APPENDIX.
Reading edition
I.
[Y.B. Pasch. 1 Edw. II, pl. 4. f. 4.]
Trans.
Symon de Paris porta breve de transgression vers H. bailliffe sire Robert Tonny et plusours autres, et se pleint, qe W. et H. certein jour luy pristrent et emprisonerent etc. a tort encountre la pees etc. Pass respond pur toutz, forspris le bailliffe, qe riens nount fait encountre la pees, et pour le bailliff yl avowea le restreinement par la resoun qe lavantdit S. si est villeine lavandit R. qi bailliffe yl est, et fuist trove a N. en soun mes, le quel vint a lui tendist office de Provoist et il la refusa et ne se voilleit justicier etc. Tond. rehercea le avowery, et dit qe a cele avowery ne doit il estre resceve pur ceo qe S. est Fraunc Citizene de Londre, et ad este touz ceux diz anz, et ad este Vicounte le Roy en mesme la Citee, et rend accounts al Eschequer, et ceo voloms averrer par Record, et uncore huy ceo jour est Alderman et de la Ville de Londre, et demande jugement, sils puissent villenage en sa persone allegger. Herle. A ceo qil dient qil est citezen de Londre nous navoms qe faire, mes nous vous dioms, qil est villein R. de Eve et de Treve, et les Auncestres Ael et Besayel et toux ces Auncestres ses terres tennantz deinz le manoire de N. et ces Auncestres seisitz des villeins services des Auncestres S. come affaire Rechat de Char et de Sank et de fille marier, et de euz tailler haut et bas, etc., et uncore est seisi de ces freres de mesme le piere et de mesme la mere et demande Jugement si sour luy, come sour soun villein en soun mese trove, ne puisse avowere faire. Tond. Fraunc homme et de fraunc estat et eux nient seisi de luy, come de lour villein prest etc. Ber. Jeo ai oi dire qe un homme fuist prist en la bordel, et fuist prist et pendu, et sil eust demorre a lostiel, il neust en nul mal etc. auxient de ceste parte, sil eust este fraunc Citezen pur qe neust il demorre en la Citee? Ad alium diem; Tond. se tient qil ne fuist seisi de lui come de soun villein ne de ses villeins services etc. Pass. la ou il dit qe nous ne sumes pas seisis de lui come de nostre villein, il nasquit en nostre villeinage, ou commence nostre seisine, et nous lui trova mese en soun mes, et la nostre seisine continue, Jugement. Ber. Vous pledietz sour la seisine, et il pleident sour le droit issint naverrez james bon issue de plee. Herle. Seisi en la fourme qe nous avoms dit. Ber. La Court ne restreinera tiel travers sanz ceo qe vous dietz, que vous estez seisitz de lui come de vostre villein et de ses villeinz services, et sic fecit. Et alii e contra.
II.
[Y.B. Trin. 29 Edw. III, f. 41. I do not give a translation of this document because it has been explained with some detail in my text.]
Sur l'estatut de labourer.
Le servant suit par attorney, et le Master in propre persone. Que dit qe le servant fuit soun villein regardant al Manoire de C. et dit qil avoit mestre de ses services et de luy, pur qe nous luy prisoms come nostre viliein, come list a nous. Jugement si etc. tort in nostre party par tiel reteignement puit assigner. Et nota, qil fist protestacion, qil ne conust pas qil fuit in le service le plaintiffe etc. Et nota, qe le servant dit auxi, qil fuit le villein le Master qi plede, et dit qil fuit distreint, et auxi les amis pur luy tanqe qil convensist par cohercion venir a ses Seigneours. Burt. Le servant est par attorney, qe ne puit par soun ple faire sans Master villein. Purqe ceo ple ne gist in soun bouche. Et non allocatur par Wilb. qi dit qe le ple nest pas al breve: car mesqe il fuit icy in propre persone, et voillet conustre qil fuit villein ce nabat pas vostre breve (le quel qil fuit frank ou villein) si vous poies maintenir qil fuit in vostre service, si ce ne fuit par autiel mattier (come il ad plede) ou autre semblable. Et puis le servant weyva, et dit qil ne fist pas covenant etc. Et alii e contra. Et nota, qe l'opinion fuit, qe si villein fuit chace et distreint de venir a son Seignour propre, qe ce luy excusera del' penance del l'estatut. Sed Burt. negavit, eo qe ce vient de sa folie qil voilleit faire covenant dautre servir, qant il fuit appris qil fuit autry villein. Et ideo quere. Qant al' plea le Master Burt. challange ceo qil navoit pas alleger qil fuit seisi de luy come de soun villein. Et non allocator par Wilb. Qui dit, sil soit soun villein, soun plee est assez fort: car seisi et nient seisi ne fera pas issue.Op. Curiae. Et sic nota. Puis Burt. dit que l'on allege est quil est soun villein regardant a soun manoire de C. nous dioms qe mesme le manoire fuit in le seisin un A. que infeffa le defendant de mesme le manoire; et dioms qe tout le temps que il fuit allant et walkant a large a sa frank volunte come frankhome, sans ce qil fuit unque seisi de luy in son temps, et cety qe ad l'estat A. ne fuit unques seisi de luy, tanques ore qil de soun tort demesne luy pris hors de nostre service. Purque nous nentendons pas que par tiel cause il nous puit ouster de nostre accord. Finch. Et nous Jugement, depuis qil ne dedit pas qil nest nostre villein de nostre manoire de C. et le quel nous fuit seisis de luy devant, ou non, ou nostre feffor seisi, etc. ou ce ne puit my estre a purpose: car il alast alarge, purtant ne fuit il enfranchy. Purque etc. Th. Si vostre feffor ne fuit unques seisi de luy, coment qil vous dona le manoire, jeo di que ce de que il navoit pas le possession ne puit pas vestir in vous. Purque etc. Jer. Villeins regardants al' manoires sont de droit al' Seignour de prendre les a sa volunte, et sil face don le manoire a un autre, a quel heur que l'autre les happa, il est asses bon. Th. Sir, uncre mesque il soit issint entre luy et le grantor ou le villein, nous qe sums estrange ne serrons pas ly purtant: car si home qi soit estrange veigne in pais, et demurges par xx ou xxx ans, et nul home met debat sur luy, ne luy claime come seruant, il list a moy de prendre soun service, et de luy recevoir in mon service pur le terme solonque nostre covenaunt: et il nest pas reason qe jeo soy perdant, depuis qe in moy default ne puit etre ajuge, causa ut supra. Gr. Per mesme le reason qe vous luy purrets retenir tanque al' fine de terme, si poit un autre: et sic de singulis, et sic in infinitum: issint le Seignour ouste de soun villein a toujours, et ce ne seroit pas reason. Puis Th. n'osa pas demurrer; mes dit qil ne fuit pas soun villein de soun manoire de C. Prest etc. Fiff. Ceo n'est pas respons:Op. Curiae. car coment qil nest pas soun villein del' manoire, etc. sil fuit soun villein in gros, asses suffist. Et non allocatur pur ce quel avoit traverse soun respons in le manere come ce fuit livere, etc.
Common Pleas Roll (Record Office).
[Trin. 29 E. III, r. 203, v. Oxon.]
Thomas Barentyn et Radulfus Crips Shephird attachiati fuerunt ad respondendum tam domino Regi quam Priori hospitalis Sancti Iohannis Ierusalem in Anglia quare, cum per ipsum dominum Regem et consilium suum pro communi utilitate regni Regis Anglie ordinatum sit, quod si aliquis seruiens in seruicio alicuius retentus ante finem termini concordati a dicto seruicio sine causa racionabili vel licencia recesserit, penam imprisonamenti subeat et nullus sub eadem pena talem in seruicio suo recipere vel retinere presumat, et predictus Thomas predictum Radulfum nuper seruientem predicti Prioris in seruicio suo apud Werpesgrave retentum qui ab eodem seruicio ante finem termini inter eos concordati sine causa racionabili et licencia predicti Prioris recessit, in seruicium predicti Thome quamquam memoratus Thomas de prefato Radulfo eidem Priori restituendo requisitus fuerit admisit et retinuit in Regis contemptum et predicti Prioris grave dampnum ac contra ordinacionem predictam. Et unde predictus Prior per Ricardum de Fifhide attornatum suum queritur quod cum per ipsum Regem et consilium suum etc. ordinatum sit quod si aliquis serviens in servicium alicuius retentus ante finem etc. a dicto seruicio sine causa etc. recesserit penam imprisonamenti subeat et nullus sub eadem pena talem in seruicio suo recipere vel retinere presumat, predictus Thomas predictum Radulfum nuper seruientem predicti Prioris in seruicio suo apud Werpesgrove retentum scilicet die Lune proxima post festum Sancti Laurentii anno regni domini Regis nunc Anglie vicesimo octavo ad deseruiendum ei in officio pastoris etc. scilicet die Lune in septimana Pentecostes a festo Sancti Michaelis Archangeli tunc proximo sequenti per unum annum proximum sequentem qui ab eodem seruicio ante finem termini ... recessit, in seruicium predicti Thome quamquam idem Thomas de prefato Radulfo eidem Priori restituendo requisitus fuerit admisit et retinuit in Regis contemptum et predicti Prioris grave dampnum ac contra ordinacionem etc. et predictus Radulfus a seruicio predicti Prioris ante finem sine causa etc. videlicet predicto die Lune in septimana Pentecostes recessit in Regis contemptum ad predicti Prioris grave dampnum ac contra ordinacionem etc. unde dicit quod deteriorates est et dampnum habet ad valenciam viginti librorum. Et inde producit sectam.
Et predicti Thomas et Radulfus per Stephanum Mebourum attornatum suum veniunt. Et defendunt vim et iniuriam quando etc. et quicquid etc. Et protestantur quod ipsi non cognoscunt quod predictus Radulfus fuit seruiens predicti Prioris nec retentus cum eodem Priore prout Prior superius versus eos narravit et predictus Thomas dicit quod predictus Radulfus est villanus suus ut de manerio suo de Chalgrave per quod ipse seisivit eundem Radulfum tanquam villanum suum prout ei bene licuit. Et hoc paratus est verificare unde petit iudicium si predictus Prior injuriam in persona sua assignare possit. Et predictus Radulfus dicit quod ipse est villanus predicti Thome ut de manerio predicto et quia idem Radulfus extra dominium predicti Thome morabatur parentes ipsius Radulfi districti fuerunt ad venire faciendum predictum Radulfum ad predictum Thomam dominum suum et ad eorum sectam et excitacionem idem Radulfus venit ad predictum Thomam absque hoc quod ipse retentus fuit cum predicto Priore ad deseruiendum ei per tempus predictum prout idem Prior superius versus eum narravit. Et de hoc ponit se super patriam. Et predictus Prior similiter. Et idem Prior quo ad placitum predicti Thome dicit quod predictus Radulfus non est villanus ipsius Thome ut de manerio suo predicto prout idem Thomas superius allegat. Et hoc petit quod inquiratur per patriam. Et predictus Thomas similiter. Preceptum etc.
III.
See p. 66, n. 2., and p. 78, n. 2.
The so-called Mirror of Justice is still in many respects an unsolved riddle, and a very interesting one, as it seems to me. The French edition of 1642 from which quotations are so frequently made presents a text perverted to such an extent, that the gentleman from Gray's Inn to whom we owe the English translation of 1648 took it upon himself to deal with his original very freely, and in fact composed a version of his own which turned out even less trustworthy than the French. Ancient MSS. of the work are very scarce indeed; the fourteenth century MS. at Corpus College, Cambridge, is the only one known to me; although there are also some transcripts of the seventeenth century. This means that the work had no circulation in its time. It is very unlike Bracton, or Britton in this respect, and indeed in every other. Instead of giving a more or less learned or practical exposition of the principles of Common Law it appears as a commentary written by a partisan, acrimonious in form, almost revolutionary in character, full of stray bits of information, but fanciful in its way of selecting and displaying this information. 'Wahrheit und Dichtung' would have been a proper title for this production, and no wonder that it has excited suspicion. It has commanded the attention of the present generation of scholars notwithstanding the odd way in which the author, Andrew Horne, or whoever he may be, cites as authority fictitious decisions given by King Alfred and by a number of legal worthies of Saxon times who never gave judgment save in his own fruitful imagination. This may be accounted for by peculiar medieval notions as to the manner in which legal discussion may be most efficiently conducted, but altogether the Mirror, as it stands, appears quite unique, quite unlike any other legal book of the feudal period. It must be examined carefully by itself before the information supplied by it can be produced as evidence on any point of English medieval history. Such an examination should lead to interesting results, but I must reserve it for another occasion. What I have said now may be taken simply as a reason for the omission in my text of those passages of the Mirror which bear on the question of villainage. I may be allowed to discuss these passages in the present Appendix without anticipating a general judgment on the character of the book and on its value.
