VASSALLO. — A medieval legal term denoting the free man of low social standing who placed himself in the feudal service of a powerful man, who became his dominus or senior (lord).
The origin of the term V. has been traced to the Celtic gwass, from which gwassal (= servant) derives; the corresponding Latin term is puer or homo. The relationship established between the V. and the lord was called “vassalage” or “commendation”; accepting such a bond was expressed as vassalatico se commendare or simply se commendare; the act by which the vassal relationship was established was called “homage.” Vassalage was personal and lifelong and could not be dissolved without the consent of both parties; the lord was required to provide the V. with food, clothing, and protection; the latter was bound to respect and obedience, and to the various services compatible with his status as a free man. Vassalage appears among the Franks in the 8th century and represents a replacement and expansion of the intrusionato of the Merovingian monarchy, inheriting from it the obligations of loyalty in war. Among the Lombards there were the “gaundi,” with analogous obligations; among the Anglo-Saxons, the “thegni.” From the 9th century, as Frankish vassalage spread throughout all the countries subject to Carolingian influence, it acquired a new character through its union with the institution of the beneficium, consisting in the assignment by princes to their vassals of lands held precariously by an act of simple and gratuitous favour. In this way the Carolingian kings attracted into their vassalage social elements from the higher classes, who themselves also had vassals in their dependence. The term V. was then used for the possessors of royal benefices. As feudalism developed, the vassal relationship became hereditary; vassals were forbidden to abandon their lord except in certain cases; the cases in which the V. lost the benefice were established (v. FEUDALESIMO).