8 sentences with 'vassals'
Example sentences and phrases with the word vassals and other words derived from it.
• « After the fall of the Western Empire, the new Germanic kings recognised the authority of the emperor in Constantinople. They were formally his vassals (lords in his service) and he remained the emperor of the entire Roman Empire in name. At least until the Byzantine Empire began to decline in the 7th century, this was not just a convenient fiction. »
• « A lord accepted pledges of loyalty from other freemen called his vassals; in return for their support in war he offered them protection and grants of land called fiefdoms. »
• « In general, vassals did not have to pay taxes to their feudal lords (all tax revenue came from the peasants). »
• « The system was never as neat and tidy as it sounds on paper; many vassals were lords of their own vassals, with the king simply being the highest lord. »
• « The feudal system flourished in the early Middle Ages. Although it had its origins in the centuries after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the formal system of vassals receiving land grants by promising military service to kings (or, increasingly, in exchange for cash payments in lieu of military service) really came of age in the 11th and 12th centuries. »
• « Likewise, kings in the early Middle Ages were largely itinerant, moving from place to place throughout the year. They had to make an annual circuit of their realms to ensure that their powerful vassals were loyal to them; a vassal ignored for too long could, and usually did, simply cease to recognise his king's lordship. »
• « Similarly, the feudal system had never been so entrenched in Italy: there were lords and vassals, but especially in the cities there was a large and strong independent class of artisans and merchants who resisted submission to the lords, especially those who did not live in the cities. »
• « Instead of kings and vassals, power was in the hands of the popoli grossi, which literally meant the "fat people", but here simply meant the rich, nobles and non-nobles alike. About 5% of the population of the richest cities were among them. »