The author of the Mirror shows in many places, that he is hostile not only to monarchical pretensions, but also to the encroachments of the aristocracy. He is a champion of the lower orders and gladly endorses every rule set up by the Courts 'in favour of liberty.' In this light he considers the action 'de nativitate' as conferring an advantage upon the defendant, the person claimed as a villain, but considered as free until the contrary has been proved[854]. Another boon consists in the fact, that the trial must be reserved for the decision of the Royal Courts and cannot be entertained in the County[855]. So far the Mirror falls in with the usual exposition of our Authorities—it takes notice of two facts which are generally recognised as important features in trying a question of status. But the Mirror does not stop there, but further formulates an assertion which cannot be considered as generally accepted in practice, though it may have emerged now and then in pleadings and even in decisions.
It is well known, that the main argument in a trial of villainage turned on the question of kinship. As Britton (pp. 205, 206, ed. Nichols) states the matter, we are led to suppose that the plaintiff had to produce the villain kinsmen of the person claimed, and the defendant could except against them. Glanville (v. 4) says, that both parties had the right to produce the kindred and in case of doubt or collision a jury had to decide. If the fact of relationship were established on both sides, it was necessary to see on which side the nearer relatives stood. Legal practice, so far as we can judge from the extant plea rolls, followed Glanville, although questions arising from these suits were much more varied and complicated than his statement implied. (See, for instance, Bracton's Note Book, 1041, 1167.) But in the Mirror we find the distinct assertion, that if the defendant in a case of 'nativity' succeeded in proving a free stem in any generation of his ascendants, this was sufficient to prove him free[856]. This connects itself with the view, that there can be no prescription against free blood, a view which, as we have seen in the text, was in opposition to the usual conception that people may fall into servitude in the course of several generations of debasement. The notion embodied in the Mirror was lingering, as it were, in the background.
In accordance with this liberal treatment of procedure, we find our author all in favour of liberty when treating of the ways by which bondage may be dissolved. He gives a very detailed enumeration of all such modes of enfranchisement, and at least one of his points appears unusual in English law. I mean his doctrine that a serf ejected from his holding by the lord becomes free, if no means of existence are afforded to him[857].
The motive adduced is worthy of notice by itself. 'Servus dicitur a servando,' a serf is a man under guardianship, like a woman in this respect[858], and so, if the guardian forgets his duty of taking care of his subject, he forfeits his rights. The Roman derivation 'a servando' is often met elsewhere, but instead of being applied to the bondman as a captive who has been kept alive instead of being slain, it is here made the starting point of a new conception and one very favourable to the bondman. It is not the only indication that the author of the Mirror had been speculating about the origin of servitude. By the law of nature all men are free, of course, but yet, says he, there exists by human law a class of men to whom nothing belongs, and who are considered as the property of other people: an anomaly which he guesses may possibly come from the time when Noah pronounced his malediction against Canaan, the son of Cham, or else from the defeat of Goliath by David[859].
It is curious too, and at first sight rather inconsistent, that our author sometimes speaks against those very serfs towards whom he seems, as a rule, so favourably disposed. He dwells on their disability, marks as an abuse that they are admitted to act in the courts without the help of their lords, although nothing can be owned by them[860], and, what is more, he insists on the necessity of their being excluded from the system of frank-pledge, which ought to be restricted entirely to free men[861]. All this seems rather strange at first, and certainly not in favour of liberty. It turns out, however, that these very qualifications are prompted by the same liberal spirit which we noticed from the first; they are suggested by a most characteristic attempt to draw a definite line between the serf and the villain.
The villain is no serf, in any sense of the word. He is a free man[862], his tenure is a free tenure[863]. He is enfeoffed of his land, with the obligation to till it, as the knight is enfeoffed of his fee in return for military service; the burgess enfeoffed of his freehold in the borough for a rent[864]. The right of ownership on the part of the villain is clearly recognised in the Great Charter, which prescribes the mode and extent of amercing villains, and thereby supposes their independent right of property, while the serf has nothing of his own, and could not be amerced in his own[865]. The author undoubtedly hits here on a point where the usual feudal theory had been discountenanced by statute: it was certainly difficult to maintain at the same time that the villain, as serf, had nothing but what had been precariously entrusted to him by the lord, and at the same time that he must suffer for misdeeds in the character of an owner. Strained in one sense the article of the Charter could be made to mean that, at the time of the Great Charter, there was no such thing as the civil disability of servitude in England. Strained in another sense suggested by the Mirror, it would lead to a standing distinction between villains, as owners, and serfs, as people devoid of civil rights. We know that legal practice preferred a compromise which was anything but consistent in point of doctrine, but, as I have said in my text, the notion of the civil right of the villain, and especially in his so-called wainage, seems to have been deep-rooted enough to counterbalance in some respects the current feudal doctrine.
It would have been difficult for the author of the Mirror to maintain that practice was in accordance with his theory; and he falls out of his part now and then, as, for instance, when he speaks of the enfranchisement of the serf from whom the lord had received homage in addition to fealty—this is a case clearly applying to villains as well as to those whom he calls serfs, and it is not the only time that he forgets the distinction[866]. But when his attention is not distracted by details he takes his ground on the assumption that the original rights of the villains were gradually falling into disuse through the encroachments of the stronger people. We even find in the Mirror that the villains ought to have the assise of novel disseisin as a remedy in case of dispossession. If they were oppressively made to render other than the accustomed services they had to resort to the writ, 'ne injuste vexes,' and it is a sign of bad times that they are getting deprived of it. Edward the Confessor took good care that the legal rights of the villains should not be curtailed[867]. It is needless again to point out that this view of villainage is well in keeping with the fundamental notion which I tried to bring out in my text, the notion, namely, that the law of villainage contained heterogeneous elements, and had been derived partly from the status of free ceorls.
IV.
[Coram Rege 10 Henry III, N. 26. m. 4. d.]
Assisa venit recognitura si Iohannes Cheltewynd iniuste etc. disseisiuit Willelmum filium Roberti de libero tenemento suo in Cheltewynd post ultimum etc. Et Iohannes venit et dicit quod non disseisiuit eundem Willelmum de aliquo libero tenemento quia villanus suus est et nullum habet liberum tenementum et quod Robertus pater suus fuit villanus. Et Willelmus dicit quod tenementum illud liberum est et quod Robertus pater suus libere tenuit de Ada patre Iohannis de Chetewod et per cartam quam profert in haec verba quod Adam de Chetwud concessit Roberto filio Wourami patri Willelmi et heredibus suis dimidiam virgatam terre cum pertinenciis in Chetwud in feodum et hereditatem tenendam de eodem Roberto et heredibus suis libere quiete cum omnibus consuetudinibus et libertatibus quas ceteri franci homines habent pro 26 denariis per annum reddendo pro omni servicio et pro omnibus rebus ad eum et heredes suos pertinentibus.
Et Iohannes bene cognoscit cartam illam et dicit quod idem Robertus fuit villanus patris sui et per pecuniam domini sui redemptus fuit a seruitute et quod antequam esset liberatus a servitute fuit idem Willelmus nativus, et petit judicium si per cartam quam pater suus ei fecerat debeat esse liber tempore Iohannis cum redemptus esset per pecuniam patris Iohannis et Robertus nichil proprium habuit cum esset villanus. Et dicit quod idem Willelmus non fuit nisi custos patris sui de eadem terra dum pater suus fuit alibi manens.
Post uenit Willelmus et retraxit se et ideo in misericordia Pauper est. Et Iohannes dat ei III marcas et Willelmus remanet etc. Ita quod idem Willelmus ibit quocumque uoluerit. Et Iohannes quietum clamauit Willelmum de omni seruitute.
V.
[De Banco Roll, Michaelmas, 15 Edw. II, m. 271.]
Abbas de Sancto Edmundo attachiatus fuit ad respondendum Rogero filio Willelmi Henri homini praedicti Abbatis de manerio de Mildenhale quod est de antiquo dominico corone Anglie etc. de placito quare exigit ab eo alias consuetudines et alia servicia quam facere debent et antecessores sui tenentes de eodem manerio facere consueverunt temporibus quibus manerium illud fuit in manibus progenitorum Regis quondam Regum Anglie contra prohibicionem Regis etc. Et unde idem Rogerus per Petrum de Elyngham attornatum suum dicit quod ipse et antecessores sui et quilibet tenens unum messuagium et quindecim acras terre cum pertinenciis in eodem Manerio sicut idem Rogerus tenet tempore quo Manerium illud fuit in manibus Sancti Edwardi Regis quondam Regis Anglie progenitoris Domini Regis nunc tenuit tenementa sua per fidelitatem et servicium inveniendi unum hominem ad tenendum vel fugandum carucam Domini singulis diebus anni quando caruce arare consueverunt tantum pro omni servicio et habere consuevit carucam Domini qualibet altera septimana singulis annis per diem Sabbati ad terram suam propriam arandam vel carucam illam aliis locandam et similiter sextam partem vesture unius acre ordei et medietatem vesture unius rode frumenti de melioribus tempore messis et prandium suum ad nonam singulis annis per sex dies in anno in aula Domini sumptibus ejusdem Domini scilicet in diebus Sancti Michaelis, Omnium Sanctorum, Natalis Domini, Purificacionis Beate Marie, Pasche et Pentecostes et oblacionem suam singulis annis per quatuor dies in anno scilicet in diebus Natalis Domini, Purificacionis Beate Marie, Pasche et Assumpcionis Beate Marie Virginis scilicet quolibet die unum denarium et per hujusmodi certas consuetudines et servicia ipse et omnes antecessores sui tenementa quae ipse modo tenet tenuerunt a tempore quo non exstat memoria usque ad tempus istius Abbatis quod idem Abbas praeter praedicta servicia exigit ab eo singulis vicibus quibus aliquis Abbas est de novo creatus finem ei praestandum pro capa sua ad voluntatem suam et pro filiis et filiabus suis maritandis et pro terris suis dimmittendis et pro ingressu habendo in hereditatem suam post obitum antecessoris sui finem similiter ad voluntatem suam ac idem Rogerus die Jovis proxima ante festum Apostolorum Simonis et Jude anno regni Domini Regis nunc quartodecimo apud Sanctum Edmundum in praesencia Thome de Wridervill Roberti Tillote Philippi de Wangeford Roberti de Lyvermere et aliorum liberasset praedicto Abbati breve Regis de prohibicione et ei inhibuisset ex parte Domini Regis ne idem Abbas exigeret ab eo alias consuetudines et alia servicia quam ipse et antecessores sui tenentes de eodem Manerio facere consueverunt temporibus quibus Manerium illud fuit in manibus progenitorum Regis quondam Regum Anglie. Idem Abbas spreta regia prohibicione praedicta nihilominus postmodum exigit ab eo praedicta superonerosas consuetudines et ad ea sibi facienda per graves et intollerabiles districciones distringit quominus terram suam excolere potest unde dicit quod deterioratus est et dampnum habet ad valenciam centum librarum. Et inde producit sectam etc.
