THE FEUDAL SYSTEM 65 their parents, large domains, at least one whole village, almost always several villages. According to the country, these great freeholders were called barons (that is to say, men), sires or seigniors1, rich men, in German Herr, in Latin dominus2 (that is to say, proprietors.) The wife was called dame (domina, mis- tress, lady). Being rich, they could take other knights into their service, and go to war at the head of a small troop. To rally their men they had a flag, the banner, therefore they were called bannerets. Homage and Fealty.—From the time of Charle- magne the barbarian warriors followed the custom of swearing fidelity to the chief who maintained them, and fighting for him alone. The warrior in taking this oath, and the chief in receiving it, were bound together for life; the chief called the warrior my faithful friend, my man, or my vassal; the vassal called his chief my lord. The vassal accompanied his lord to war, and served him even at table; he was at the same time a domestic and a companion-in-arms. The lord paid him for his services by feeding him, furnishing him arms, clothing, and a horse; sometimes he gave him a domain. The custom of paying vassals by giving lands to them became general in France at the end of the ninth century, perhaps because in France men-at-arms were rare. The land given in payment was called a fief. Soon it was an absolute rule that every vassal was to receive a fief, and that one could not possess a fief with- out becoming the vassal of the proprietor. When the 1 Seigneur, In English, sir. * From this comes the Spanish don.