Fief

A fief (/fiːf/; Latin: feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law.

[1] However, not only land but anything of value could be held in fee, including governmental office, rights of exploitation such as hunting, fishing or felling trees, monopolies in trade, money rents and tax farms.

[2][3] In ancient Rome, a "benefice" (from the Latin noun beneficium, meaning "benefit") was a gift of land (precaria) for life as a reward for services rendered, originally, to the state.

[4][7] A theory put forward by Archibald R. Lewis[4] is that the origin of 'fief' is not feudum (or feodum), but rather foderum, the earliest attested use being in Astronomus's Vita Hludovici (840).

The odd appearance of the second f in the form fief may be due to influence from the verb fiever 'to grant in fee'.

[citation needed] In England, Henry II transformed them into important sources of royal income and patronage.

The discontent of barons with royal claims to arbitrarily assessed "reliefs" and other feudal payments under Henry's son King John resulted in Magna Carta of 1215.

[citation needed] Eventually, great feudal lords sought also to seize governmental and legal authority (the collection of taxes, the right of high justice, etc.)

[citation needed] In 13th-century Germany, Italy, England, France, and Spain the term "feodum" was used to describe a dependent tenure held from a lord by a vassal in return for a specified amount of knight service and occasional financial payments (feudal incidents).