Et Abbas per Willelmum de Bakeham attornatum suum venit. Et dicit quod non debet praedicto Rogero ad hoc breve nec ad aliquod aliud breve respondere. Quia dicit quod idem Rogerus est villanus ipsius Abbatis et villanus ecclesie sue Sancti Edmundi. Et quod ipse seisitus est de ipso tanquam de villano suo unde petit judicium etc. Et Rogerus dicit quod ipse est homo ipsius Abbatis de Manerio de Mildenhale quod est de antiquo dominico corone Anglie. Et quod Mildenhale sit de antiquo dominico Corone Anglie paratus est verificare per librum Domesday. Et super hoc inspecto libro praedicto comperta sunt in eodem verba subscripta.—Suffolk—Inter terras Stigandi quas Willelmus Denvers servat in manu Regis.—Lacforde Hundred. Mildenehalla dedit Rex Edwardus Sancto Edmundo et post tenuit Stigandus sub Sancto Edmundo in vita Regis Edwardi pro manerio xij carucate terre tunc et post xxx uillani modo xxxiij. Tunc viij. Bordarii post et modo xv. semper xvj. servi semper vj caruce in dominio et viij caruce hominum et xx acre prati ecclesia xl acrarum et j molendinum et iij piscaciones et dimidiam xxxj eque silvatice xxxvij averia et lx porci et Mille oves et viij socemanni xxx acrarum semper dimidia caruca. Huic iacet i bervita—Et quia ex verbis praedictis videtur Curie quod Mildenhale est de antiquo dominico corone etc. dictum est praedicto Abbati quod respondeat quod sibi viderit expedire etc.
Et Abbas dicit sicut prius quod praedictus Rogerus est villanus suus et ecclesie sue praedicte et quod ipse seisitus est de ipso ut de villano suo et quod ipse et omnes Abbates de Sancto Edmundo praedecessores ipsius Abbatis ex tempore quo non extat memoria seisiti fuerunt de ipso Rogero et antecessoribus suis ut de villanis suis talliando ipsos alto et basso pro voluntate sua et faciendo de ipsis praepositos et messores suos et capiendo ab eis merchetum pro filiis et filiabus suis maritandis et finem pro terris suis dimittendis et pro ingressu habendo in terris et tenementis post mortem antecessorum suorum ad voluntatem ipsorum Abbatum. Et hoc paratus est verificare etc.
Et Rogerus dicit sicut prius quod ipse est homo de antiquo dominico corone Anglie de praedicto Manerio de Mildenhale et quod ipse et omnes antecessores sui a tempore quo non exstat memoria tenuerunt tenementa sua praedicta de praedecessoribus praedicti Abbatis et de progenitoribus Domini Regis Regum Anglie quondam Dominis ejusdem Manerii per praedicta certa servicia et consuetudines in narracione sua superius contenta absque hoc quod praedecessores praedicti Abbatis fuissent seisiti de ipso Rogero aut antecessoribus suis ut de villanis suis talliando ipsos alto et basso vel faciendo de ipsis praepositos et messores aut capiendo de ipsis incertas consuetudines et servicia sicut praedictus Abbas dicit. Et hoc petit quod inquiratur per patriam. Et praedictus Abbas similiter Ideo praeceptum est Vicecomiti quod venire faciat hic a die Pasche in tres septimanas xij etc. per quos etc. et qui nec etc. ad recognicionem etc. Quia tam etc.
The Mildenhall trial just quoted may serve as an instance of litigation between lord and tenant of a manor in ancient demesne, when it took place before the Royal Courts. The Rolls of King's Ripton, Hunts, now published by Prof. F.W. Maitland, for the Selden Society, give an insight into the working of the Manorial Court itself when it had to decide between lord and tenant in a question of right (pp. 118 et sqq.). Jane the daughter of William of Alconbury claims eight acres of land against the Abbot of Ramsey, lord of the manor. He does not choose to answer at once and takes advantage of all the procrastinations usual in such matters. Three times he gets summoned and does not appear; the Court proceeds to distrain him and after three distraints he essoins himself three times before making up his mind to answer by attorney and to ask a view of the land. Pleadings follow in the usual course, and ultimately a sworn inquest has to decide on the question whether the plaintiff was of full age at the time of a transaction through which the land claimed came into the hands of the Abbot. The point is, that the lord of the Manor is placed entirely on the same footing in regard to the action of his tenant as any other suitor.
In 1296 an action of dower occurs between a certain Maud Grayling and a number of persons holding land within the manor. It is opened by a writ of right which is bound up with the roll, but has not been printed by Mr. Maitland as it does not contain anything of special interest. The beginning of this writ is typical—it does not mention the abbot, but only the bailiffs of the abbot: [Edwardus Dei gratia Rex Angliae] Dux Aquitaniae, Ballivis Abbatis de Rameseye de Riptone Regis Salutem. Precipimus vobis quod sine dilacione et secundum con[suetudinem manerii de Riptone Regis ple]num rectum teneatis Matildi que fuit uxor Hugonis Grayling de medietate sex messuagiorum sexaginta et qua[tuor acrarum] et unius rode [terre dimidia acra prati] cum pertinenciis in Riptone Regis, unde etc. (Court of Augmentation, Portf. XXIII, N. 94, r. 9). On pp. 100-104 Mr. Maitland gives the translation of two most valuable records of Monstraverunt in the Court of King's Bench between the men of King's Ripton and the Abbot. The suit is very similar to that of the men of Mildenhall; and indeed all these ancient demesne trials turn on the same points.
VI.
The Stoneleigh Register, in the possession of Lord Leigh, is certainly one of the most interesting surveys of a medieval manor extant, and gives a better insight into the condition of ancient demesne than any other document I know of. Its publication would be particularly desirable in the interests of social history. This compilation is indeed a late one, but it has been made with great care and evident accuracy from the original records which go back even to Henry II's time. One part is especially important, because it gives selections from the Court Rolls of the Manorial Court. An extract from the compiler's Introduction will show the nature and grouping of his material.
F. 2, a: In quorum primo libro agitur de generacione nobilium regum Anglie incipiendo modicum ante conquestum usque ad presens sumarie concepta. Et de possessionibus et graciis per eos nobis factis et collatis, tam in monasterio de Rademora quam in monasterio de Stonleya. Ac eciam de diversis memorandis consuetudinibus, placitis, feuffamentis, diuisionibus tenementorum in villa et hamelettis de Stonle. Et de bundis et peranbulacionibus dicti manerii de Stonle. Ac subsequenter de actis abbatum de Stonle a tempore fundacionis quod infra intitulabitur usque ad presens videlicet usque ad feriam quartam in festo Sancti Gregorii pape anno domini millesimo trecentesimo nonagesimo secundo, anno vero domini Regis Anglie Ricardi secundi post conquestum sexto decimo. In secundo libro continentur memoranda de villis de Hartone, Cobsitone.... Erdyngtone.... In tertio libro continentur diversa memoranda tam nos quam alios tangencia et alia informatiua abbatum iuniorum consilia racionabilia secundum antiquas consuetudines, extentas, computaciones per quas poterit a nociuis abstineri, videlicet in diuisionibus possessionum et aliis faciendis pro bono et conseruacione juris monasterii. In quarto libro summarie scribuntur copie diuersorum priuilegiorum et diuersarum composicionum decimarum et placitorum. Et de diuersis casibus et defensionibus super eisdem. Item in casu quo facta esset commissio alicui abbati a curia Romana et a generali capitulo.
The following passage is characteristic of the conception of ancient demesne: (4, a) Prefatus dominus Edwardus rex habuit in dominico suo iure hereditario manerium de Stonle cum membris, videlicet Kenilworth, Bakyngtone, Ruytone et Stratone, una cum aliis terris et maneriis. Que quidem maneria existencia in possessione et manu domini Regis Edwardi per universum regnum vocantur antiquum dominicum corone Regis Anglie prout in libro de Domusday continetur.
F. 21, a: Henricus Dei gracia Rex ... venire facias coram nobis Alexandrum de Canle ... et Hugonem le Seynsterer, ita quod sint apud Kenilworth in octabis Sti Edwardi ostensuri quo warranto subtraxerunt prefatis Abbati et Conventui quasdam consuetudines, libertates et jura ad Sokam de Stonle spectantes ... anno regis nostri quinquagesimo ... Et unde predictus Abbas pro se et Rogero Loueday qui sequitur pro Rege dicunt quod, cum manerium de Stonle fuit antiquum dominicum domini Regis ... quilibet tenens ipsius manerii unam virgatam terre consuevit reddere ipsi domino Regi per annum 30 denarios et facere sectam ad curiam suam de Stonle de tribus septimanis in tres ... predictus Alexander qui unam virgatam terre de antiquo et tres rodas de assarto tenet, de quibus reddit Roberto de Canle predictum redditum et 18 denarios pro predicta secta subtrahenda et pro predicto assarto denarium et obolum ... Predictus Robertus de Canle tenet duas virgatas terre pro 5 solidis et omnes tenentes predicti secundum tenuras suas detinent predicto Abbati predictas sectas pro quibus dictus Robertus de Canle capit a predictis tenentibus secundum tenuras [folio 22] suas, scilicet pro una uirgata 30 denarios et de maiori tenura plus et de minori minus. Et de totis assartis capit totum seruicium....
Et predictus Alexander Hugo et alii veniunt et defendunt vim et injuriam etc.... et bene cognoscunt, quod antecessores eorum tenuerunt tenementa sua in dicto hameletto de progenitoribus domini Regis per seruicium 30 denariorum pro virgata terre ... et bene cognoscunt quod ipsi reddunt predicto Roberto de Canle redditus suos, sed qualiter ipse uel antecessores sui huiusmodi seruicia perquisierint, ignorant.... Jurati ... per sacramentum suum dicunt, quod tempore Henrici Regis avi domini Regis nunc tenuerunt omnes.... faciendo inde domino Regi seruicia et consuetudines ad tenementa sua pertinentes. Quo tempore quidam Ketelburnus antecessor Roberti predicti et vicinus ipsorum tenencium qui tenuit de Rege sicut alii vicini sui, et quia predicti tenentes domini Regis fuerunt exiles in bonis et predictus Ketelburnus fuit maior et discrecior eis, locuti fuerunt cum ipso quod ipse colligeret redditum eorum et illum deferret pro eis ad curiam regis, tanquam per manum ipsorum. Et post mortem ipsius Ketelburni quidam heres ipsius Ketelburni accreuit et duxit in uxorem quandam sororem cuiusdam constabularii de castro de Kenilworth. Qui quidam heres ex permissione dicti constabularii atraxit ad se omnia servicia vicinorum suorum et reddidit antecessoribus domini Regis pro qualibet virgata dicte ville 30 denarios et fecit sectam pro eis ad curiam domini Regis. Et cepit pro secta predicta certum redditum et pro assartis predictis et ipsum redditum penes se retinuit ... [folio 23] Dicunt eciam quod idem Robertus de Canle coram iusticiariis domini Regis ultimo itinerantibus in comitatu isto tulit breve de natiuitate versus predictum Alexandrum Hugonem et alios et petiit eos, ut natiuos suos, et tunc ibidem declaratum fuit quod liberi fuerunt et ipse Ricardus remansit in misericordia. Unde dicunt, quod ipsi sunt adeo liberi penes se, sicut predictus Robertus penes se et tenere debent tenementa sua de domino Rege in capite.... Et ideo consideratum est, quod dominus Rex recuperet seysinam suam ... et predictus Alexander Hugo et alii sint intendentes domino Regi et balliuis suis uel illis quibus dominus Rex eos dare voluerit.... Item coram eisdem justiciariis inquisicio facta fuit per preceptum domini Regis quod ... tempore quo rex Henricus avus domini regis Henrici filii regis Johannis contulit abbati manerium de Stonle cum soka ... fuit idem Rex in seysina de toto manerio integro de Stonle ... et idem Abbas similiter in seysina ... quousque Petrus de Canle qui fuit collector redditus de Canle ad instanciam vicinorum suorum ad redditus illos deferendum domino Regi et pro eis soluendum, subtraxit a se per diuturnam colleccionem suam et per remissionem et negligenciam dominorum sine impedimento et calumpnia sectas, relevia, escaetas octo tenencium qui tenebant octo virgatas terre de domino Rege et postea de Abbate de Stonle [folio 23d] Anno regni Regis Henrici ... quinquagesimo primo ... Dominus Rex habuit seysinam dicti hameletti per duas ebdomadas et deinde dominus Rex per vicecomitem suum posuit prefatum Abbatem in plenam seysinam dicti hameletti de Stonle die Sti Clementis eodem anno ad magnam crucem ville de Stonle.
