Jeff Zeitlin <xxxxxx@freelancetraveller.com> wrote (among many interesting things):

and finally the holding by serjeanty, in which the holding
is conditioned on the performance of a service not generally of a
military nature, or under specific conditions and at specific times.

Alas, this bit of insight would have been a useful input to this discussion those many years ago:

http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Traveller_Mailing_List/FAQ#What_is_a_Feudal_Technocracy.3F

Cheers,

David Johnson

Victoria, British Columbia

"A good science fiction story should be able to predict not the automobile, but the traffic jam." - Frederik Pohl