a). SUZERAIN(from lat "senior") - in Western Europe in the Middle Ages, a large feudal lord, the supreme lord of the territory (king, duke, prince), who was the sovereign in relation to vassals dependent on him . The power of the suzerain was based on granting them a feud (land ownership) to the vassal.

b). VASSAL(from Latin "servant") - in medieval Western Europe: a landowner-feudal lord who received a feud from the overlord, personally dependent on him and obliged to carry out certain duties, primarily military service. The vassals of the supreme overlord had, in turn, their own vassals.

in). RESPONSIBILITIES OF A VASSAL

In 1020, Bishop Fulbert of Chartres laid out the duties of a knight towards his overlord in six points. The one who swore allegiance was obliged not to allow any damage to the overlord's body, his property, his honor, his interests, not to restrict his freedom and legal capacity. In addition to complying with these negative conditions, the vassal was obliged to faithfully serve his master with advice; reciprocity required the same in everything.

In "Consuetudines Feudorum" (Collection of the Lombard feudal law), which developed during the XII-XIII centuries, numerous examples of treachery (felonia) of a knight in relation to the overlord are considered. For example: throw the overlord in battle; leave him on the battlefield alive and not seriously wounded; offend him by action; commit adultery or only try to persuade the wife of a lord or his concubine to adultery; to deprive or encroach on the honor of the daughter, granddaughter, bride of the son, sister of the seigneur, if they were girls brought up in his house; finally, deliberately betray the seigneur's secret.

G). THE RELATIONSHIP OF A VASSAL AND A SUZEREN

“Senior is a person surrounded by close warriors, vassals who serve him, support him and carry out his orders. The power of a noble lord is determined by the number of his subjects and people loyal to him. Without this, he is not a senior, not a “senior”, “supreme”, not a ruler and head. Of course, the lord is a landowner who rules over the peasants and receives income from them. If he had not received income from dependent land holders, he would not have been able to support his retinue and feed a crowd of hangers-on. The rent he collects from his possessions gives him the opportunity to arrange feasts, festivities, receive guests, distribute gifts - in a word, live in a big way. The behavior is considered to be the norm, which consists in the fact that the seigneur generously, without counting, distributes and squanders wealth, without delving into whether the expenses exceed the receipts. The difference between income and expenditure can be covered by additional requisitions from the peasants, extortion, fines, robbery, spoils of war. Thrift, thrift - qualities contraindicated to him by class ethics. The bailiff, the manager, the headman take care of his income; social status, the more respect and prestige he will enjoy ...

The relationship between the lord and the vassal is conceived by poets as a relationship of mutual service, help and friendship. “Serve”, in their understanding, often meant not “take”, but “give”, “spend”. In the songs of the old Provencal poets, the phrase “serve and give” or even “serve and give something from one’s property” is constantly found. Knightly poets do not tire of emphasizing that the basis of the power of masters lies in their generosity. “The one who does not serve, does not give and does not provide, as the mind commands us, acts ignoblely” (Bertrand Carbonel) ...

The concept of "private owner" is not applicable in the Middle Ages to either seigneurs or vassals. The landowner was considered not the owner (possessor), but the holder (tenens), to whom the land was handed over by a superior master on certain conditions. His rights are always limited. Even in those cases where the owner actually owned the land independently, it was believed that he was holding it from the seigneur, and in some areas of feudal Europe the principle "there is no land without a seigneur" was in effect. Such independent possessions, whose lords were not known, were called "air fiefs" ...

The vassal, entering under the patronage of the lord, takes an oath of allegiance to him and swears to help him in everything, to protect him from enemies, to carry out his orders and to carry out the service entrusted to him. The seigneur, for his part, was obliged to protect the vassal, take care of him and not give him offense. The exchange of mutual oaths and promises could be accompanied by the award of a fief, for this fief the vassal had to carry out knightly or other "noble" service. A fief award usually consisted of land ownership. But it could consist in the transfer of the right to collect income from the land without granting it itself, or in the right to collect duties and taxes, judicial rights and income, etc. What was essential was not the object of the award, but the very fact of it: receiving fief was associated with the duty of the vassal to serve and obey the lord. Flax gave the vassal the material support necessary for the performance of the service. But the lord could achieve the same goal without any award - he could take a vassal for his maintenance, so that he would be fed at his court. Thus, the essence of the feudal relationship between the lord and the vassal consisted primarily in the establishment of a personal connection, relations of domination - subordination, patronage and service ...