The Stoneleigh Register has the following entry on f. 12: Memorandum quod tempore fundacionis fuerunt in manerio de Stonle lx et xiij villani quatuor bordarii cum duobus presbyteris tenentes xxx carucatas terre prout continetur in libro de Domesday, fuerunt eciam tunc quatuor natiui siue serui in le lone (sic) quorum quilibet unum mesuagium et unum quartronem terre tenebat per servicia subscripta, videlicet leuando furcas ... et debebant ... redimere sanguinem suum et dare auxilium domino ad festum Sti Michaelis scilicet Ayde, et facere braseum et alia servicia seruilia, quorum nomina fuerunt Henricus Croud, cuius heres Iohannes Shukeburghe; secundus vocabatur Robertus Bedul, cuius heredes extincti sunt in prima pestilencia. Tercius fuit Galfridus Dore cuius eciam heredes extincti sunt in eadem pestilencia. Quartus fuit Robertus Stot qui eciam mortuus est sine herede. Fuerunt eciam quatuor liberi tenentes in villa de Stonle qui tenuerunt hereditarie quinque mesuagia et quinque virgatas terre cum pertinenciis de Rege in capite per seruicia sokemanrie, videlicet Paganus de Stonle qui tenuit duas virgatas terre, qui Paganus abavus fuit Iohannis de Stonle, patris Roberti le Eyr. Qui Iohannes de Stonle dedit unum quartronem terre Iuliane filie sue et Roberto Carteri marito dicte Iuliane, cuius heres est Iohannes Iulian. Dedit eciam prefatus Iohannes de Stonle cum alia filia sua Alicia nomine unum mesuagium et unum quartronem terre Roberto filio Reginaldi Baugy, marito ipsius Alicie et ipsorum heredibus. Qui Robertus et Alicia dederunt dictum tenementum Willelmo filio Roberti Staleworthe de Flechamstede et heredibus suis prout inferius pleniter continetur. Quorum heres est linealiter Willelmus Staleworthe qui modo ea tenet. Predictus vero Robertus le Eyr dedit omnia residua tenementi sui cum redditibus et seruiciis Ioanni Sparry et Iohanni Hockele approwatoribus Abbatis de Stonle. Et ipsi approwatores de licencia Domini Regis per breue ad quod dampnum predicta tenementa Roberti le Heyr dederunt Roberto de Hockele Abbati de Stonle et successoribus suis in perpetuum anno regni Regis Edwardi tercii post conquestum vicesimo....
Fuerunt eciam duo liberi tenentes in parva Sokemanria, qui tenuerunt hereditarie duo mesuagia et medietatem unius virgate terre cum pratio et pertinenciis de Rege in capite. Quorum heredes ea dederunt in feudo de licencia domini Abbatis Alexandro Lynburgh, Henrico Rachel, Ricardo Sheperde et Simoni Malyn. Et ipsi ea dederunt Iohanni Hockele approwatori Thome Pype Abbatis de Stonle. Qui abbas ipsa tenementa una cum aliis tenementis amortizauit per breue ad quod dampnum, prout in carta regia inferius contenta plenius apparet. Item fuerunt tenentes cottarii in predicta villa de Stonle tempore fundacionis Abbatii xxiv tenentes xxiv cotagia in villa de Stonle pro certis redditibus.
In the description just quoted the greater bulk of the tenants is described as villains according to the terminology of Domesday and only a few (six in all) are said to be free socmen and little socmen. But a remarkable passage on the constitution of the Court and the rights and duties of its suitors describes these very villains as socmen.
F. 73. Curia de Stonle ad quam Sokemanni faciebant sectam solebat ab antiquo teneri super montem iuxta uillam de Stonle vocatam Motstowehull. Ideo sic dicta quia ibi placitabant. Sed postquam Abbates de Stonle habuerunt dictam Curiam et libertatem pro aysiamento tenencium et sectatorum fecerunt domum Curie in medio Ville de Stonle. Ad quam curiam veniunt et sectam faciunt omnes sokemanni manerii de Stonle de tribus septimanis in tres. Et quilibet eorum tenens unam virgatam terre solvet domino annuatim 30 denarios, scilicet unum denarium per acram quia quelibet virgata continet 30 acras et non plus. Et in quolibet hameletto manerii sunt 8 virgate terre. Et si quod amplius habent, hoc utique habent de approvacione et assartacione vastorum. Item quodlibet hamelletum dabit domino sextam porcionem ad communem finem bis per annum ad curiam visus franciplegii. Ad quem finem prefati socemanni sectatores curiae nihil solvent sed inferiores tenentes, nisi in casu quod deficiant tenentes inferiores. Item prefati sokemanni in obitibus suis dabunt herietum integrum, scilicet unum equum et hernesium et arma si habuerint. Sin autem melius averium integrum quod habuerint. Et quilibet heres patri succedens debet admitti ad hereditatem suam anno etatis sue quintodecimo et solvet domino releuium, scilicet dupplicabit redditum suum. Et dabit iudicia cum aliis paribus suis sokemannis. Et erit prepositus colligendo redditum domini quando eligetur per pares suos. Et debet respondere brevibus et omnia alia facere ac si plene esset etatis per legem communem. Item Sokemanni habebunt in forinsecis boscis manerii per visum forestariorum estoverium, scilicet.... Et omnes tenentes Sokemannorum simul cum tenentibus domini venient cum faucillis ad bederipam domini ad metendum blada domini. Et ipsi etiam Sokemanni venient ad ipsam bederipam equitantes cum virgis suis ad videndum quod bene operantur, et ad praesentandum et ad amerciandum deficientes et male operantes. Et si non venerint ad dictam bederipam in forma predicta, debent graviter amerciari.
In the Warwickshire roll (Queen's Remembrancer's Miscellaneous Books, N. 29) villains are mentioned, but only exceptionally and in very small number. It looks as if they represented that class of the tenantry which in the Register is described as servi vel nativi. It would be out of the question to print here the detailed account of the distribution and character of the holdings given in the Hundred Roll—this must be left to the future editor of that document. But I may say here, that the holdings are much scattered, and that it would be difficult to trace the original plan mentioned in the Register. Still the division into principal tenants, mesne tenants, and cotters is clearly discernible, and the principal tenants are called free in the manor itself as well as in the hamlets. In two cases they are also spoken of as socmen.
VII.
[County Placita, Norfolk, No. 5, 21 Ed. III.]
Edwardus Dei gracia Rex Anglie et Francie et Dominus Hibernie Thesaurariis et Camerariis suis salutem. Volentes certis de causis cerciorari super tenore recordi et processus loquele que fuit inter Willelmum de Narwegate et quosdam alios homines Rogeri Bygod nuper Comitis Norfolk de Manerio de Haluergate quod est de antiquo dominico corone Anglie ut dicitur, et ipsum comitem coram Domino E. nuper Rege Anglie auo nostro anno regni sui vicesimo primo per breve ejusdem aui nostri de eo quod idem Comes ostenderet quare a praefatis hominibus exigebat alias consuetudines et alia seruicia quam facere deberent et ipsi et antecessores sui tenentes de eodem Manerio facere consueverunt temporibus quibus Manerium illud fuit in manibus progenitorum nostrorum quondam Regum Anglie, vobis mandamus quod scrutatis rotulis praefati aui nostri de tempore praedicto qui sunt in thesauraria nostra sub custodia vestra (ut dicitur) tenorem recordi et processus praedictorum nobis in Cancellaria nostra sub sigillo scaccarii nostri sine dilacione mittatis et hoc breve. Teste Leonello filio nostro carissimo Custode Anglie apud Redyng vi die Julii anno regni nostri Anglie vicesimo primo regni vero nostri Francie octavo.
Placita coram Domino Rege de termino Sancti Michaelis. Anno regni Regis Edwardi filii Regis Henrici xxj finiente incipiente xxiio.
Rogerus Bygod Comes Norfolk et Marescallus Anglie attachiatus fuit ad respondendum Willelmo de Narwegate, Henrico filio Simonis de Culyng, Thome filio Henrici de Haluergate, Ricardo atte Howe, Roberto Sewyne et Ricardo filio Henrici Margerie hominibus praedicti Rogeri le Bygod de Manerio de Haluergate quod est de antiquo dominico corone Anglie de placito quare exigit a praefatis Willelmo de Narwegate et aliis alias consuetudines et alia seruicia quam facere debent et antecessores sui tenentes de eodem Manerio facere consueverunt temporibus quibus Manerium illud fuit in manibus praedecessorum Regis Regum Anglie. Et unde queruntur cum antecessores sui tenentes de eodem Manerio tempore Domini Willelmi Regis Conquestoris quando praedictum Manerium fuit in manum suam tenuerunt tenementa sua per certa seruicia videlicet pro qualibet acra terre quam in eodem Manerio tenuerunt duos denarios per annum et qui plus tenuerunt plus dederunt et sectam ad Curiam Regis in eodem Manerio de tribus septimanis in tres septimanas et quando aliquis eorum in Curia praedicta pro aliqua transgressione esset amerciandus per sex denarios tantum amerciatus esse debet, et similiter per dupplicacionem firme sue minoris vel majoris post mortem antecessorum suorum et solent talliari quando Dominus Rex talliare fecit dominia sua Anglie pro omni seruicio et per praedicta certa seruicia terras et tenementa sua tenuerunt a tempore Regis Willelmi praedicti usque ad tempus Domini Henrici Regis patris Domini Regis nunc, quod Rogerus Bygod antecessor praedicti Rogeri qui nunc est ab eis et antecessoribus suis alias consuetudines et alia seruicia exigebat et ad ea facienda distrinxit videlicet pro qualibet acra quam in praedicto Manerio tenuerunt quatuor denarios per annum et tallagium alto et basso cariagium aueragium et merchettum pro filiis et filiabus suis maritandis et de eisdem propositum faciendum iniuste et pro voluntate sua distrinxit. Et praedictus Rogerus Bygod qui nunc est illam iniuriam continuando a praefatis Willelmo et aliis praedicta seruicia villana et incerta exigit et eos ad ea facienda distringit et inde producunt sectam etc.
Et praedictus Rogerus Bigod venit et defendit vim et iniuriam quando etc. Dicit quod praedicti Willelmi et alii non debent ad breve suum respondere. Dicit enim quod ipsi in brevi suo dicunt se esse homines ipsius Rogeri de Manerio praedicto et tenentes de eodem Manerio qui quidem Willelmus et alii non sunt homines ipsius Rogeri de Manerio praedicto nec fuerunt die inpetracionis brevis sui videlicet xij die Maij Anno regni Regis nunc xxjo nec eciam aliqua tenementa tenent in praedicto Manerio nec tenuerunt die praedicto nec antea per magnum tempus unde petit iudicium etc.
