A
mesne lord was a
lord in the
feudal system who had vassals who held land from him, but who was himself the vassal of a higher lord. A mesne lord did not hold land directly of the
king, that is to say he was not a
tenant-in-chief. His
subinfeudated estate was called a "mesne estate" or
Afterlehen in the
Holy Roman Empire. He was thus an intermediate or "middle" tenant, which status is reflected in the mediaeval French word
mesne, in modern French
moyen.