. Military and religious life in the Middle Ages and at the period of the Renaissance. .—Tour du Telegraphe, Fig. 10.—Old Castle of Angou-Thirteenth Century. Narhonne, Fourteenth Century. leme, Thirteenth Century. with his advice. At the simple request of the suzerain, the vassal was bound tofollow him to the field, either alone or accompanied with a specified number of FEUDALISM. 7 armed men, according to the importance of the fief. The duration of thismilitary service varied, in like manner, in proportion to the fief, from twentyto sixty days—a period that did not admit of very distant exped
. Military and religious life in the Middle Ages and at the period of the Renaissance. .—Tour du Telegraphe, Fig. 10.—Old Castle of Angou-Thirteenth Century. Narhonne, Fourteenth Century. leme, Thirteenth Century. with his advice. At the simple request of the suzerain, the vassal was bound tofollow him to the field, either alone or accompanied with a specified number of FEUDALISM. 7 armed men, according to the importance of the fief. The duration of thismilitary service varied, in like manner, in proportion to the fief, from twentyto sixty days—a period that did not admit of very distant expeditions. Thefeudal seignior stood in place of the sovereign, and being invested with execu-tive authority, had necessarily, in order to exercise it, recourse to the latentforce distributed amongst his vassals, and he naturally did so in accordancewith his own convenience. Justice, administered in this manner, was termedHance, that is to say, public security. The seignior was wont to summon themen of his fief or fiefs to his plaids, or assizes, either for the purpose of assist-. ing- 11.—Act of Faith and Homage, Twelfth Century.—Seal of Conon de Bethune, preserved in the National Archives of France. ing him with their advice, to act with him as judges, or to carry out thesentences he pronounced. He had a right to two kinds of assistance—obligatory, or legal aids, and voluntary, or gracious aids. Legal aids were duefrom the vassal under three sets of circumstances: when the seignior was takenprisoner and had to pay a ransom, when his eldest son was about to be madea knight, and when he gave away his eldest daughter in marriage. In feudalsociety these aids stood in the place of the public taxes, which in ancient times,as in our own days, were collected by the State alone ; they differed, however,in this respect, that they were not due at any stated periods, nor perhaps couldthey ever be absolutely enforced, they were a kind of voluntary gift—fromthe bestowal of which,
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