Et praedictus Willelmus de Narwegate dicit quod ipse est homo praedicti Comitis de Manerio praedicto et tenet in eodem Manerio unum Messuagium unum croftum et dimidiam acram Marisci et tenuit die impetracionis brevis praedicti. Et Thomas filius Henrici dicit quod ipse est homo praedicti Comitis et tenet in praedicto Manerio unum messuagium et octo acras marisci et tenuit die praedicto etc. Et de hoc ponunt se super patriam. Et praedictus Comes similiter. Ideo veniant inde Jurati coram Rege a die Sancti Hillarii in xv dies ubicumque etc. Quia tam etc. Et praedicti Henricus Ricardus atte Howe Robertus et Ricardus filius Henrici dicunt quod reuera ipsi iam viginti annis elapsis inpetrauerunt quoddam breve consimile etc. tempore quo ipsi fuerunt homines ipsius Comitis et tenentes de Manerio praedicto coram Domino Rege versus praedictum Comitem et ab illo tempore usque nunc illud placitum sine interrupcione sunt prosecuti ita quod si aliquod breve amiserunt medio tempore statim breve consimile resussitauerunt. Unde dicunt quod si praedictus Comes pendente praedicto placito et diligenter prosecuta quod eis pro uno placito et pro uno et eodem brevi debeat reputari ipsos a tenementis suis in eodem Manerio eiecit homines ipsos nunc ab agendo repellere non debet. Et quod ita sit etc. offerunt verificare etc. tam per placita que secuntur Dominum Regem quam per placita de Banco etc. et eciam per placita ultimi itineris Salomonis de Roffa in comitatu Norffolk etc. Et praedictus Rogerus Comes etc. dicit quod praedicti Henricus Ricardus, Robertus et Ricardus non continuauerunt placitum suum praedictum sine interruptione in forma praedicta etc. et hoc offert etc. Ideo mandatum est Thesaurariis et Camerariis etc. quod scrutatis brevibus et rotulis de placitis que sequuntur Dominum Regem a die praedicto usque ad festum Sancti Michaelis anno regni Regis nunc xijo et eciam brevibus et rotulis de itinere praedicti Salomonis. Et similiter mandatum est Elye de Bekyngham quod scrutatis rotulis et brevibus de tempore Thome de Weylaund etc. que sunt sub custodia sua etc. Et quid inde etc. scire faciant Domino Regi a die Pasche in xv dies ubicumque etc. Idem dies datus est partibus etc. Ad quem diem venit praedictus Comes et praedicti Henricus filius Simonis, Ricardus atte Howe, Robertus Sewyne et Ricardus filius Henrici non sunt prosecuti. Ideo ipsi et plegii sui de prosequendo in misericordia videlicet Adam atte Gates, Henricus de Blafeld et Eustachius Hose de eadem. Et praedictus Comes inde sine die etc. Postea in octabis Sancti Hillarii Anno regni regis nunc vicesimo quarto venerunt praedicti Willelmus de Narugate et Thomas filius Henrici et praedictus Rogerus Bygod venit et similiter Jurati venerunt qui dicunt super sacramentum suum quod praedicti Willelmus et Thomas praedictis die et anno non fuerunt homines praedicti Comitis neque tenentes de praedicto Manerio. Ideo consideratum est quod praedicti Willelmus et Thomas nichil capiant per breve suum set sint in misericordia pro falso clamio. Et praedictus Rogerus Comes inde sine die etc.
[In dorso:]
Memorandum quod tenor recordi et processus infrascripti exemplificatus fuit sub magno sigillo Domini Regis sub hac forma videlicet. Edwardus Dei gracia Rex Anglie et Francie et Dominus Hibernie Omnibus ad quos etc. salutem. Inspeximus tenorem recordi et processus cuiusdam placiti quod fuit coram Domino E. quondam Rege Anglie auo nostro anno regni sui vicesimo primo inter Willelmum de Norwegate et quosdam alios et Rogerum Bygod nuper Comitem Norfolk quem coram nobis in Cancellaria nostra venire facimus in hec verba Placita coram Domino Rege etc. recitando totum tenorem praedictum usque in finem et tunc sic Nos autem tenorem recordi et processus praedictorum tenore praesencium duximus exemplificandum. In cuius etc. Teste Leonello filio nostro carissimo Custode Anglie apud Redyng xx die Julii anno regni nostri Anglie vicesimo primo regni vero nostri Francie octauo que quidem brevia non irrotulantur aliter quam hic inseritur.
VIII.
[Exch. Memoranda Q.R. 20 Edw. I, Trin. m. 21 d.]
Baronibus pro hominibus de manerio de Costeseye.
Rex mittit Baronibus peticionem hominum manerii de Costeseye presentibus inclusam mandantes, quod audita intellecta et diligenter examinata peticione predicta de diversis gravaminibus et iniuriis per preceptum baronum et per Ricardum Athelwald de Crek ballivum eiusdem manerii eisdem hominibus multipliciter illatis, predictis hominibus iusticie complementum inde exhiberi faciatis prout de iure et secundum legem et consuetudinem regni Anglie fuerit faciendum Ne oporteat ipsos homines ad Regem iterato habere recursum ex causa praedicta. Teste Rege apud Enleford VII die Maii XXo.
Peticio hominum de manerio de Costeseye. A nostre Seignur le Rey e a sun conseil se pleynent les pours genz le Rey de la basse tenure de le maner de Costeseye ce est a sauer de la foreyn sokne com de Colton, Eston, Hiningham, Thodeham, Rongelsunde, Weston, Tauerham, Berford, Wramplingham et Dunholt ke Richard de Crek bailif le Rey del maner avantdit a tort lur greve e distreynt e lur met hors de lur usages en dreyt de lur tenaunce uses del tens memore ne curt. Ce est a sauer par la ou memes cele genz sa en arere en les tens les cuntes de Bretayne, e en le tens le Rey Johan e le Rey Henri ke deus asoile e en le tens nostre Seignur le Rey Edward ke deu gard e de tuz iceus a queus le maner avaunt dit a este done ou lesse a la volunte de Reys avaunt nomes pur ke le Cunte de Bretayne e le viscunte de Dohay mesnes le maner forfirent, unt vendu, done e lesse lur terres champestres per aper (?) saunz conge demaunder en curt, forpris lur mes e lur croftes, la vient mesme celuy Richard bailif auant nome e lur terres saunz conge venduz per aper (?) ad seysi a greuuesement les ad amercie pur les tenemenz issi uendus solonc les usages de lur tenaunce. Estre ce memes celuy Richard a tort greve e distreint les genz auaunt nomes pur office de prouosterie e de coylure (collector) ne ils ne deyuent estre ne soleyent, mes les viles de Costeseye et de Banburg seruent et deyuent servir de tel office pur lur tenaunce charge de tel seruise. E priunt la grece lur seignur le Rey ke il voyle fere enquere par pais si le plest coment ils deyuent tenir e ke la duresse fete a eus par le bailif auant dit seit redresse. Estre ce les poure genz auant nomes sunt mut enpoureriz pur un taylage voluntref ke le bailif Alianor Reyne de Engletere la mere nostre seignur le Rey ke deus asoile nut pris a tort de an en an ce est a sauer xx markes de hom apele communage ke auaunt sun tens ne fut donc mes a la premere venue de nouel signur une conisaunce de Cs. cum fu done a nostre seignur le Rey Edward kant le maner li fu done forpris les viles de Costeseye e de Banburg ke sunt taylables haut e bas a la volunte le Rey cum costemers del maners. Pur ce est ke les paure genz auaunt nome priunt la grace nostre seignur le Rey si le plest pur le regard de pite ke il empreynt pite de eus e lur face suffrir lur usages del tens dunc memore ne curt e grace del torteuus taylage pur le quel il sunt mut empoairiz.
IX.
[Augmentation Court Rolls, XIV. 38.]
(Havering atte Bower, Essex.)
Curia ibidem tenta die Iouis proxima ante festum S. Iohannis ante portam latinam anno r. r. Ricardi Secundi post Conquestum vicesimo. Ricardus Rex Ballivis Thome Archiepiscopi Ebor et Edwardi comitis de Hauering atte Boure. Precipio vobis quod sine dilatione et secundum consuetudinem manerii de Hauering atte Boure plenum rectum teneatis Roberto Merston de London et Ricardo Quylter de Hauering etc.
Hec est finalis concordia facta in curia Thome archiepiscopi Cantuar et Edwardi Comitis Roteland apud Hauering atte Boure—coram Ricardo Wytl ... tunc senescallo et Ricardo Wylde tunc ballivo et aliis domini Regis fidelibus tunc ibi presentibus inter etc.
Curia Thome Archiepiscopi Cantuarensis et Edwardi Comitis Roteland tenta ibidem die Iouis proxima ante festum S. Bartholomaei apostoli anno r. r. Ricardi Secundi post conquestum vicesimo primo.
Inquisicio ex officio coram Ricardo Wythmerssh senescallo de Haueryng atte Boure per sacramentum Walteri Herstman——juratorum qui dicunt supra sacramentum suum quod Alicia Dyere que de domino Rege tenuit duas acras terre in marisco obiit seisita. Et quod Thomas de Donne filius predicte Alicie est eius heres propinquior et plene etatis, ideo preceptum seisire dictam terram in manus domini et respondere de exitu quali etc. Item dicunt quod idem Thomas ingressus est feodum domini videlicet unum mesuagium cum pertinentiis in Romford quod habuit ex dono et feofamento Iohannis Cole ideo preceptum ipsum distringere pro fidelitate et relevio etc. Item predicta Inquisitio onerata super sacramentum suum si aliquis homo nativus de sanguine ingressus fuerit feodum domini nec ne et quantum feodum illud valeat per annum dicit quod non est aliquis homo nativus de sanguine ingressus feodum domini. Set dicunt quod est quidam Iohannes Shillyng qui sepius dictus fuerat fore nativus. Et dicunt ultra quod quidam Iohannes Shillyng pater predicti Iohannis fuit alienigena et quod predictus Iohannes Shillyng quo ad eorum cognitionem est liber et libere conditionis et non nativus. Item prefata inquisitio dicit quod Robertus Clement de London Sadelere ingressus est feodum domini videlicet unum mesuagium cum pertinenciis in Romford quod habuit ex dono et concessione Iohannis Cole Taillor ideo preceptum ipsum distringere pro fidelitate et relevio etc.
Item dicunt quod quidam homo veniens in comitiva domini Regis dimisit quemdam equum in hospicio Iohannis atte Heth et cepit ibidem unum alium equum etc. et dimisit predictum equum ibidem stare per unum mensem absque aliquid clamando de predicto equo ideo preceptum dictum equum seisire ad opus domini Regis et inde Regi respondere.
Curia ibidem tenta die Iouis proxima post festum S. Martini anno r. r. Ricardi secundi post conquestum vicesimo primo.
Compertum est per inquisicionem ex officio captam per sacramentum Thome Olyuere ... Qui dicunt super sacramentum suum quod quidam Iohannes Pecok quondam tenuit unam peciam terre in marisco vocatam Wattiscroft pro qua quidem terra reparabat et reparare tenebatur quoddam murum in marisco erga Tamisiam in defensum aque inundantis. Et idem Iohannes Pecok de terra predicta obiit seisitus. Et quod quidam Iohannes filius predicti Iohannis Pecok est eius heres propinquus. Et dicunt quod predictus murus est wastatus pro defectu reparacionis ita quod aque Tamisie inundans superfluit murum predictum et demergit mariscum predictum ad grave dampnum domini Regis et tenencium suorum.
Et predictus Iohannes filius Iohannis Pecok in propria persona sua dicit quod non supponitur per presentacionem predictam quod terra predicta vocata Wattiscroft prefato Iohanni filio predicti Iohannis Pecok descendebat post mortem Iohannis Pecok patris sui nec quod predictus Iohannes filius Iohannis Pecok aliquo tempore fuit tenens terre predicte vocate Wattiscroft. Et si videtur Curie quod protestacio est sufficiens, etc. dicit per protestacionem quod ipse non fuit heres predicti Iohannis Pecok patris sui tempore mortis sue, etc. Et ulterius protestando dicit quod predicta terra vocata Wattiscroft tenetur ad communem legem. Et ulterius dicit pro placito quod ipse numquam habuit poscessionem manualem de terra predicta set dicit quod quidam Iohannes Harwere post decessum predicti Iohannis patris sui et longo tempore ante inquisicionem predictam captam intravit in terram predictam ad usum cujusdam Iohannis Selman ... Et dictum est pro domino Rege quod predictus Iohannes filius predicti Iohannis Pecok fuit tenens terre predicte die quo inquisicio predicta capta fuit. Et petitum est per dominum Regem quod inquiratur per patriam. Et pro predicto Iohanne filio, etc. similiter. [Jurati] dicunt super sacramentum suum quod predictus Iohannes Pecok vivente predicto Iohanne patre suo occupavit predictam terram vocatam Wattiscroft per voluntatem patris sui et cepit inde exitus et proficua. Et postea predictus Iohannes Pecok pater, etc. obiit post cujus mortem predictus Iohannes filius, etc. intrauit ut filius et heres et terram predictam ocupavit et inde cepit exitus proficua, etc. Et dicunt quod est eorum consuetudo quod nullus homo adquireret sibi aliquam terram in marisco que oneratur ex reparacione alicuius muri in marisco erga Tamisiam nisi haberet sufficientem tenuram in eodem dominio extra mariscum que poterit portare omnes reparaciones illius muri in marisco quum necesse fuerit. Et dicunt esciam quod Iohannes Selman non fuit tenens terre predicte vocate Wattiscroft die quo officium predictum captum fuit set quod predictus Iohannes filius, etc. terram predictam occupavit usque in diem quo predictum officium captum fuit. Et dicunt quod est ad dampnum domini Regis quod murus predictus non fuit reparatus predicto die, etc. de triginta et octo solidis uno obolo.
