Civilization.ca - VMNF - The Seigneurs

Honours Accorded to the Seigneur

In return for the duties that the seigneur accepted when he obtained his fief, he was entitled to certain rights, which the historian Marcel Trudel divides into droits honorifiques (honours) and droits onéreux (burdensome, i.e. state-controlled, rights.) He says of the former: "In a society in which honour was the most frequent recompense for service, it was only fitting that this should be paid to the seigneur in the greatest degree possible."

Religious honours gave him precedence over the people in his relationships with the parish congregation and activities. In the church itself, the banc seigneurial (seigneur's pew) was located in the most prominent place. Sitting there he received homage from the congregation on certain occasions, and he had a right of burial beneath it. He took public precedence over all the laity in processions and other religious events.

Memorial plaque to Philippe Aubert de Gaspé.
Taken from the seigneurial pew at Saint-Jean-Port-Joli

The civil honours he enjoyed included a declaration of fealty and homage from the proprietors of any sub-fiefs that he granted; this was the counterpart of the acte de foi et hommage (ceremony of fealty and homage) which he himself rendered at the governor's chateau. By this act of submission he signalled his obedience to higher authority in the state.

Important Notices