Patriarchal and exploitative.
Lords were supposed to look after their vassals, hence the patriarchal relationship, but at the same time, they used their vassals for resources.
Both clergy and vassals had to take oaths of loyalty and obedience, and were bound by law and custom to uphold those oaths.
Royal
Feudalism was a political system based on an agreement between two groups of nobles-- lords and vassals.
In medieval societies, serfdom and feudalism were two distinct systems. Feudalism was a social structure where land was owned by lords and granted to vassals in exchange for loyalty and military service. Serfdom, on the other hand, was a labor system where peasants worked the land in exchange for protection and a portion of the harvest. The key difference is that feudalism focused on the relationship between lords and vassals, while serfdom was centered on the relationship between landowners and laborers.
The set of unwritten rules that determines the relationship between a lord and his vassal is that the vassal must protect the lord and the lord must provide protection for the vassal. This was a rule that most vassals and lords lived by.
Master and servant.
Vassalage is the relationship between the feudal lord and his vassal. Kings had higher lords as vassals, and higher lords had lower lords as vassals. The practice was called subinfeudation.
Both clergy and vassals had to take oaths of loyalty and obedience, and were bound by law and custom to uphold those oaths.
they were given land
An oath of loyalty and a pledge of military service
Royal
Vassals had to serve lords because the vassals promised to serve a lord in exchange for land.
a oath of loyalty and a pledge of military service.
Feudalism
Vassals served lords in exchange for protection and land rights. In the feudal system, vassals pledged loyalty and military service to their lords in return for the lord's support and the ability to use and cultivate land on the lord's estate.
Feudalism was a political system based on an agreement between two groups of nobles-- lords and vassals.
Vassals and their lords were in a system of mutual support. The vassals owed military support, oaths of loyalty, and oats of obedience. The lords provided guarantees of land, a place to live, and military protection.