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Definition of vassalage : 1. A territory held in vassalage.
2. Political servitude; dependence; subjection; slavery; as, the Greeks were held in vassalage by the Turks.
3. The state of being a vassal, or feudatory.
4. Valorous service, such as that performed by a vassal; valor; prowess; courage.
5. Vassals, collectively; vassalry.

Synonyms:

serviture, bondage, serfhood, slavery

homage, slavishness, serfdom, humility, acquiescence, servility, lowliness, humbleness, duty, docility, subservience, submissiveness, servitude, yieldingness, deference, fealty, inferiority, genuflection, subjection, willingness, subordination, devotion, complaisance, obedience

Usage examples:

• He also declined the yet more dazzling present of a crown from the then master of the continent, who would have set him on the throne of Poland- but, of a truth, under the vassalage of the Emperor of the French! - "Thaddeus of Warsaw", Jane Porter.
• The Romish church, taking advantage of favourable incidents, had reduced the kingdom of Sicily to the same state of feudal vassalage which she pretended to extend over England, and which, by reason of the distance, as well as high spirit of this latter kingdom, she was not able to maintain. - "The History of England, Volume I", David Hume.
• In the homage vouchsafed to mere rank there enters always a sense of humiliation, and in the observances of respect men tender to royalty, the idea of vassalage presents itself most prominently; whereas in the other case, the chivalrous devotion is not alloyed by this meaner servitude, and men never lift their heads more haughtily than after they have bowed them in lowly deference to loveliness. - "The Fortunes Of Glencore", Charles James Lever.