enfeoffed

Adjective

enfeoffed (comparative more enfeoffed, superlative most enfeoffed)

1. Belonging to a vassal under a feudal system, typically in exchange for fealty.
   • In early Zhou times, the character guo, which in modern Chinese means "state," "nation," or "country," not only denoted an enfeoffed territory but also meant the walled city where the seat of the head of the fief resided.seat of the head of the fief resided.2000, Yinong Xu, The Chinese City in Space and Time, page 79
   • He, too, was a knight, possessing quit-rents, a mill, and some woodland; his brothers held their share of an enfeoffed inheritance from him, according to the system of inheritance which was practised among the nobility; his wife was 'Dame Mary, the steward's lady'.2015, Marc Bloch, Land and Work in Mediaeval Europe
2. Having legal possession of a fiefdom in exchange for fealty
   • Here, the disrespect shown the Son of Heaven by one or more enfeoffed lords is evident.1994, Hsiung Yang, Xiong Yang, Michael Nylan, The Elemental Changes
   • By the time of the Nibelungenlied the word was used to denote a wide variety of usually ecclesiastic or royal administrators, from the lowest, unfree ministerial to an enfeoffed judge.2002, Francis G. Gentry, The Nibelungen Tradition, page 142