1910–1911
Britannica 11th
Encyclopaedia Britannica · 11th edition
VAVASSOR (Med. Lat. valvassor, vasvassor; Fr. vavassour, tavassor, vasseur, &c.), in its most general sense a mediate vassal, i.e. one holding a fief under a vassal. The word was, however, applied at various times to the most diverse ranks in the feudal hierarchy, being used practically as the synonym of vassal. Thus tenants-in-chief of the crown are described by the Emperor Conrad (Lex Lamgob. lib. iii. tit. 8, § 4) as vahassores majores as distinguished from mediate tenants, valvassores minores. Gradually the ter…
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- OCR text aligned to scanned pages
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- Vol. 27, pp. 962-962