1. Feudal Law. A vassal sworn to the service and support of his superior lord, who in return was obliged to afford him protection, etc.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 2663. Lordinges ȝe ben my lege men þat gode ben & trewe.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VII. 285. Kyng William wente into Scotland … and kyng Malcolyn bycam his leege man, and swoor hym homage and fewte.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 1768. Alle his lele lige mene.
1420. H. Stafford, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. IV. I. 66. The kyngys liche men … han y fetaylid hym well and nothyng vs.
1494. Fabyan, Chron., V. cxxv. 105. They wolde become his liegemen, and holde theyr lande of hym for euer.
1523. Fitzherb., Bk. Surv., 20 b. I shall true liegeman be and true faythe beare to kyng Henry … and to his heyres.
1579. J. Stubbes, Gaping Gulf, F iij b. A true Englishman, a sworne liegeman to hir Maiestie.
1612. Davies, Why Ireland, etc. (1787), 109. If the Irish were receiued into the King’s protection, and made liege men and free subjects.
1692. Washington, trans. Milton’s Def. Pop., viii. (1851), 189. They swear therefore to William, to be his Liege-men.
1813. Scott, Trierm., II. vi. When Arthur … Spoke of his liegemen and his throne.
1839. Keightley, Hist. Eng., I. 35. The princes of Cornwall, Wales, Cumbria and Strath-clyde became his liege men.
1855. Milman, Lat. Chr., VII. ii. (1864), IV. 88. Building fortresses to reduce his freeborn liege men to slavery.
2. transf. and fig. One who serves as though sworn to do so, a faithful follower or subject.
1823. Scott, Peveril, xvii. A faithful liegeman to the law as well as the King.
1827. Keble, Chr. Y., 1 Sunday Advent ii. Sworn liegemen of the Cross.
1862. Merivale, Rom. Emp. (1865), III. xxiv. 98. Liegemen of Death and fares of the Stygian ferryman.
1864. Burton, Scot Abr., I. v. 259. When the dispute lay between the liegemen of the university and those of the state—between gown and town—the university haughtily arrogated the authority over both.
1865. Parkman, Huguenots, vii. (1875), 89. The trespassers, too, were heretics, foes of God and liegemen of the Devil.
1876. Bancroft, Hist. U.S., I. iii. 86. Raleigh … sent … at five several times, to search for his liege-men.
Hence † Liegemanship.
1611. Cotgr., Lige, allegiance, or liegemanship.
