Bernard Atton, Viscount of Carcassonne: Charter of Homage and Fealty (1110)
In this Charter of Homage and Fealty (1110), Bernard Atton, viscount of Carcassonne, pledges himself to the service of Leo, abbot of Lagrasse. European society in the high to late Middle Ages (ca. 800–1500) revolved around a complex system of interlocking financial and military relationships based on the exchange of service for land rights. Historians often call this system “feudalism,” from the Latin feodum (or “fief”)—the term used to describe the land holding granted from a lord to a vassal, a tenant under the lord's protection. The feudal system of medieval society developed out of the need for security in a violent and somewhat unruly world. At the heart of the system were deeply felt convictions of obligation and justice, focusing on the relationship between lord and vassal. While historians debate the degree to which feudalism was a formalized system, this twelfth-century French document gives insight into relations between the nobility and the church. It describes...