The exchange of gifts, participation in feasts, the establishment of vassal-fief relations were formalized by ritual; along with the exchange of oaths, special procedures were carried out that consolidated the created personal ties and gave them legal force and inviolability. The vassal knelt down and put his hands into those of the lord. This literally meant that he "went into his hands", became his "man". When granting a fief, the seigneur handed the vassal a branch or other object, symbolizing the transfer of ownership. The deep symbolism of these procedures found a peculiar expression in the visual arts.

On medieval miniatures illustrating collections of law, images of many-armed and two-faced people are often found. But this is not a grotesque in its usual sense. Drawings of this kind are aimed at the real reproduction of actual legal acts: investiture, homage, commendations, the entry of a vassal into dependence on a seigneur. The artist deviates from reality and adds extra hands to the human figure in order to embody the entire legal act in its entirety in one image. The seigneur, sitting on a chair, holds in his hands the hands of the vassal who swears allegiance to him and at the same time points with his “additional” hand to the land that he hands over to this vassal as a fief. The desire to depict at once all the essential aspects of this act forces the artist to endow the figure of the seigneur with extra hands. In another drawing, the lord takes on the appearance of a two-faced Janus: on the left he holds the hands of a vassal in his hands, and on the right he hands over the symbol of land ownership to another person. Depicted is the transfer by the lord of the fief, which is owned by one vassal, to another, without the knowledge of the first. The seigneur's duplicity is literally expressed: he has two faces and two pairs of hands. Such drawings combine acts that actually took place at different moments, a kind of “synchronous diachrony”. The medieval artist gives them a simultaneous image, thus emphasizing their inner connection and symbolism, which were understandable to his contemporaries.

Symbolic procedures were accompanied by the transfer of fief by inheritance, and the renewal of the oath when the seigneur changed (if the seigneur died, his vassals had to swear allegiance to his son, just like the heirs of deceased vassals could receive the fief of their fathers only by taking the oath of allegiance to the seigneur), and even the termination of the vassal treaty. Relations of feudal fidelity were thoroughly symbolized and ritualized - they had from beginning to end iconic character and outside these formulas and procedures were unthinkable and did not acquire legal force. The relations of land grants and vassalage could become socially significant only in this symbolic form. But in doing so, these social and political institutions were also made facts of culture. Cultural symbolism, a universal feature of the spiritual life of the Middle Ages, also absorbed this sphere of social reality, giving it a more lofty sense and erecting social connections to the level of ethical values.

- (French suzerain). The owner of the fief, who divided his lands among vassals. Vocabulary foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. SUZEREN face, clothed supreme authority in relation to another; also the state, according to ... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

suzerain- a, m. suzerain m. Art. fr. suserain. 1. In the Middle Ages in Western Europe, a large feudal lord, who was the sovereign in relation to vassals dependent on him. ALS 1. If the overlord was ill disposed towards the new spiritual person then he could not... Historical dictionary gallicisms of the Russian language

Sovereign, feudal lord Dictionary of Russian synonyms. overlord n., number of synonyms: 2 sovereign (27) feudal ... Synonym dictionary

- (fr. suzerain) in Western Europe in the Middle Ages, the supreme lord of the territory (king, duke, prince), who was the sovereign in relation to vassals dependent on him ... Law Dictionary

- (French suzerain) in Zap. Europe in the Middle Ages, the supreme lord of the territory (king, duke, prince), who was the sovereign in relation to vassals dependent on him ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

- [suzeren], overlord, husband. (French suzerin) (source). In the era of feudalism, a large landowner, who was the sovereign in relation to the vassals who depended on him. Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov. D.N. Ushakov. 1935 1940 ... Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov

- [zere], a, husband. AT medieval Europe: a large landowner of the feudal lord, the sovereign in relation to the vassals dependent on him. | adj. overlord, oh, oh. Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 ... Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov

- (French suzerain) - in Western Europe in the Middle Ages, a serf feudal lord - the supreme lord of the territory (king, duke, prince), who was the sovereign in relation to vassals dependent on him. Large dictionary in cultural studies .. Kononenko B.I ... Encyclopedia of cultural studies

suzerain- overlord. Pronounced [suzeren] ... Dictionary of pronunciation and stress difficulties in modern Russian