Curia ibidem tenta die Iouis in festo S. Iohannis Apostoli et Evangeliste anno r. r. Ricardi post Conquestum vicesimo primo.
Dominus Rex mandauit breue suum clausum Ballivis Edwardi Ducis Albemarle de Haueryng atte Boure ... Precepimus vobis quod sine dilacione et secundum consuetudinem manerii de Haueryng atte Boure plenum rectum teneatis Ricardo filio Iohannis Legati de uno mesuagio viginti et octo acris terre et una acra prati cum pertinenciis, etc.... Et predictus Ricardus invenit plegios ad prosequendum breue predictum ... Et fecit protestacionem ad sequendum breue predictum in natura breuis de convencione. Virtute cuius brevis preceptum Ballivo quod summonere faciat per bonos summonitores secundum consuetudinem manerii de Haueryng atte Boure, etc....
Curia tenta ibidem die Iouis proxima ... vicesimo tercio.
Dominus Rex mandauit breue suum clausum Ballivis suis de Haueryng atte Boure.
Curia ibidem tenta die Iouis proxima ante festum S. Laurencii martiris anno r. r. Ricardi secundi post conquestum vicesimo tercio....
Ricardus Dei gratia Rex Anglie ... Ballivis suis de Haueryng, etc.
Hec est finalis concordia facta in curia domini Regis de Haueryng atte Boure die Iouis ... coram Ricardo Withmerssh tunc senescallo et Iohanne Bokenham tunc Balliuo et aliis domini Regi fidelibus tunc presentibus inter W., etc.
X.
Exchequer Q.R. Ancient Miscellanea.
902/77 (No date, about 1300.)
Inquisitio:Will's FrereWalt's MichelJoh'es Broket
Rob's DiaconusElias de LeyesThomas Coker
Rob's SnellyngElias PanyWill's Hardyng
Joh'es LongusGodefrid' NewmanWill's Walysce
Joh'es Ordmar
Qui dicunt subscripta per sacramentum suum.
Maur' ate Neuthon' Estrelda man' apud Machynge Agnes
Joh'es Rotlonde man' London'. Walt's Rotlonde Thomas Rotlonde
Joh'es Rotlonde
Joh'es Pany
Will's Pany
Will's Pany Ric's Pany
Nativus— Nich's ate Neuthon' Elias Pany—modo tenens
Agnes Pany
Simon ate Neuthon'..nullus ab eo.
Ric's le Couper
Thomas le Couper Simon le Couper
Joħes le Couper
Isabella la Couper
Joh'es Bate..Walt's ate Neuthon'—modo tenens
Cristina..Will's
Pater extraneus ignotus adhuc propter diurnitatem temporis Wymarks..nullus ab eo
Joh'es WoderoveGalfr's Woderove Will's Woderove
.. n.
n.
Will's Vaccarius..nullus ab eo
Steph's Pistor
Will's Pistor
Will's Pistor Rog's Pistor
Joh'es Pistor
Cristina Pistor
Isabella
Nativus— Rog's ate Neuthon' Cristina ate Neuthon'..nullus ab eo (sic)
Joh'es Broket
Agnes ate Neuthon' Joh'es Broket Junior
Matild' Broket
Isabella Broket
Agnes Broket
Nativus— Alanus ate Hache..nullus ab eo
Ric's ate Hache Junior
Nich's ate Hache
Rog's ate Hache
Will's ate Hache
Will's ate Hache
Adam ate Hache Will's ate Hache
Joh'es ate Hache
Alic' ate Hache
Nativus— Rog's ate Hache Matild' ate Hache
Editha la Daye Emmot' ate Hache
Marger' ate Hache
Matild' ate Hache..nullus ab eo
Orgor' ate Hache..nullus ab eo
Will's ate Broke
Walt's ate Broke
Walt's ate Broke
Ranulfus ate Broke Ric's ate Broke—London'
Cristin' ate Broke
Matild' ate Broke
Agnes ate Broke
Walt's ate Hache
Nativus— Walterus Mathy
Matheus ate Broke Will's Mathy
Agnes Mathy
Emmot' Mathy
Mathild' ate Broke..nullus ab ea.
XI.
The best way to form an opinion as to the position of the hundredors among other classes will be, I think, to start from a closer examination of the Ely Surveys, which give the term several times. They are peculiar in this respect, and only in this. A comparison with other Cartularies will show at once, that the same thing is to be found elsewhere over and over again.
Both Ely Surveys—that of 1222 (Tiberius, B. ii) and that of 1277 (Claudius, C. xi)—are remarkably alike, and may serve as an illustration of the continuity of the fundamental organisation of a feudal village. I shall take the later Cartulary because it is a trifle fuller, and coincides in time with the Hundred Rolls. It would not be sufficient to give only the entries relating to the hundredors, because the reader would not be able to judge of their position in relation to other classes. I may be allowed in consequence to present rather large extracts.
In the manor of Wilburton belonging to the Ely Minster we find the following classification of the tenantry[868] [f. 49 sqq.]
De hundredariis. Et libere tenentibus.
Philippus de insula tenet 16 acras de mara et debet sectas ad curiam Elyensem et ad curiam de Wilbartone, et in quolibet hundredo per totum annum. Et dat ad sixþepany et wardpany, et arabit cum caruca sua per duos dies in hyeme et habebit quolibet die unum denarium. Et arabit in XLma per 2 dies et habebit quolibet die unum denarium.... Et inveniet omnes tenentes suos ad magnam precariam autumpni ad cibum episcopi. Et dabit pro filia sua.
Ricardus filius Rogeri tenet 12 acras de ware et debet sectas ... (the same as Philip). Et dabit leirwite pro filia sua et gersumam cum ipsam maritare uoluerit, scilicet 30 et 2 den. Et tallagium cum aliis. Et de herieto meliorem bestiam uel 30 et 2 denarios, si non habeat bestiam. Oues sue non iacebunt in faldo domini....
De operariis et plenis terris.
Samson filius Jordani tenet 12 acras terre de Wara que faciunt unam plenam terram ... Et sciendum quod tota villata, tam liberi quam alii, debent facere 40 perticatas super calcetum de Alderhe sine cibo et opere.
In Lyndon the division of the tenantry is somewhat more complex [f. 52 sqq.].
De militibus.
Philippus de insula tenet tres carucatas in Hinegeton per seruicium unius militis. Et sciendum quod omnes tenentes sui ibidem debent uenire ad precariam carucarum episcopi cum quanto iungant per duos dies in hyeme et per 2 dies in XLma ... Et dominus Philippus de Insula debet sectam ad curiam Elyensem. Et ad curiam de Lyndon, in aduentu senescalli.
Nigellus de Cheucker tenet 2 carucatas terre per seruicium unius militis cum terra sua de Harefeud ... Et liberi tenentes sui qui tenent per soccagium debent unam sectam ad frendlese hundred, scilicet ad diem sabbati proximum post festum Sti Michaelis.
De hundredariis.
Robertus de Aula tenet 40 acras terre de wara per seruicium sequendi curiam Elyensem. Et quodlibet hundredum et curiam de Lyndon.... Et ueniet ad precarias cum caruca sua ... Et inueniet omnes tenentes suos ad magnam precariam episcopi in autumpno ad cibum domini. Et ipsemet ibit ultra eos eo die. Et habebit cibum suum similiter cum balliuis domini. Et ueniet coram justiciariis ad custum suum proprium ... Et sciendum quod iste et quilibet hundredarius dabit gersumam pro filia sua maritanda, scilicet 32 denarios. Et dominus episcopus habebit meliorem bestiam de domo sua pro herietto siue 32 denarios, si bestiam non habuerit et operabitur super calcetum de Alderhe sine cibo pro se et tenentibus suis.
Galfridus le Sokeman tenet 12 acras et dimidiam de wara....
De consuetudinariis qui vocantur Molmen.
Patrik filius Henrici le frankeleyn tenet 10 acras terre in hylle pro duobus solidis ... Et ueniet ad precariam carucarum cum caruca sua uel cum quanto iungit ... Et debet sectas ad curiam de Lyndon ... Et dabit gersumam pro filia sua maritanda ad voluntatem domini. Et in obitu suo dominus habebit meliorem bestiam domus pro hereto uel triginta duos denarios, si bestiam non habuerit. Et dabit tallagium. Et filius suus et heres dabit releuium.
De operariis qui tenent plenas terras.
Radulfus filius Osbern tenet unam plenam terram que continet 10 acras de wara.
The next survey is that of Dudington (f. 63 sqq.).
De libere tenentibus et hundredariis in Dudlingtone et Wimblingtone.
(The typical hundredor is made to pay merchet, leyrwite, and heriet as above.)
De consuetudinibus censuariorum in Dudingtone.
Radulfus filius Willelmi tenet unum mesuagium quod continet dimidiam acram pro 12 denariis.... Et dabit gersumam pro filia sua et leyrwite ad voluntatem domini. Et dupplicabit redditum suum pro suo releuio.
De consuetudinibus operariorum in Dudington.
(They hold 'full lands' of 12 acres, and perform all kinds of agricultural work.)
If we turn now to the Survey of Wyvelingham (f. 111 sqq.), we shall not find the heading 'hundredarii,' but it will not be difficult to discern the tenants who correspond to the hundredors of the former Surveys.
De libere tenentibus.
Henricus Torel tenet dimidiam virgatam terre pro decem et octo denariis equaliter. Et ueniet in autumpno ad magnam precariam domini cum omnibus hominibus suis quot habuerit laborantes ad cibum domini. Et dabit tallagium si dominus voluerit. Et gersumam pro filia sua. Et debet sectam curie et molendini. Et ibit cum aliis extra uillam ad districtiones faciendum.
Willelmus Nuncius tenet dimidiam virgatam pro 18 denariis equaliter. Et faciet omnia alia sicuti predictus Henricus Torel.
Thomas filius Oliue tenet unam virgatam terre pro 6 denariis equ. ad festum Sti Andreae. Et arabit tres rodas terre per annum.... Et herciabit cum equo suo ante Natale per unum diem integrum sine cibo et per unum diem in quadragesima sine cibo ... Et falcabit cum uno homine per unum diem integrum sine cibo. Et adiuuabit fenum leuandum et cariandum sine cibo. Et sarclabit per unum diem integrum sine cibo. Et illud quod messuerit cariabit sine cibo. Item portabit breuia domini episcopi uel senescalli usque ad Dudington uel ad locum consimilem. Et dabit tallagium, herietum et leyrwite, et gersumam pro filia sua. Et debet sectam Comitatus hundredi, et curie, et molendini. Oues sue iacebunt in faldo domini ut supra....
De operariis.
Thomas Wecheharm tenet dimidiam virgatam terre que continet 15 acras terre.
In Shelford (f. 125 sqq. Cf. Rot. Hundr. ii. 544) there are only two main headings: 'de militibus' and 'de consuetudinariis et censuariis;' but I think it is quite evident from the Survey that the first ought to run 'de militibus et libere tenentibus,' or something to the same effect, and that it includes the hundredors.
De militibus.
Johannes de Moyne miles tenet unum mesuagium et unam rodam terre que fuit coteria operabilis in tempore Galfridi de Burgo Elyensis episcopi pro duobus solidis equ. Idem Johannes tenet unum mesuagium quod fuit Michaelis de la Greue pro 14 den. equ. Et inueniet unum hominem ad quamlibet trium precariarum ad cibum domini. Et metet dimidiam acram de loue-bene sine cibo. Et inueniet unum hominem ad fenum leuandum et tassandum in curia domini episcopi. Et dabit tallagium cum consuetudinariis pro tanta portione.
