Liege Homage

Also known as Hommage lige

The personal oath by which a vassal bound himself to a lord above all other loyalties, the strongest tie in the feudal system.

Liege homage was the most binding form of feudal obligation. A man might do ordinary homage to several lords for several different fiefs, but he could be the liege man of only one: the lord whose service overrode every other claim, including service to the king himself if the two came into conflict. In the Kingdom of Jerusalem the king was usually — though not always — every great vassal's liege lord, and the question of who owed liege homage to whom was at the heart of every succession crisis.

The ceremony itself was simple: the vassal knelt, placed his joined hands between the lord's, and swore an oath of fealty; the lord raised him up and gave the kiss of peace. What mattered legally was the obligation: the liege man owed his lord auxilium et consilium — military aid and counsel — for life, and could be punished as a traitor if he withheld either.

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