SUZERAIN- (fr. suzerain) in Western Europe in the Middle Ages, the supreme lord of the territory (king, duke, prince), who was the sovereign in relation to vassals dependent on him ... Legal Encyclopedia

BUT; m. [French. suzerain] In Western Europe in the Middle Ages: a large feudal lord, who is a sovereign in relation to vassals dependent on him. ◁ Overlord, oh, oh. * * * suzerain (French suzerain), in Western Europe in the Middle Ages, the supreme lord ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Books

• Richard Long Hands - Prince Orlovsky Guy Julius. Sir Richard, the paladin of the Lord and overlord of ever-growing lands, rushes through the kingdoms, trying to hold on to the sprawling regions, and understands that it is impossible to live like this. Rescue only...
• Richard Long Hands - Prince, Guy Julius Orlovsky. Sir Richard, the paladin of the Lord and overlord of ever-growing lands, rushes through the kingdoms, trying to hold on to the sprawling regions, and understands that it is impossible to live like this. Rescue only...

All countries of Western Europe in the IX-XX centuries were scattered. Germany, Italy and France were divided into thousands of separate dominions, which were ruled by dukes, counts or barons, who had unlimited power in their lands.

They judged serfs and free peasants, taxed the people, fought and concluded peace agreements at your discretion. It was in those days that the words "suzerain" and "vassal" appeared.

Undivided power of overlords

A distinctive feature of feudal times was that the king had almost no power. Moreover, in most cases, the power of the ruler was so insignificant and weak that he had no influence on political events taking place in the state.

That is, we can say that theoretically the state was ruled by a monarch, and almost all the reins of government were in the hands of overlords. To make the picture clearer, it should be clarified that the overlord is Supreme ruler territory, which is the main in relation to all vassals subordinate to it.

In turn, the question arises, who is a vassal. Based on the foregoing, we understand that this was the name at that time for landowners who were completely dependent on their overlord. They took an oath to him and, accordingly, had whole line duties both in military units and in monetary obligations.

The specifics of feudal relations

Thus, feudal relations themselves constitute a series of interdependent landowners, headed by a king, whose power, as mentioned above, was highly doubtful.

The chief understood perfectly well, and therefore tried to maintain friendly relations with the most influential feudal lords of his kingdom, so that in case of danger or approaching hostilities, he could count on someone's help.

Royal thrones served as a toy in the hands of influential seniors. The power of each of them directly depended on how impressive the army one or another overlord had. This not only allowed them to fight among themselves, but also to encroach on the royal throne. The dukes or earls with the most powerful troops could easily overthrow the king and put their governor in his place and actually rule the kingdom.

The emergence of new vassals

In order to secure strength and power for themselves, many feudal lords practiced distributing part of their lands for the use of smaller landowners. Together with the territory, serfs and free peasants, who were completely dependent on the decision taken by the overlord, passed into possession.

This, in turn, obliged the vassals to take an oath of absolute loyalty. At the first call of their overlord, they were obliged to appear in full combat uniform, armed, on horseback. In addition, they were to be accompanied by squires and a predetermined number of armed people trained in military skills from among the new subjects.

Subordination to him of smaller feudal lords, who received from the overlord the right to part of the land (feud) in his possessions.

Status overlord also used in interstate relations(vassal state):

• Austria-Hungary was suzerain of the Principality of Liechtenstein until the end of World War I.
• The Ottoman Empire was the suzerain of a number of territories (see Vassal and tributary states of the Ottoman Empire).
• The Russian Empire was the suzerain of the Crimean Khanate in 1774-1783, the Abkhaz principality in 1810-1864,
• Great Britain was the overlord of the Transvaal from 1881-1884.
• The Anglo-Russian Agreement (1907), signed without the participation of Tibet and the Qing Empire, introduced the concept of Chinese suzerainty over Tibet, although Tibet did not swear fealty to the Qing emperor and rejected Chinese suzerainty. The Tibetan authorities have rejected this convention. The position of the modern PRC is to recognize the convention as illegitimate due to non-participation Chinese side in its acceptance, as well as the substitution of Chinese sovereignty over Tibet for suzerainty.
• The ROC was the suzerain of Outer Mongolia from 1913-1919.
• The Bishop of Urgell and the President of France are jointly overlords of the Principality of Andorra.

see also

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Notes

Literature

• Suzerain / Suzerainty // Large Soviet Encyclopedia(in 30 volumes) / A. M. Prokhorov (editor-in-chief). - 3rd ed. - M .: Sov. encyclopedia, 1976. - T. XXV. - S. 151. - 600 p.

