vassalage (vasalaj)

[Formerly also vas sallage, vas sell age; I protest I shall be proud to do you most obsequious va alage. Marston, What you Will, ii. 1. 2. Servitude; dependence; subjection; slavery. Do you think that all they who live under a Kingly Government were so strangely in love with Slavery as, when they might be free, to chuse Va alage? Milton , Ans. to Salmasius, vii. But, slave to love, I must not disobey; His service is the hardest va alage . Farquhar , Love and a Bottle, iii. 1. vast And, which makes the more for Bellarmine, the French King was again ejected when our King submitted to the church, and the crown received under the sordid condition of a va alage . Dryden, Religio Laici, Pref. The countship of Foix, with six territorial va alages. Milman, Latin Christianity, ix. 8. 4. Va als or subjects collectively. [Rare.] Like va alage at unawares encountering The eye of majesty. Shak., T. and C., iii. 2. 40. 51. Preëminence, as of one having va als; hence, valor; prowe ; courage. Al forgeten is his va elage. Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 2196. Nor for thare plesand parsonage, Nor for thare strenth nor va alage . Lauder , Dewtie of Kyngis (E. E. T. S.), 1. 284. Catoun seyth, is none so gret encrese Of worldly tresowre as for to lyve in pease Which among vertues hath the va elage . Political Poems , etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 27. To do one va alage, to fulfil for one the duties of a va al; render one the service of a va al. Heywood, Hierarchy of Angels, p. 477.