Homage (feudal)

[citation needed] The ceremony of homage was used in many regions of Europe to symbolically bind two men together.

The vassal owed obedience and devotion, as well as counsel and aid in times of war, to the lord.

Henry II was king of England, but he was merely duke of Normandy and Aquitaine and count of Anjou and Poitou.

The usual oath was therefore modified by Henry to add the qualification "for the lands I hold overseas.

After King John of England was forced to surrender Normandy to Philip in 1204, English magnates with holdings on both sides of the Channel were faced with conflict.

In doing so, Edward added yet another qualification – that the duty owed was "according to the terms of the peace made between our ancestors".