An excerpt characterizing Suzerain

People gathered near Natasha and until then they could not believe the strange order that she transmitted, until the count himself, in the name of his wife, confirmed the orders to give all the carts under the wounded, and carry the chests to the pantries. Having understood the order, people with joy and trouble set to a new business. Now it not only did not seem strange to the servants, but, on the contrary, it seemed that it could not be otherwise, just as a quarter of an hour before it not only did not seem strange to anyone that they were leaving the wounded and taking things, but it seemed which could not be otherwise.
All the households, as if paying for the fact that they had not taken up this earlier, set about with troublesome new business of accommodating the wounded. The wounded crawled out of their rooms and surrounded the wagons with joyful pale faces. A rumor also spread in the neighboring houses that there were carts, and the wounded from other houses began to come to the Rostovs' courtyard. Many of the wounded asked not to take things off and only to put them on top. But once the business of dumping things had begun, it could no longer stop. It was all the same to leave all or half. In the yard lay uncleaned chests with dishes, with bronze, with paintings, mirrors, which they had so carefully packed the previous night, and everyone was looking for and found an opportunity to put this and that and give away more and more carts.
“You can still take four,” said the manager, “I’m giving my wagon, otherwise where are they?
“Yes, give me my dressing room,” said the countess. Dunyasha will sit in the carriage with me.
They also gave a dressing wagon and sent it for the wounded through two houses. All the household and servants were merrily animated. Natasha was in an enthusiastically happy animation, which she had not experienced for a long time.
- Where can I tie it? - people said, fitting the chest to the narrow back of the carriage, - you must leave at least one cart.
- Yes, what is he with? Natasha asked.
- With count books.
- Leave it. Vasilyich will remove it. It's not needed.
The cart was full of people; doubted where Pyotr Ilyich would sit.
- He's on the goats. After all, you are on the goats, Petya? Natasha screamed.
Sonya busied herself without ceasing, too; but the aim of her troubles was the opposite of Natasha's. She put away those things that should have been left; wrote them down, at the request of the countess, and tried to take with her as much as possible.

SUZEREN [zere], -i, m, In medieval Europe: a large landowner-feudal lord, sovereign in relation to vassals dependent on him. || adj. overlord, th, th.

Watch value SUZERAIN in other dictionaries

Suzerain M.- 1. A major feudal lord - baron, count, duke, prince - in relation to vassals dependent on him (in Western Europe in the era of feudalism). 2. The state in relation to which ........
Explanatory Dictionary of Efremova

Suzerain- (suzerain), suzerain, m. (French suzerin) (historical). In the era of feudalism - a large landowner, who was the sovereign in relation to the vassals who depended on him.
Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov

Suzerain- (fr. suzerain) - in Western Europe in the Middle Ages - supreme
lord of the territory (king,
duke,
prince), who was the sovereign in relation to the vassals dependent on him.
Economic dictionary

Suzerain- -a; m. [French. suzerain] In Western Europe in the Middle Ages: a large feudal lord, who is a sovereign in relation to vassals dependent on him.
◁ Suzerain, th, th.
Explanatory Dictionary of Kuznetsov

Suzerain- (fr. suzerain) - in Western Europe in the Middle Ages - the supreme lord of the territory (king, duke, prince), who was the sovereign in relation to the vassals dependent on him.
Law Dictionary

Suzerain- (French suzerain) - in the West. Europe in the Middle Ages - the supreme lord of the territory (king, duke, prince), who was the sovereign in relation to the vassals dependent on him.
Large encyclopedic Dictionary

Suzerain- - in Western Europe in the Middle Ages, a large feudal lord - the supreme lord of the territory (king, duke, prince), who was the sovereign in relation to vassals dependent on him .........
Historical dictionary