Feudalism and Medieval Knights

What did the vassal have to do in order to receive a fief? He had to serve the greater lord in battle, appearing in armour on a horse as a knight. This medieval system of holding land in exchange for military service is called feudalism. The ceremony in which a fief was handed over in return for fighting was called an investiture and it involved swearing fealty and doing homage. The future vassal placed his hands between his lord's hands, promised to be loyal, fight for the him and be his man (homo in Latin, so we get homage). At the ceremony, the lord often gave his vassal a lump of dirt, or a stick as a symbol of the fief he was handing over. After about 1100 the custom was for fiefs to be handed down from father to eldest son as an inheritance.

But where did the greater lord get his land from? He had received it in turn from an even greater lord and so on until a really mighty lord, or baron, was the vassal of the king sitting at the top of the feudal pyramid. Sometimes even kings were vassals of other kings. For example King Edward III of England was the vassal King Philip VI of France for the fiefs he held in France and it was when he refused to pay homage to the French king that the Hundred Years War began in 1337.

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