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English Feudalism
Harold Sacramentum Fecit Willelmo Duci (Harold makes an oath to Duke William) King Harold becomes the vassal of Duke William of Normandy (Bayeux Tapestry)
Fief
Overlord, Vassal
Enfeoffment
Subinfeudation
Feoffee
Feudal land tenure
Fealty, Homage
Feudalism in England
Feudalism
v t e

A vassal or feudatory^[1] is a person who has entered into a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. The obligations often included military support and mutual protection, in exchange for certain privileges, usually including the grant of land held as a fiefdom.^[2] The term can be applied to similar arrangements in other feudal societies. In contrast, a fidelity, or fidelitas, was a sworn loyalty, subject to the king.^[3]

Western vassalage[link]

In a fully developed vassalage, the lord and the vassal would undertake a commendation ceremony composed of two parts, the homage and the fealty, including the use of Christian sacraments to show its importance. According to Eginhard's brief description, the commendatio made to Pippin the Younger in 757 by Tassillo, Duke of Bavaria, involved the relics of Saints Denis, Rusticus, and Éleuthère, Saint Martin, and Saint Germain, which had apparently been assembled at Compiègne for the event.^[4] Such refinements were not included from the outset, however.

Feudal society was increasingly based on the concept of "lordship" (French seigneur), which was one of the distinguishing features of the Early Middle Ages and had evolved out of Late Antiquity.^[5]

In Charlemagne's time, the connection slowly developed between vassalage and the grant of land, the main form of capital at that time. Contemporaneous social developments included agricultural "manorialism" and the social and legal structures labelled "feudalism"—but only since the 18th century. These developments proceeded at different rates in various regions. In Merovingian times, only the greatest and most trusted vassals would be rewarded with lands. Even at the most extreme devolution of any remnants of central power, in 10th century France, the majority of vassals still had no fixed estates.^[6]

The stratification of a fighting band of vassals into distinct groups might roughly be correlated with the new term "fief" that was superseding "benefice" in the 9th century. An "upper" group was composed of great territorial magnates, which were strong enough to ensure the inheritance of their benefice to the heirs of their family. The "lower" group consisted of landless knights attached to a count or duke. This social settling process also received impetus in fundamental changes in the conducting of warfare. As disorganised infantry were superseded by cavalry, armies became more expensive to maintain. A vassal needed economic resources to equip the cavalry he was bound to contribute to his lord to fight his frequent wars. Such resources, in the absence of a money economy, were only to be found in land and its associated assets, which included peasants, as well as wood and water.

Difference between "vassal" and "vassal state"[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Many empires have created vassal states out of cities, kingdoms, and tribes that they wish to bring under their auspices without having to conquer or govern them. In these cases, vassalage (or suzerainty) just means forfeiting foreign policy independence in exchange for full autonomy and perhaps a formal tribute. A lesser state that might be called a "junior ally" would be called a "vassal" as a reference to a domestic "fiefholder" or "trustee", simply to apply a common domestic norm to diplomatic culture. This allows different cultures to understand formal hegemonic relationships in personal terms, even among states using non-personal forms of rule. Imperial states that have used this terminology include Ancient Rome, the Mongol Empire, and the British Empire.

See also[link]

• Vassal state
• Feudalism
• Freeborn
• Mandala (political model)
• Suzerainty
• Thegn
• Vavasour, a type of vassal
• Zamindar

Compare[link]

• Manrent, Scottish Clan treaties of offensive and defensive alliance
• Gokenin, vassals of the shogunate in Japan
• nöken (plural: nöker) was the Mongol term for a tribal leader acknowledging another as his liege

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Cantor, Norman, The Civilization of the Middle Ages 1993
• Rouche, Michel, "Private life conquers state and society," in A History of Private Life vol I, Paul Veyne, editor, Harvard University Press 1987 ISBN 0-674-39974-9

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2008)

Theatre of Tragedy was a Norwegian band from Stavanger, active between 1993 and 2010. They are best known for their earlier albums, which influenced the gothic metal genre.

Biography[link]

Theatre of Tragedy was founded on 2 October 1993. Drummer Hein Frode Hansen had recently quit his former band Phobia and started looking for a new musical project to play in. A friend of his told Hein that a band called Suffering Grief was looking for a new drummer, and after contacting them, he joined the band. At the time, Suffering Grief was composed of vocalist Raymond István Rohonyi and guitarists Pål Bjåstad and Tommy Lindal. No bassist had joined the band yet, but Eirik T. Saltrø had agreed to play with them in live concerts.

After finding a rehearsal place, the band decided to work upon a couple of piano arrangements composed by Lorentz Aspen. The vocals, at the time, were mostly entirely composed by raw death grunts.

After composing their first song, "Lament of the Perishing Roses", the band changed its name to La Reine Noir and then to Theatre of Tragedy. They subsequently invited singer Liv Kristine Espenæs to do female vocals for one song, but quickly invited her to join the band permanently.

In 1994, their first studio demo was recorded, and in 1995, the debut album Theatre of Tragedy was released, followed by Velvet Darkness They Fear in 1996 and the A Rose for the Dead EP in 1997, which contained unreleased material from Velvet Darkness They Fear. Arguably, the band reached the apogee of its career in 1998, with the release of the critically acclaimed album Aégis.