Johannes filius Nicholai Collogne tenet dimidiam hydam terre per seruicium sequendi comitatum et hundredum. Idem tenet quartam partem curie sue pro uno niso (sic) uel duobus solidis....
In Stratham the Molmen are reckoned with the freeholders and hundredors (f. 44).
De libere tenentibus et censuariis.
Walterus de Ely miles tenet 50 acras de wara unde debet sectam ad curiam de Ely. Et ad curiam de Stratham. Et in hundredum de Wycheford.... Et faciet omnes consuetudines sicut Johannes filius Henrici subscriptus.
Johannes filius Henrici Folke tenet 10 acras de wara. Et debet sectam hundredi per totum annum, scilicet ad quodlibet hundredum et sectam ad curiam de Ely et de Stratham.... Et dabit gersumam pro filia sua maritanda.
De consuetudinibus operariorum, etc.
The entries quoted are sufficient, it seems, to establish the following facts:—
1. The hundredors of the Ely Minster are people holding tenements burdened with the obligation of representing the manor in the hundred and in the county.
2. The tenure may be quite distinct from the personal condition of the holder. A knight may possess the tenement of a hundredor in one place and a military fee in another (Philip de Insula in Wilburton and in Lyndon.)
3. A free tenant is not eo ipso a hundredor. Some holdings are singled out for the duty. (Henry Torel, William 'Nuncius,' and Thomas filius Olive in Wyvelingham. Cf. Lyndon.)
4. In many cases the hundredors are mentioned without being expressly so called, and such cases present the transition between the Ely Surveys and other Cartularies which constantly speak of privileged tenants holding by suit to the hundred and to the county. (See the quotations on p. 189, n. 2, and p. 191, n. 1.)
But there is another side to the picture. In the cases of which we have been speaking till now the obligation to attend the hundred and the county is treated as a service connected with tenure, and has to meet the requirements of the State which enforces the representation of the villages at the Royal Courts. Such a system of representation follows from the conception of the County and of the Hundred as political parts of the kingdom on the one hand, and as composed of Manors and Villages or Vills, on the other. This may be called the territorial system. But another conception is lingering behind it—that namely of the County, as a folk, and of the Hundred, as an assembly of the free and lawful population. The great Hundred is derived from it, but even in the ordinary meetings all the freeholders are entitled, if not obliged, to join. The Manor and the Vill have nothing to do with this right, which is not one of representation, but an individual one and extends to a whole class. This may be called the personal system of the Hundred. It is embodied in the so-called 'Leges' of Henry I. And therefore we find constantly in the documents, that the suit to the hundred, to the county, and also that to the sheriff's tourn and to meet the justices, are mentioned in connection with two different classes of people. On one hand stand the representatives of the township, on the other the free men, free tenants or socmen bound individually to attend the hundred and to perform other duties which are enforced on the same pattern. The Hundred Rolls give any number of examples.
I. 55: liberi homines de Witlisford et quatuor homines et prepositus solebant venire ad turnum vicecomitis set post bellum de Evesham per Baldewynum de Aveny subtracta fuit illa secta, set nesciunt quo warranto.
I. 154: Idem abbas (de Wauthan) subtraxit ad turnum vicecomitum sectam 4 hominum et prepositi de manerio suo de Esthorndone et de liberis hominibus suis in eadem villa et in villa de Stanford.
I. 180: Omnes liberi tenentes et quatuor homines et prepositus de Morton Valence subtraxerunt sectam ad turnum vicecomitis bis in anno ad idem hundredum.
In Shropshire we find the question put to the jurors of the inquest (II. 69): Si homines libere tenentes et 4 homines et prepositus de singulis villis venerint ad summonicionem sicut preceptum est.
II. 130: Dominus Ricardus Comes Gloverniae subtraxit 4 thethingas videlicet Stockgiffard, Estharpete Stuctone et Westone de hundredo de Wintestoke et ipsas sibi appropriavit. Item dicunt quod Thomas de Ban ... et ceteri libere tenentes predictarum 4 thethingarum solebant sequi dictum hundredum et se subtraxerunt a termino predicto.
II. 131: Dicunt quod una decena de Borewyk et alia decena Chyletone cum liberis hominibus subtrahuntur de hundredo domini Regis de la Hane.
I. 17: Manerium de Collecote et 8 liberi Sokemanni tenentes in dicto manerio solebant facere sectam ad hundredum de Kenoteburie et subtracti sunt a tempore Alani de Fornham quondam vicecomitis usque nunc.
The last instances quoted do not speak directly of the four men and the reeve, but their meaning is quite clear and very significant. The suit of the tithing and of the manor is contrasted with the personal suit of the free tenants. We find often entries as to the attendance of the manor, the township, or the tithing.
I. 181: Dicunt quod abbas de Theokesberie pro terra sua in Codrinton ... Episcopus Wygorniensis pro manerio suo de Clyve per quatuor homines et prepositum solebant facere sectam ad istum hundredum ad turnum vicecomitis bis in anno usque ad provisiones Oxonienses.
I. 105: Villata de Monston per 2 annos et villata de Stratton per 10 annos subtraxerunt sectam hundredi.
I. 78: Dicunt quod idem Walterus (de Bathonia) removit villanos de Sepwasse in forinsecum et feofavit liberos de eadem terra in quo terra quidam tuthinmannus (corr. quedam tethinga?) jungi solebat et sequi ad hundredum forinsecum predictum et est secta ejusdem tethinge subtracta de tempore Regis Henrici patris Regis Edwardi anno ejus quarto.
It appears that the feoffment of free tenants was no equivalent for the destruction of the tithing. The entry is remarkable but not very clear. (Cf. I. 87, II. 133, and Maitland, Introduction to the Selden Soc. vol. II, pp. xxxi, xxxiii.) In any case the main facts are not doubtful. The population of the kingdom was bound to attend the assemblies of the hundred and of the county by representatives from the villages or tithings, which sometimes, though not always, coincided with the manors.
There were many exceptions of different kinds, but the Crown was striving to restrict their number and to enforce general attendance at least for the tourn and the eyre. The representation in these last cases, though much wider and more regular than at the ordinary meetings of the hundred and of the shire, was constructed on the same principles, and the difference lay only in the measure in which the royal right was put into practice against the disruptive tendencies of feudalism.
The inquest in the beginning of Edward I's reign gives us a very good insight into the inroads from which the organisation had to suffer, especially in troubled times[869]. This attendance of the township is mentioned in marked contrast with the suit of the free tenants or socmen, which is also falling into disuse on many occasions, and also supposes a general theory, that the free people ought to attend in person.
An important point in the process which modified the representation of the vills in the hundred has to be noticed in the fact, that the suit from a single village was not considered as a unit which did not admit of any partition. When the village itself was divided among several landlords the suit was apportioned according to their parts in the ownership instead of remaining, as it were, outside the partition. We might well fancy that the township of Dudesford, though divided between the Abbots of Buttlesden and of Oseney, would send its deputies as a whole, and would designate them in a meeting of the whole. We find in reality, that the fee of one of the owners has to send three representatives, and the fee of the other two (Rot. Hundr. I. 33; cf. I. 52, 102). This gives rise to a difficulty in the reading of our evidence. The Hundred Rolls speak not only of suit due from the village, the tithing, or the manor, but also of the suit from the tenement. In one sense this may mean that the person holding a free tenement was bound to attend certain meetings of the commons of the realm. In another it was an equivalent to saying that a particular tenement was bound to join in the duty of sending representatives to such meetings. In a third acceptation of the words they might signify, that a particular tenement was charged to represent the village in regard to the suits, and for this reason privileged in other respects. A few extracts from the Hundred Rolls will illustrate the difficulty.
I. 143: Dicunt quod Johannes de Boneya tenuit quoddam tenementum in Stocke quod solet facere sectam ad comitatum et hundredum, que secta postea subtracta fuit per Regem Alemanniae, etc.
Was John de Boneya a socman bound to attend personally, or a hundredor, a hereditary representative of the village of Stocke?
II. 208: Prior de Michulham subtraxit sectas et servicia 25 tenencium in manerio suo de Chyntynge qui solebant facere sectam et servicium hundredo de Faxeberewe et sunt subtracti per 6 annos ad dampnum dicti hundredi 5 sol. per annum.
The twenty-five tenants in question may be villains joining to send representatives in scot and in lot with the village (cf. I. 214, 216), or free socmen personally bound to attend.
II. 225: Prior de Kenilworth subtraxit, etc., de una virgata terre in Lillington 15 annis elapsis et de 4 virgatis in Herturburie 18 annis elapsis ... qui solent sequi ad hundredum de tribus septimanis in tres septimanas.
Here it would be difficult to decide whether the suit is apportioned between the tenements of the village on the principle of their contributing jointly to perform the services, or else bound up with these particular virgates as representing the village (cf. I. 34).
I notice this difficulty because it is my object in this Appendix to treat the evidence as it is given in the documents, and to help those who may wish to study them at first hand. But as we are immediately concerned with the position of the 'hundredor,' I shall also point out that there are cases where a doubt is hardly possible. The tenant who is privileged on account of the duties that he performs in representing his village in the hundred court, may be easily recognised in the following examples.
II. 66: Dicunt quod Rogerus Hunger de Preston solebat sequi comitatum et hundredum pro villa de Preston in tempore Henrici de Audithelege tunc vicecomitis Salop 20 annis elapsis, mortuo vero predicto Roberto Hunger, Abbas de Lilleshul qui intratus fuit in predictam villam per donum Roberti de Budlers de Mungomery extraxit (corr. subtraxit) predictam sectam 20ti annis elapsis nesciunt quo warranto, unde dominus Rex dampnificatus est per illam subtraxionem, si idem Abbas warrantum inde non habet de 40 solidis.
I. 21: Johannes de Grey subtraxit se de secta curie pro villata de Chilton de uno anno et die (corr. et dimidio), unde dominus Rex dampnificatus est in 18 denariis.
Though the institution of the hundredors has found expression in the Hundred Rolls, the name is all but absent from them. The rare instances when it occurs are especially worthy of consideration. I have three times seen a contraction which probably stands for it, but in one case it applies distinctly to the hundred-reeve or to a riding bailiff of the hundred.
I. 197 (Inquest of the hundred of Hirstingstan, Hunts): dicunt etiam quod homines ejusdem soke rescusserunt aueria que El. hundredarius ceperat pro debito domini Regis levando et impedierunt eum ad summoniciones faciendum de assisis et juratis et equum ipsius El. duxerunt ad manerium de Someresham et eum ibi detinuerunt quousque deliberavit omnia averia per ipsum capta.
The case is different in regard to the description of Aston and Cote, Oxfordshire. It is printed on p. 689 of the second volume of the Hundred Rolls, but printed badly. The decisive headings are not given accurately, and I shall put it before the reader in the shape in which it stands in the MS. at the Record Office. The passage is especially interesting because of the peculiar constitution of the manor of Bampton, to which Aston and Cote belong. (See Gomme, Village Community.)
Hundred Rolls, Oxford.
Chancery Series, No. 1, m. 3.
§ Tenentes Abbatis in eadem. § Hundr' in Aston'. § Robertus le Caus tenet in eadem j. mesuagium et ij. virgatas terræ de Abbate de Eygn', et reddit per annum dicto Abbati Eygn' iij.s.
§ Stephanus le Niwe tenet in eadem j. mesuagium et ij. virgatas terræ de eodem, et reddit per annum dicto Abbati xv.s. vij.d. ob. q.
§ Robertus de Haddon' tenet in eadem j. mesuagium [et] j virgatam terræ de Domino W. de Valencia, et reddit per annum dicto W. de Valencia j.d.
§ Servi. § Henricus Toni tenet in eadem j. mesuagium [et] j. virgatam terræ de Abbate de Eygn', et reddit eidem pro redditu iiij.s. pro opere iiij.s. iiij.d. ob. q.
§ Willelmus Toni tenet in eadem j. mesuagium [et] j. virgatam terræ de dicto Abbate, et reddit per annum eidem pro redditu iiij.s., pro opere iiij.s. ix.d. ob. q.
§ Nicholaus Toni tenet in eadem consimile tenementum de eodem pro consimili servicio faciendo eidem.
