mesne lord

American  

noun

1. (in old English law) an intermediate feudal lord; the tenant of a chief lord and a lord to his own tenants.

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mesne lord British  

noun

1. (in feudal society) a lord who held land from a superior lord and kept his own tenants on it

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Etymology

Origin of mesne lord

First recorded in 1605–15

Example Sentences

Persons holding directly from the king and granting to others were the king’s tenants in capite, and were the mesne lords of their tenants.

From Project Gutenberg

To successive priors, as mesne lords, it also owed its earliest municipal privileges.

From Project Gutenberg

In feudal times charters of privileges were granted, not only by the crown, but by mesne lords both lay and ecclesiastical, as well to communities, such as boroughs, gilds and religious foundations, as to individuals.

From Project Gutenberg

On frequent occasions the petty adjoining "Chinesified" states, of which Lu was practically the mesne lord, are stated to have been "tainted with Eastern barbarian rites."

From Project Gutenberg

The middle thane was feudal, but not honorary; he was also called a vavasor, and his lands a vavasory, which held of some mesne lord, and not immediately of the King.

From Project Gutenberg