Why this word is great
VASSALAGE — [Noun] The formal, reciprocal condition of a vassal, defined by sworn obligations of military service and counsel to a feudal lord in exchange for a landed fief and protection. From Old French *vassalage*, *vasselage* ("the service of a vassal"), from *vassal* ("feudal tenant, subordinate"), itself from Medieval Latin *vassallus* ("manservant, domestic"), from Latin *vassus* ("servant"), of Celtic origin. Unlike "servitude," which implies a blanket, involuntary bondage, or "allegiance," which denotes a broader, often abstract loyalty, vassalage is a contract of reciprocal duty, a debt woven into the very soil. It is the rust on a knight's spurs as he rides to his lord's muster, the precise weight of a measured sheaf of barley paid as rent, and the chill of the stone floor in the great hall where homage is sworn—an architecture of duty that made a self from what was owed.