Serving an independent sovereign or master; bound by a feudal tenure; obliged to be faithful and loyal to a superior, as a vassal to his lord; faithful; loyal; as, a liege man; a liege subject
Flemish Luik City (pop., 2000 est.: 185,639), eastern Belgium. Located at the confluence of the Meuse and Ourthe rivers, it was inhabited in prehistoric times and was known to the Romans as Leodium. It became a town when St. Hubert transferred his see there in 721, and it was noted as a centre of learning in the Middle Ages. Annexed to France in 1795, it was later assigned with the rest of Belgium to The Netherlands in 1815. A centre of the successful revolt for Belgian independence in 1830, it is now an industrial research centre and a major port
In European feudal society, an unconditional bond between a man and his overlord. Thus, if a tenant held estates from various overlords, his obligations to his liege lord, to whom he had paid "liege homage," were greater than his obligations to the other lords, to whom he had paid only "simple homage." See also feudal land tenure