Released in 2000, Musique was a massive departure from the gothic metal sound that Theatre of Tragedy had developed over the previous three albums. The heavy guitars and Early Modern English lyrics were replaced by electropop and industrial-influenced metal. It was met with a very mixed reception, and while some older fans were understandably shocked by the new direction of the band, it did gain them a number of new fans.

With 2002's Assembly, the band continued along the same musical path as on their previous album. It was seen as a more refined and confident electropop record than its predecessor. It was also the first album to feature their long-time session guitarist, Vegard K. Thorsen, as a full member of the band.

Liv Kristine former member of TOT

In August 2003, the band declared in an official statement^[1] on their website, that Liv Kristine was removed from the band's line-up due to "musical differences which could not be bridged".

Female singer Nell Sigland (from The Crest) joined Theatre of Tragedy on the following year. In winter 2004/2005 a short concert tour (together with Pain, Sirenia and Tiamat) with Sigland singing was performed.

The band released their sixth studio album Storm on March 24, 2006 and a European tour followed, with Gothminister as supporting act. The album's title song was released as a single on February 24, 2006. While still keeping on the industrial and electronic roots of the last two albums, the album showed a return to some of the sounds developed in their first albums.

On 2 October 2008, Theatre of Tragedy celebrated their 15th anniversary. In December 2008 the band posted a snippet of new track "Frozen," which was expected to be on the new album, on their MySpace music page:

"Time for some updates. Things are slowly moving forward with the next album. As usual with the Theatre machinery there is many things to take into consideration when doing stuff and recently we were forced to change collaborators for the production of the album, and postpone the recordings. But fear not the heavy responsibility has been entrusted to Alexander Møklebust (Zeromancer, Seigmen, Gåte, Monomen, Delaware etc) and the ToT crew will enter Room 13 in May and June for recordings and general mayhem! Estimated release from AFM is end of September. Rumor has it that there will be a vinyl version for the diehard fans. We will keep you posted."

In June 2009 saw the band reveal Forever Is The World as the title of the new album. Their 7th album, it was released in Europe on 21 September 2009, with the band making a step towards their earlier sound of Aégis. A special Tour Edition of Forever Is The World was issued on March 12, 2010. The Tour Edition contained a bonus CD known as the "Addenda EP" which contains song reworkings and unreleased tracks.

Metal Mind Productions issued a press release in July stating that they were, with the co-operation of the band, re-releasing Musique and Assembly. Both albums have been remastered and will be backed with bonus tracks. New liner notes and artwork are said to be a part of the package. Each album is limited to 2000 numbered copies.^[2]

On 1 March 2010, Theatre of Tragedy issued a statement informing fans of their decision to split on 2 October 2010. The statement cited personal desires to spend more time with family and an inability to juggle their everyday working lives with a "rock and roll" lifestyle.^[3] On 12 March, Theatre of Tragedy kicked off their farewell tour, "Forever is the World Tour". The Norwegian symphonic goth metal band Where Angels Fall played support on the European part of the tour. In September, fans helped the band to secure funds to finish their first and last DVD by making donations when the label pulled out most of the funding for the production.^[4]

Musical style[link]

The band made use of contrasting vocals – male bass vocals (making some use of death grunts) and female soprano singing (commonly referred to as "Beauty and the Beast" vocals) – and on their first three albums, presented lyrics written predominantly in Early Modern English. Starting from the album Musique, however, Theatre of Tragedy made drastic changes to its style, which became significantly inspired by the industrial rock genre, abandoning Early Modern English writing and death grunts in the process.

Members[link]

Final lineup[link]

• Nell Sigland – Vocals (2004–2010)
• Raymond István Rohonyi – Vocals, Programming, Electronics (1993–2010)
• Frank Claussen – Guitars (1997–2010)
• Vegard K. Thorsen – Guitars (1999–2010)
• Lorentz Aspen – Keyboards, Synthesizers (1993–2010)
• Hein Frode Hansen – Drums (1993–2010)

Former members[link]

• Pål Bjåstad – Guitars (1993–1995)
• Tommy Lindal – Guitars (1993–1997)
• Eirik T. Saltrø – Bass (1993–2000)
• Liv Kristine Espenæs Krull – Vocals (1993–2003)
• Geir Flikkeid – Guitars (1995–1997)
• Tommy Olsson – Guitars (1997–1999)

Touring members[link]

• Bjørnar Landa – Guitar (2006)
• Erik Torp – Bass (2010)

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Theatre of Tragedy (1995)
• Velvet Darkness They Fear (1996)
• Aégis (1998)
• Musique (2000)
• Assembly (2002)
• Storm (2006)
• Forever Is the World (2009)

Live Albums[link]

• closure:live (2001)
• Last Curtain Call (2011)

DVDs[link]

• Last Curtain Call (2011)

EPs[link]

• Theatre of Tragedy (demo, 1994)
• A Rose for the Dead (1997)
• Virago (1999)
• Inperspective (2000)
• Addenda (2010)

Singles[link]

• "Der Tanz Der Schatten" (1996)
• "Cassandra" (1998)
• "Image" (2000)
• "Machine" (2001)
• "Envision" (2002)
• "Let You Down" (2002)
• "Storm" (2006)
• "Deadland" (2009)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Theatre of Tragedy on Myspace
• Theatre of Tragedy discography at Discogs