Suzerain is the supreme ruler of the feudal world
All countries of Western Europe in the 9th-20th centuries werescattered. Germany, Italy and France were divided into thousands of separate possessions, ruled by dukes, counts or barons who have unlimited power in their lands.
They tried serfs and free peasants, taxed the people with taxes, fought and concluded peace agreements at their discretion. It was in those days that the words "suzerain" and "vassal" appeared.
The undivided power of the suzerains
A distinctive feature of feudal times wasthat the king did not possess practically no power. Moreover, in most cases the power of the ruler was so insignificant and weak that he had absolutely no influence on the political events taking place in the state.
That is, we can say that theoreticallythe state was ruled by the monarch, and practically all the reins of government were in the hands of the suzerains. To make the picture more clear, it should be clarified that the suzerain is the supreme ruler of the territory, which is the main one in relation to all the vassals subordinate to him.
In turn, the question arises, who isvassal. Proceeding from the foregoing, we understand that at that time they called landowners who completely dependent on their overlord. They brought him the oath and, accordingly, had a whole series of duties both on the military unit and on monetary obligations.
Specificity of feudal relations
Thus, feudal relations in themselvesrepresent a whole series of dependent landowners, led by the king, whose authority, as mentioned above, was highly questionable.
The main suzerain understood this perfectly, that's whytried to maintain friendly relations with the most influential feudal lords of his kingdom in order to be able to rely on someone's help in case of danger or approaching hostilities.
Royal Thrones served as a toy in the hands ofinfluential signors. The power of each of them directly depended on how impressive the army had this or that suzerain. This not only allowed one to fight amongst themselves, but also to encroach on the royal throne. Possessing the most powerful troops, the dukes or counts could easily overthrow the king and put his deputy in his place and actually rule the kingdom.
The appearance of new vassals
In order to secure power and power,Many feudal lords practiced the distribution of part of their land to the use of smaller landowners. Together with the territory, serfs and free peasants moved into possession, which completely depended on the decision of the suzerain.
