Commendation ceremony

The first recorded ceremony of commendatio was in 7th century France, but the relationship of vassalage was older, and predated even the medieval formulations of a noble class.

The lord in turn grasped the vassal's hands between his own, showing he was the superior in the relationship, a symbolic act known variously as the immixtio manuum (Latin), Handgang (German), or håndgang (Norwegian).

[2]The physical position for Western Christian prayer that is thought of as typical today—kneeling, with hands clasped—may originate from the commendation ceremony.

The gesture of homage (though without any feudal significance) survives in the ceremony for conferring degrees at the University of Cambridge.

[4] The vassal would then place his hands on a Bible, or a saint's relic, and swear he would never injure the lord in any way and to remain faithful.

David Bruce, King of Scotland , acknowledges Edward III of England as his feudal lord (1346), in a manuscript of Froissart 's Chronicles, c. 1410
King Charlemagne receiving the Oath of Fidelity and Homage from one of his great vassals : facsimile of a monochrome miniature in a 14th-century Ms of the "Chronicles of St. Denis." (Library of the Arsenal)
Papacy and monarchy: Catholic Marie de' Medici assumes the traditional pose of a vassal in homage at her coronation following Henry IV 's assassination, as painted by Peter Paul Rubens .