hogs, sheep, etc., to the lord, as rent for the land, much as the free
farmers in other countries paid tribute to the robber chieftains. Thus
the one class of people who really earned their right to live, by
producing wealth, were oppressed and robbed by all the others. Note
this point, for there are wrongs existing today that are due to the
fact that the feudal system is not wholly stamped out in some
countries.

[Illustration: A Vassal doing Homage to his Lord]

In the second place, it must be noted that the king was not the direct
master of all the people. Only the great lords had sworn homage to
him. He was lord of the dukes, earls, and barons. The less important
barons swore homage to the great barons, and the knights, squires,
retainers, and yeomen swore homage to the lesser barons. If a lesser
baron had subdivided his fief among certain knights and squires, the
peasants owed allegiance, not to him, but to the squire to whom they
had been assigned. Thus, if a "man" rebelled against his lord, all of
his knights, retainers, etc., must rebel also. If, for instance, a
great duke refused to obey his king and broke his oath of allegiance,
all his little barons and knights must turn disloyal too, or rather,
must remain loyal, for their oaths had been taken to support the duke,
and not the king. History is full of such cases. In many instances,
dukes became so powerful that they were able to make war on even terms
with kings. The great Dukes of Burgundy for a time kept the kings of
France in awe of their power; the Duke of Northumberland in 1403
raised an army that almost overthrew King Henry Fourth of England; the
Duke of York, in 1461, drove Henry Sixth from the throne of England
and became king in his place.