's quit rent, and the right of escheat. In return for these ...
As feudal lord, the king had the right to collect scutage from the barons who held these honours. [9] Scutage (literally shield money, from escutcheon) was a tax collected from vassals in lieu of military service. The payment of scutage rendered the crown more independent of the feudal levy and enabled it to pay for troops on its own. [8]
In the law of the Middle Ages and early modern period, especially within the Holy Roman Empire, an allod (Old Dutch: allōd, lit. 'fully owned estate', from all 'full, entire' and ōd 'estate', Medieval Latin allodium), also allodial land or allodium, [1] is an estate in land over which the allodial landowner (allodiary) had full ownership and right of alienation.