English Economic History: Select Documents. Various

English Economic History: Select Documents - Various


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this there were added to this land 9 freemen and a half, 1 carucate of land, 54 acres, this is in demesne; then as now 9 bordiers and 8 acres of meadow; then as now 6 ploughs, and 2 half mills. The whole of this is [reckoned] for one manor of Lewes and is worth 3l. 11s. Of four and a half of the 9 freemen the soke and commendation was in the King's [manor of] Buckenham in the time of King Edward, and afterwards, until William de Warenne had it, and the whole was delivered in the time of Earl Ralph. The whole is 1 league in length and a half in breadth, and [pays] 15d. of geld.

      [41] Cotters.

      [42] Horses.

      9. The Manor of Halesowen, Co. Worcester [Domesday Book, I, 176], 1086.

      Earl Roger holds of the King one manor, Halesowen. There are 10 hides there. On the demesne there are 4 ploughs and 36 villeins and 18 bordiers, 4 "radmans" and a church with 2 priests. Among them all they have 41½ ploughs. There are there 8 serfs and 2 bondwomen. Of this land Roger Venator holds of the Earl one hide and a half, and there he has one plough and 6 villeins, and 5 bordiers with 5 ploughs. It is worth 25s. In the time of King Edward this manor was worth 24l. Now 15l. Olwin held and had in Droitwich a saltpan worth 4s. and in Worcester a house worth 12d.

      The same Earl holds Salwarpe, and Urso of him. Elwin Cilt held it. There are 5 hides there. On the demesne there is one plough and 6 villeins, and 5 bordiers with 7 ploughs. There are there 3 serfs and 3 bondwomen and a mill worth 10s. and 5 saltpans worth 60s. Half a league of wood and a park there. In the time of King Edward it was worth 100s. Now 6l. There can be two ploughs more there.

      10. The Manor of Havering, Co. Essex [Domesday Book, II, 2 b], 1086.

       Table of Contents

      THE FEUDAL STRUCTURE

      1. Frankalmoin, temp. Hen. II.—2. Knight Service, 1308—3. Grand Serjeanty, 1319—4. Petty Serjeanty, 1329—5. An action on the feudal incidents due from land held by petty serjeanty, 1239–40—6. Free socage, 1342—7. Commutation of a serjeanty for knight service, 1254—8. Commutation of service for rent, 1269—9. Subinfeudation, 1278—10. Licence for the widow of a tenant in chief to marry, 1316—11. Marriage of a widow without licence, 1338—12. Alienation of land by a tenant in chief without licence, 1273—13. Wardship and marriage, 1179–80—14. Grant of an heir's marriage, 1320—15. Wardship, 1337—16. Collection of a carucage, 1198—17. An acquittance of the collectors of scutage of a sum of 10l. levied by them and repaid, 1319—18. Payment of fines in lieu of knight service, 1303—19. The assessment of a tallage, 1314—20. A writ Precipe, c. 1200—21. Articles of enquiry touching rights and liberties and the state of the realm, 1274— 22. Wreck of sea, 1337.

      The general characteristics of feudalism as a system by which the administrative, legislative and judicial functions of the state had their basis in the tenure of land, are well known. In the following documents an attempt has been made to illustrate the development of English feudalism under the direction of a strong central government, which succeeded in controlling the centrifugal force of feudal institutions and in establishing a national administration dependent on the crown and antagonistic to local franchise. By the end of the thirteenth century the crown was firmly entrenched behind well developed courts of permanent officials, having at the same time retained its control of local affairs by preventing the office of sheriff from becoming hereditary; in the sphere of justice, the central courts of King's Bench and Common Pleas, supplemented by the itinerant Justices of Assize and by the energy of the Chancellor in devising new remedies and new legal actions, were slowly but surely undermining the manorial justice of the greater tenants, a process well understood by the framers of Magna Carta; while the creation of Parliament brought into being an institution destined to rival and ultimately to supersede the exclusive claims of the lords, the feudal council, to advise and control the crown. While therefore the worst tendencies of feudalism were neutralised, the sovereign's hold on the land was tightened, and feudal obligations were reduced to a rigid system which persisted until the Civil War of the seventeenth century. The administration of this branch of royal rights, facilitated by the existence of Domesday Book and the rapid development of the Exchequer, was locally in the hands of the sheriffs for a century and a half after the Conquest; but the growth of business, due to the increase of population and the subdivision of the original knights' fees, necessitated the creation of a separate official. Already in the time of Richard I., there appears "the keeper of the king's escheats," and early in the reign of Henry III. the sheriffs are relieved by the two escheators, one on each side of the Trent, who answer directly at the Exchequer, although it is not until the year 17 Edward II. (1323–4) that their accounts are transferred from the Pipe Roll to a separate enrolment.


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