§ Emma Lovel tenet in eadem j. mesuagium et dimidiam virgatam terræ cum v. acras de eodem, et reddit per annum dicto Abbati xj.s. iij.d.
§ Lib[ere] tenentes. § Johanna Galard tenet in eadem dimidiam virgatam terræ de dono Willelmi fratris sui, et reddit eidem per annum vj.d.; et idem Willelmus tenet de hereditate per defensum antecessorum suorum, qui dictam dimidiam virgatam terrae habuerunt de dono Reg[is], cujus nomen ignoramus.
§ Thomas Wyteman tenet in eadem j. virgatam terræ de Philippo de Lenethale, et est de confirmatione Reg[is], ut dicta dimidia virgata terræ præscripta; et tenetur de Willelmo Gallard prædicto, et reddit per annum dicto Philippo xij.d.
[The Abbot above mentioned was the Abbot of Eynsham.]
The Hundr. in Aston in the margin can hardly admit of any other extension but hundredarius or hundredarii. It seems then, that the term is applied to three tenants named first. The reason for thinking so is, that all these three are assessed at certain rents without any mention of labour services, whereas the three tenants who are next mentioned pay so much as rent and so much more in commutation of labour service, 'pro servitio.' The inference would be, that the names in the beginning apply to people burdened with suit to the hundred and to the shire, and therefore exempted in other respects. Their rents are very unequal, but in any case lower than those of the men immediately following. One very important feature admits of no dispute; the hundredors are described as servi, that is villains, in opposition to the free tenants of the Abbot of Eynsham. We know already from the text that the hundredors, if the name be applied here as in the Ely Surveys, occupied an intermediate position, and in one sense had certainly to rank with the villains, people of base tenure belonging to the townships.
Even a more difficult example is contained in the fragment of the Warwickshire Hundred Roll. The oft-mentioned description of Stoneleigh in that document begins of course with the demesne land of the abbot, then mentions two villains and thirty free cotters holding 'ad terminum vitae.' Then follows a list of five more free cotters. On the margin between the two sets we read 'de hundred de Stonle.' To whom does this phrase apply? There is nothing in the tenure which would enable us to make a positive distinction between the two sets, and it would seem that the expression has in view some duties assigned in the roll to the first thirty tenants in conjunction with the villains. It is written immediately in front of the following passage: 'Omnes supradicti cotarii ipsius abbatis debent sectam ad curiam suam bis in anno. Et si contingat quod aliquis captus sit in dicto manerio debet imprisonari apud Stanle et tunc omnes villani et cotarii supradicti ipsum servabunt et in custodia eorum erit dum ibi fuerit sumptibus suis et sumptibus tocius manerii.'
The uncertainty of terminology is not without its meaning: the word 'hundredarius' did not get into general use, but it was used in several places for different purposes. It may apply to a bailiff of the hundred, perhaps to the alderman, to the standing representative of a village at the hundred court, and possibly to all the free men who had to do personal suit to this court. It is not in order to impose a uniform sense upon it, that I have treated of it at this length. But in one of its meanings, in that which is given by the Ely Surveys, we find a convenient starting point for discussing the position of an important and interesting class in which the elements of freedom and servitude appear curiously mixed.
XII.
It did not occur to the men of the thirteenth century that it would be important to distinguish between the different modes by which free tenements had been created. To draw the principal distinction was enough for all practical purposes. Stray notices occur however that give some insight into the matter. Very often we find tenements held per cartam, probably because this kind of title was rather exceptional and seemed to deserve a special mention, while commonly land was held without charter, on the strength of a ceremonial investiture by the lord. This last mode does not find uniform expression in the documents, but the implied opposition to holding by charter is sometimes stated in express terms which bring out one or the other feature of free land holding.
One of the questions addressed to the jurors—from whose verdicts the Hundred Rolls were made, was—Si aliquis liber sokemannus de antiquo dominico alii sokemanno vendiderit vel alio modo alienaverit aliquid tenendum libere per cartam[870]? The free sokeman's tenure is meant, although the inquest is taken on ancient demesne soil, and the point is that none of these persons can alienate by charter, but must use the ceremonial surrender in the court of ancient demesne according to the custom of the manor. I have already drawn attention to the remarkable opposition between free customary tenure and holding by charter. It is chiefly important because it discloses a traditional element in the formation of the socman's tenure.
The same traditional element appears in other cases in which the special position of the socman is not concerned. In Warwickshire a free tenant by sergeanty is said to hold his land without charter by warrant from ancient times, and the peculiar obligations of his sergeanty are described at some length[871]. The charter appears here in contrast with ancient ownership, to the origin of which no date can be assigned. A similar case is that of Over, Cambs.[872] Robert de Aula holds two virgates of the Abbot of Ramsey de antiquo conquestu and seven virgates de antiquo. Further on a certain Robert Mariot is mentioned holding five virgates of Robert de Aula de antiquo feffamento. The weight falls, in all these expressions, on the de antiquo, which may even appear without any further qualification. Of these qualifications one is interesting in itself, I mean 'de conquestu.' In the language of those times it may stand either 1, for conquest in the sense in which that term is now commonly used, or 2, for purchase, or 3, for occupation. The first of these meanings is naturally out of the question in our case. The second does not apply if we take heed how the expressions interchange: it could be replaced by feoffamentum in the third instance, and could not have fallen out after de antiquo in the second. Ancient occupation fits well, and such a construction is supported by other passages. In Ayllington (Elton), Hunts, e.g., we find the chief free tenants all, with one exception, holding de conquestu in contrast with the mesne tenants who are said to hold per cartam. The opposition is again clearly between traditional occupation and new feoffment settled by written instrument. In Sawtrey Beaumeys, on the other hand, the mode of holding de conquestu seems exceptional[873].
Another terminological opposition which finds expression in the surveys is that between men who hold per homagium and those who hold per fidelitatem. It seems to be commonly assumed that free tenements owe homage, but without disputing the point in a general way I shall call attention to the description of Kenilworth in the Warwickshire Roll, in which libere tenentes are said to hold per fidelitatem et nullum faciunt homagium[874]. The deviation must probably be accounted for by the fact that the castle of Kenilworth was Royal demesne and had been given to Edmund, the brother of King Edward I; the peculiar condition described was certainly a species of customary freehold or socman's tenure.
The upshot is, that we find in the Hundred Rolls traces of freeholds possessed by ancient tenure, 'without charter and warrant,' according to customs which came down from the time of the Conquest, or the original occupation of the land, or from a time beyond memory. The examples given are stray instances but important nevertheless, because we may well fancy that in many cases such facts escaped registration. And now how are all these traces of the 'traditional' element to be expressed in legal language? From what source did the right of such people flow? How did they defend it in case it was contested?
The absence of a charter is not by itself a reason to consider this kind of tenure as separated from the usual freehold. A feoffment might well be made without a charter[875]. As long as the form of the investiture by the lord had been kept, it was sufficient to create or to transmit the free tenancy. But the warranty of the lord and the feoffment were necessary as a rule. And here we find cases in which there is no warranty, and the lord is not appealed to as a feoffor. They must be considered as held by surrender and admittance in court and as being in this respect like the tenements of the sokemen. I do not see any other alternative. As to the sokemen we find indeed, that their right is contrasted with feoffment and at the same time considered as a kind of free tenancy, that it is defended by manorial writs, and at the same time well established in custom[876]. But can we say that the warranty of the lord is less prominent in this case than in the liberum tenementum created by the usual feudal investiture? Surrender seems to go even further in the direction of a resumption by the lord of a right which he has conferred on the dependent. If surrender stood alone, one would be unable to see in what way this customary procedure could be taken as an expression of 'communal guarantee.' But the surrender is coupled with admittance. The action of the steward called upon to transmit by his rod the possession of a plot of land is indissolubly connected with the action of the court which has to witness and to approve the transaction. The suitors of the court in their collective capacity come very characteristically to the front in the admittance of the socman, and it is on their communal testimony that the whole transaction has to rest. The Rolls of Stoneleigh and of King's Ripton give many a precious hint on this subject[877].
I speak of the socmen in ancient demesne, but there can be no doubt that originally the different classes of this group called socmen were constantly confused and treated as one and the same condition. The free socmen and the base or bond socmen, the population of manors in the hands of the crown, of those which had passed from the crown to subjects, and, last but not least, a vast number of small proprietors who held in chief from the king without belonging to the military class, and without a clearly settled right to a free tenement—all these were treated more or less as variations of one main type. What held them together was the suit owed to some court of a Royal Manor which had 'soke' over them[878]. Ultimately classification became more rigid, and theoretically more clear; free and socman's tenure were fused into the one 'socage' tenure, well known to later law, but we must not forget that Common Law Socage is derived historically from a very special relation, and that the socman appears even in terminology as distinct from the 'libere tenens.' I must admit, however, that it is only with the help of the documents of Saxon times and of the Conquest period, that it will be possible to establish conclusively the character of the tenure as that of a 'customary freehold.'
XIII.
See pp. 233, 234.
The passage on which the text of these two pages is based may be found in a Survey of the Dunstaple Priory. The portion immediately concerned is inscribed: 'Notulae de terris in Segheho' (ff. 7, 8). The Walter de Wahull in question is probably the baron of that name (Dugdale, Baron. I. 504), who joined the rebellion of 1173 along with the Earl of Leicester, and was made a prisoner (Rad. de Diceto I. 377, 378; Ann. Dunstapl. 21).
Harl. MS. 1885, f. 7.
§ Tempore conquestus terrae, Dominus de Wahull et Dominus de la Leie diviserunt inter se feudum de Walhull', widelicet, Dominus de Walhull' habuit duas partes, et Dominus de la Lee, tertiam, scilicet, unus xx. milites, et alius x. Volens autem Dominus de Wahull' retinere ad opus suum totum parcum de Segheho, et totum dominicum de Broccheburg', fecit metiri tertiam partem in bosco et in plano. Postea, fecit metiri tantumdem terrae, ad mensuram praedictae tertiae partis, in loco qui nunc vocatur Nortwde, et in bosco vicino, qui tunc vocabatur Cherlewde; et abegit omnes rusticos qui in praedicto loco juxta praedictum boscum manebant. Hiis ita gestis, mensurata est terra de Segheho, et inventae sunt viii. ydae vilenagiae. De hiis viii. ydis conputata est quarta acra ad unam summam, et inventa est quod haec summa valebat tertiam partem parci et dominici. Dedit ergo Dominus de Wahull' Domino de la Leie, scilicet, Stephano, pro tertia parte quam debuit sortiri in bosco et in dominico, culturas praedictorum rusticorum, et boscum qui nunc vocabatur Cherlewd', nunc Nortwd'. Dominus autem de la Leie dedit hanc terram Bald' militi suo, patri Roberti de Nortwd'. Et inter terram praedictorum rusticorum habuimus de dono ecclesiae unam acram. Pro hac acra Robertus pater Gileberti dedit nobis [in] escambium aliam acram quae abutiat ad Fenmed', et jacet ad vest, juxta terram Nigelli de Chaltun'. De ista praedicta acra in Nortwd' quae nostra fuit, jacet roda una ad lomputtes, scilicet, roda capitalis. Alia roda jacet ad uest curiae Roberti praedicti; quae curia ipsius Roberti primo fuit ad uest, quam post obitum patris mutavit, transferendo horrea sua de uest usque hest. Tres gorae jacent pro dimidia acra, et abutiant ex una parte versus viam quae dicitur via de Nortwd', et ex alia parte versus Edmundum filium Uctred'. Procedente tempore, tempore guerrae praedictae viii. ydae et ceterae de Segheho fuerunt occupatae a multis injuste; et ob hoc recognitio fuit facta coram Waltero de Wahull', et coram Hugone de Leia, et in plena curia, per vi. senes, et per ipsum Robertum, de hac nostra acra et de omnibus aliis terris, scilicet, quae acrae ad quas hidas pertineant: et per hanc recognitionem, restituit nobis Robertus praedictam acram. Uctredus drengus mansit ad uest de via de Nortwde, et grangiae ejus fuerunt ex alia parte viae, scilicet, hest.