Etymology

Noun

1. a subvassal; someone holding their lands from a vassal of the crown rather than from the crown directly
   • Late C14, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales

     A shirreve hadde he been, and a contour. / Was nowher swich a worthy vavasour.

   • 1989, Neil Gaiman, Mike Dringenberg, and Malcolm Jones III, The Doll’s House, The Sandman issue 10

     “Fiddler’s Green is missing? That is passing strange, Lucien. He is, after all, vavasour of his own dominion. And always so… reliable.”