File:Military and religious life in the Middle Ages and at the period of the Renaissance (1870) (14598455847).jpg

Identifier: gri_33125008050011 (find matches)
Title: Military and religious life in the Middle Ages and at the period of the Renaissance
Year: 1870 (1870s)
Authors: Jacob, P. L., 1806-1884
Subjects: Middle Ages Civilization, Medieval Civilization, Renaissance Costume Military art and science Christian life
Publisher: London : Bickers & Son
Contributing Library: Getty Research Institute
Digitizing Sponsor: Getty Research Institute

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rty years after the death of the great emperor, the treaty of Mersen(847) freed the great vassals from the obligation of answering the summonses of the sovereign, and of rushing to arms at his appeal, unless for the purpose of defending the State, and substituted the practice of furnishing armed contingents, whose services were to be rendered for a fixed period, settled beforehand. Infeudation—a kind of political and pecuniary contract, in virtue of which a fief was subdivided into several smaller ones—perpetuated the feudal regime, each man becoming the man of another man, bound to place himself at his disposal in time of war, and to be ready to start on any expedition at his command, and according to the wishes of his immediate seignior. During the tenth century this regime grew stronger and stronger. The oath of infeudation, or the act of homage, remained a sacred tie between the seignior and the vassal. This homage involved the rendering of numerous
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Fig. 41.—Bishop Eudes, holding his baton of office, encouraging the young soldiers of the Duke of Normandy at the Battle of Hastings. — Military Costumes of the Eleventh Century, from the Bayeux Tapestry.
feudal services, such as those of the ban, and of the arriere-ban, those rendered by the servitors of different ranks, known as bachelors, clients, esquires, bannerets, men-at-arms, barons, &c, names already ancient, but whose rank and place in battle were only determined on the day when they were all grouped and posted, each under his special banner or gonfanon, a distinction that implied a separate kind of equipment for each. Thus the vassals were in the power of the seignior, who, having the right to dispose of their military services, enjoyed the right of reize—a right that gave him the power of assembling and leading to battle a certain number of feudal groups. Obey my summons, or I will burn you ! were the words of the seignior in the ban published by the

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