Towards the tenth century, every noble who desired to obtain from another noble, richer or more powerful than himself, a portion of land to be held as a fief, and who consented thus to become his vassal, personally declared in the chief’s presence that for the future he wished to be his faithful, devoted servant and his defender until death; with his sword girded to his side and his spurs on his heels, he solemnly swore this on the Holy Writ. In the subsequent ceremony of hommage-lige the vassal, bareheaded, knelt on one knee, and, placing his hands within those of his seignior, swore fealty to him, and undertook to follow him to the wars (Figs. 11 and 12), an obligation not entailed by the first act of homage, namely, that of hommage-simple. Thenceforward the seignior ceded to him the land or the feudal domain, by investiture or by seizin, a ceremony often accompanied by the giving of a symbolical sign, such as a clod of earth, a little stick, or a stone, according to the custom of the soil. The investiture of kingdoms was conferred with the sword, that of provinces with a standard.
Fig. 5.—Tower of the Walls of Provins, Twelfth Century.
Fig. 6.—Tower of the Castle of Fougères, Twelfth Century.
Fig. 7.—Tower of the Castle of Loches, Twelfth Century.
Fig. 8.—Tower of Beaucaire, Thirteenth Century.
