Seigniory (redirected from Seignory)

Seigniory 

(also seigneury), a term used in the historical literature to denote a complex of feudal landholdings and the right to authority over the feudally dependent peasants living on those lands; applied primarily to Western European countries. In this broad sense, “seigniory” is synonymous with votchina (Russian patrimonial estate). In a narrower sense, “seigniory” means a type of patrimonial estate on which the lord made little or no effort to organize the cultivation of demesne lands; all or almost all of the land of such a seigniory was held by dependent peasant tenants, who paid the lord quitrent in money or in kind.