Editing Fief (section)

==Early feudal grants==
Originally, [[vassal]]age did not imply the giving or receiving of landholdings (which were granted only as a reward for loyalty), but by the 8th century the giving of a landholding was becoming standard.<ref name="Cantor 1993, pp. 198-199">Cantor (1993), pp. 198-199.</ref> The granting of a landholding to a vassal did not relinquish the lord's property rights, but only the use of the lands and their income; the granting lord retained ultimate ownership of the fee and could, technically, recover the lands in case of disloyalty or death.<ref name="Cantor 1993, pp. 198-199"/> In [[Francia]], [[Charles Martel]] was the first to make large-scale and systematic use (the practice had remained sporadic until then) of the remuneration of vassals by the concession of the usufruct of lands (a ''beneficatium'' or "[[benefice]]" in the documents) for the life of the vassal, or, sometimes extending to the second or third generation.<ref>Lebecq, pp.196-197.</ref>

By the middle of the 10th century, fee had largely become hereditary.<ref name="Cantor, 200">Cantor (1993), p. 200.</ref> The eldest son of a deceased vassal would inherit, but first he had to do homage and fealty to the lord and pay a "[[feudal relief|relief]]" for the land (a monetary recognition of the lord's continuing proprietary rights over the property).{{No source|date=January 2025}}

Historically, the fees of the 11th and the 12th century derived from two separate sources. The first was land carved out of the estates of the upper nobility. The second source was [[allod]]ial land transformed into dependent tenures.{{Citation needed|date=May 2013}} During the 10th century in northern France and the 11th century in France south of the [[Loire]], local magnates either recruited or forced the owners of allodial holdings into dependent relationships and they were turned into fiefs. The process occurred later in Germany, and was still going on in the 13th century.{{Citation needed|date=May 2013}}

In England, [[Henry II of England|Henry II]] transformed them into important sources of royal income and patronage. The discontent of [[baron]]s with royal claims to arbitrarily assessed "reliefs" and other feudal payments under Henry's son [[John of England|King John]] resulted in [[Magna Carta]] of 1215.{{Citation needed|date=May 2013}}

Eventually, great feudal lords sought also to seize governmental and legal authority (the collection of taxes, the right of high justice, etc.) in their lands, and some passed these rights to their own vassals.<ref name="Cantor, 200"/>

The privilege of minting official coins developed into the concept of [[seigniorage]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2013}}