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fealty

UK/ˈfiː.əlti/US/ˈfiː.əlti/
nounC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,229 of 15,258leans written

Fealty is the loyalty a vassal owes to their lord. Swear fealty, an oath of fealty, break fealty.

It was sworn kneeling with the hands between the lord's, and the ceremony was the whole legal basis of the relationship — no document, only the oath and the witnesses. It is the same Latin word as fidelity, arriving by a French road.

Myrabella · Public domain

Definitions of fealty

  1. 1nounfealtyThe loyalty a vassal owes to their lord.C2

    “The knights knelt before the new king and swore fealty to him.”

fealty is a loyalty.

Remember it

feALTY → the LOYALTY owed to a lord

The loyalty owed upward, from the man who serves to the lord he serves under.

hooks ontoloyalty

Where it comes from

Anglo-Norman feaute comes from Latin fidelitas, faithfulness. Fidelity is the same word taken later.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *bʰeydʰ-

  2. Latin

    fidēlitās

  3. Anglo-Norman

    fëauté

  4. Middle English

    feaute

  5. English, today

    fealty

Middle English feaute, feute, from Anglo-Norman fëauté, fëuté, from Latin fidēlitās (“faithfulness”; “homage, fealty” in Medieval Latin -), from fidēlis + -tās; the modern form (for expected feauty) is due to learned influence. Equivalent to obsolete feal + -ty. a doublet of fidelity.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

fealty in the wild

  • In contrast, fealty (fidelitas) is sworn, unconditional loyalty to a monarch.

    Vassal

  • The commendation ceremony is composed of two elements, one to perform the act of homage and the other an oath of fealty.

    Commendation ceremony

  • Rather than execute his captive, he demanded an oath of fealty and spared his life.

    Aaron II

  • The oath known as "fealty" implied lesser obligations than did "homage".

    Homage (feudal)

  • Mirza Hakim was the ruler of Kabul, and was practically independent, although supposed to owe fealty to the Mughal emperor.

    Mirza Muhammad Hakim

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.