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The page seems self-contradictory; the first paragraph says that tenant in chief is the more common term, the second says that said term was invented by historians. Radiant! 09:46, Feb 16, 2005 (UTC)
Latest comment: 19 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
The article should be moved to Tenant-in-chief which is the more common term, even if it is a neologism. [1]. The article should also clarify that particular degrees in the aristocracy (duke etc) were unrelated to size of a landholder's estate. Alan01:43, 12 November 2005 (UTC)Reply
One further question: was there a Norman French expression for "tenant-in-chief" in common use at any stage, and if so, should it be mentioned in the article? - Ehrenkater (talk) 14:53, 20 May 2011 (UTC)Reply
Tenant in Chief is a term coined by historians so is not something that is contemporary with the middle ages. The Norman French would have used the term tenentes in capite, I don't know whether French historians have come up with a modern French equivalent, but I don't think that would be relevant!! However the French and the rest of Europe were different to England. In England (post conquest), and eventually Wales, the Crown had absolute title to all the land (allodium), whereas in France the dukes and counts had absolute title to their lands and so were not vassals to the monarch. Other countries had variations on the French theme thus by the 11th century it was only England and Wales that really had tenants-in-chief. We do mention that In most countries allodial property could be held by the monarch and other nobles, however perhaps could expand that a bit to say that in France and other countries the great lords were not vassals of the king and had complete autonomy with regards to their lands and consequently tenants-in-chief did not exist after the 11th century. Wilfridselsey (talk) 16:25, 20 May 2011 (UTC)Reply
