Fief depiction in
book of hours:
June, in
Brevarium Grimani, fol. 7v (Flemish), ca. 1510, source: Biblioteca Marciana, Venice, Italy
The
fief (alternatively,
fee,
feoff,
fiefdom), under the system of medieval European
feudalism, often consisted of
inheritable lands or revenue-producing property granted by a
lord, generally to a
vassal (who holds
seisin), in return for a form of allegiance (usually given by
homage and
fealty), originally to give him the means to fulfill his military duties when called upon. However, anything of value could be held in fief, such as an office, a right of exploitation (e.g., hunting, fishing) or any other type of revenue, rather than the land it comes from.
Originally,
vassalage did not imply the giving or receiving of landholdings (which were granted only as a reward for loyalty), but by the eighth century the giving of a landholding was becoming standard. The granting of a landholding to a vassal did not relinquish the lord's property rights, but only the use of the lands and their income; the granting lord retained ultimate ownership of the fief and could, technically, recover the lands in case of disloyalty or death. By the middle of the tenth century, fiefs had largely become hereditary.
[Cantor, 200.] Eventually, great feudal lords sought also to seize governmental and legal authority (the collection of taxes, the right of high justice, etc.) in their lands, and some passed these rights to their own vassals.
Derogatory usage
In derogatory usage, fiefdomism can refer to behavior of
bureaucrats or small minded
politicians when information or programs are isolated and jealously guarded from other bureaucrats or politicians in order to preserve the former's power at the cost of making government worse.
See also
- Appanage (consisting in part of the liege's domain, granted to a junior relative)
