In 1166 the king issued orders requiring all his feudal tenants to make acknowledgment in writing of the number of knights or armed men each was bound to furnish. The amount of land for which the service of one knight was owed was called a knight's fee or a knight's fief. The following are some of the replies sent to this demand for information. In some cases the tenant in chief fulfilled the service in his own person, which was called "holding his estate in domain"; in other cases he had subinfeudated the land to others and reports the names of those holding it and owing him the service which he in turn owes the king. To Henry, king of the English, his most revered lord, 82. AcknowlHerbert Fitzherbert, greeting. edgments of feudal I notify you that I hold one knight's fee from you, which service I have in my demesne and for which I myself do service to you. To his dearest lord, Henry the king of the English, Robert Robert de de Beauchamp, greeting and faithful service. Lord, according Beauchamp to your command, I signify to you as to my lord, that from the fief which I hold from you in chief, Hugh de Vauburt holds seven knight's fees; William de Minster, three knight's fees; Simon Fitzhubert, one knight's fee; Robert Germain, one knight's fee; Lucas Herbein, one knight's fee; a certain boy of three years of age, named Philip of Dorset, one knight's fee. And from my demesne I owe the service of two knights. I, William de Colecherche, owe to my lord King Henry half William de the service of one knight, in Norfolk, of an ancient holding from Colecherche the Conquest of England. I do not wish to conceal my service which I ought to do to you, but to do it; and I have done homage to you, O lord, and to my lord Henry your son, and I have done service to your sheriff. Similar records of tenants and subtenants are to be found in the document known as the Hundred Rolls. 83. Records of tenants and subtenants 84. Wardship, marriage, and relief John Fitzjohn holds two plowlands in Repinghall and in Ringsdon, mediately, from William de Ros for the service of half a knight's fee, and it is taxable and is worth £10 per year; and the same William de Ros holds these two plowlands from Elias de Raban, mediately, and the same Elias holds them from the king in chief. The same John Fitzjohn holds half a plowshare in Kirkby from Adam Holyland, mediately, for the service of the eighth part of one knight's fee; and the same Adam holds this mediately from Elias de Raban, and the same Elias holds it from the king in chief. Reginald de Evermere holds in Rouceby two plowlands and a half from Baldwin Wake for military service, and they are worth £5 per year. And the same Baldwin holds for military service from the lord bishop of Durham; and the lord bishop from the king in chief. The right of the king to the feudal dues of wardship and marriage was frequently transformed into cash by selling it to some person willing to give money for the privilege of using the heir's land during his minority and choosing a wife or husband for the heir when he or she became of age. Such grants by the king or payments to the king are recorded very frequently in the treasury records. Jordan de Valence and Robert his son promise to pay 20 marks to have the guardianship of the heir of Rowland de Avers with all his inheritance; and to have license to marry the heir to any one they wish, so long as he is not disparaged, with the promise that if either of them die the survivor shall have the aforesaid guardianship in the aforesaid way and for the aforesaid payment. The payment of relief is illustrated by the following account in the rolls of the Exchequer of a mistake by which the heir was in the first place only charged a relief of fifty shillings, when he ought really to have paid two hundred pounds. The king accepted the homage of William Longespee, son 85. Payment and heir of Idonea, widow of William Longespee, for all the of relief lands which the said Idonea had held. And the abbot of Pershore, escheator of the king, received orders to collect from the same William fifty shillings to the king's use, as his relief. And afterward, when the records at the treasury had been searched, it was found that the said Idonea had held from the king, in capite, two baronies; that is to say, the barony which had formerly been that of Nicholas de la Hay in the county of Lincoln, and the barony which was formerly that of Gerard de Camville in the county of Oxford and elsewhere. Therefore it was decided by the barons that the aforesaid William should pay to the king two hundred pounds for his relief for the aforesaid baronies, instead of the fifty shillings as was contained in the former order. The right to hold a court in which his tenants' suits must be tried was one of the invariable feudal customs; and nobles, knights, abbots, and other feudal lords were constantly appealing to the king to be supported in their rights, as in the following case which guarantees his feudal court to the abbot of Abingdon. Henry, king of England, to Ralph Basset, greeting. I command you to cause Vincent, abbot of Abingdon, to have his court in Oxfordshire as well and fully as that church of Abingdon ever had it, or any one of his predecessors had it, best and most fully and honorably. And his men shall not plead outside of his court unless the abbot has first failed to give right in his court, and as you are able to make inquisition through the legal men of Oxfordshire that he ought to have his court. Witness the chancellor; at Woodstock. If a vassal refused or neglected to perform his military service to his lord, his land might be confiscated. It is such a case that is described in the following extract. 86. Writ of the king to the sheriff of Oxfordshire 87. Confiscation and regrant of a fief It is presented by the jurors above named that the manor of Chinnore along with the hamlet of Sydenham was held of old, from the time of the Conquest, from the lord king of England, by a certain man who was named Walter de Vernon, as one knight's fee; and because the said Walter de Vernon refused to perform his due service from the said manor to the lord king John, in the time of the war which sprang up between the lord king John and the king of France, the lord king John with the advice of his council seized that same manor with its appurtenances, and removed the said Walter de Vernon, on account of his ingratitude, from the possession of the aforesaid manor forever. And the lord king John granted that same manor with its appurtenances, for the services that to the same lord king were due from it, to Saer de Quincy, formerly earl of Winchester, to hold to himself and his heirs in capite from the lord king as one knight's fee; and the heirs of the said Saer held the aforesaid manor in succession, and still hold it, except the hamlet Sydenham, which the abbot of Thame holds as a gift from Roger de Quincy. CHAPTER VIII FOUNDATIONS OF NATIONAL UNITY, 1154-1216 I. HENRY II AND HIS REFORMS There was so much writing during this period that the principal circumstances of the time have come down to us fully described in the contemporary literature. Only short extracts can of course be given from these long accounts. The first describes the personality of Henry II, which counted for so much in the history of the time. It is taken from Gerald de Barry, or Giraldus Cambrensis, "Gerald of Wales," as he called himself, who knew Henry well. appearance, Henry Second, king of the English, was a man of ruddy 88. Henry's complexion, large, round head, piercing, blue-gray eyes, fierce personal and glowing red in anger, with fiery face and a harsh voice. habits, and He was short of neck, square of chest, strong of arm, and character fleshy in body. By nature rather than from over-indulgence he had a large paunch, yet not such as to make him sluggish. For he was temperate in food and drink, sober and inclined to be prudent in all things so far as this is permitted to a leader. And that he might overcome this unkindness on the part of nature by diligence, and lighten the fault of the flesh by greatness of spirit, often by an internal warfare, as it were conspiring against himself, he exercised his body with unbounded activity. Besides, wars frequently occurred; in these he was preeminent in action and gave himself not a moment of rest. In times of peace as well, he took no rest or quiet for himself. Immoderately devoted to hunting, he went out at early dawn |