seigneur
/seɪˈnjəː
/(also seignior /ˈseɪnjə/)
noun chiefly historical
A feudal lord; the lord of a manor.The knightly class soon ceased to be purely professional soldiers and became landed proprietors in their own right, acting as seigneurs or lords of the manor....
- In Picardy where seigneurial dues were also minimal, seigneurs used their privileges to lease out logging rights in forests at a time when wood prices were skyrocketing.
- Once the feared noble forces failed to materialize, village militias instead turned their weapons on the system itself, compelling seigneurs or their agents to hand over feudal registers to be burned on the village square.
Derivatives
seigneurial
- In Picardy where seigneurial dues were also minimal, seigneurs used their privileges to lease out logging rights in forests at a time when wood prices were skyrocketing.
- He calculates seventeenth-century crop yields, for instance, by drawing regressions on a Norman seigneurial grain levy.
- Unlike the seigneurial courts, the jurisdiction of the leet did not belong to the lord by right but had to be granted to him by the king.
Origin
Late 16th century: from Old French, from Latin senior 'older, elder'.