fealty

n. loyalty, faithfulness

An oath of fealty, from the Latin fidelitas or faithfulness, is a pledge of allegiance of one person to another. Typically the oath is made upon a religious object such as a Bible or saint's relic thus binding the oath taker before God.In medieval Europe, fealty was sworn between two people, the obliged person (vassal) and a person of rank (lord). This was done as part of a formal commendation ceremony to create a feudal relationship.Fealty and homage are a key element of feudalism. Under the feudal system, the smallest unit of land a fief could own was called a fea or fee, giving rise to the modern day terms of freehold
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Noun
1. the loyalty that citizens owe to their country (or subjects to their sovereign)
(synonym) allegiance
(hypernym) loyalty

Obligation of fidelity in a military, political and social sense on the part of a feudal tenant or vassal to his lord . The contract is not to be confused with homage , though both ceremonies were conducted at the same time. In the first part of the ceremony, where the liegeman swore personal homage to the lord, they swore to ‘become his man’. The lord swore an oath of his own where he pledged protection and defense for the tenant. During the second part of the ceremony, only the liegeman swore the oath, swearing to perform faithful service for the land so tendered. Called foi in French, Treue or Triuwe in German.

Fidelity, allegiance.

Under the feudal system, every owner of lands held them of some superior lord, from whom or from whose ancestors the tenant had received them. By this connection the lord became bound to protect the tenant in the enjoyment of the land granted to him. On the other hand, the tenant was bound to be faithful to his lord and defend him against all his enemies. This obligation was called fidelitas or fealty.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.