income was allotted to the Vicar for the time being, and to those who discharged the spiritual duties of the parish in the various chapels belonging to it, the remainder of the tenth of the produce belonged to the society of St. Edward at Shaftesbury. Their portion of the proceeds of the living was leased out from time to time to various persons, and the 'firmarius ecclesiæ' as he was termed (afterwards the Lord Farmer, now the Lessee of the Great Tithes)-exercised the right of presenting to the Vicarage. As early as 1312, we find one 'Gilbert de Middleton,' (the same, it is believed, who was Archdeacon of Northampton, and Prebendary Rector of Edington, Co. Wilts,) called "firmarius ecclesiæ de Bradeford," and, as such, presenting to the living in that year. But though the Abbess was to all intents and purposes in the place of the chief Lord of the Manor, she was, nevertheless, regarded as herself holding her possessions under the king as Suzerain. It was, indeed, the main principle of all feudal tenures that they were held primarily of the king, however many successive mesne lords there might be; in fact, all lands "were held mediately or immediately of the king." Hence we find such entries as the following, -"Thomas of Atteworth holds in Atteworth the fourth part of a knight's fee of the abbess, and she of the king.”—A special statute, called 'Quia Emptores' was passed in the time of Edward I., recognizing this principle, by which it was enacted (with a view of protecting the interests of chief lords, who, by the multiplied sub-infeudations were losing many of their privileges, such as escheats, fines on alienations, &c.,)-that, with regard to all lands so granted out by feoffment, as it was termed, the feoffee should hold the same, not of the immediate feoffor, but of the next lord paramount, of whom such feoffee himself held, and by the same services. Hence, when lands were held by high and honourable tenures, such as GRAND SERJEANTY, which could be held only of the king, 1 Wilts Institutions (1312). See also 'Madox Formular.' p. 386, (9 Edw. II.) 2 Jacob's 'Law Dictionary,' under 'Tenures.' 3 Testa de Nevill, p. 153. 4 Grand Serjeanty. "Tenure by Grand Serjeantie" says Littleton, "is, where a man holds his lands or tenements of our Sovereign lord the king, by it was so expressed in the recording document, even though the lands were held mediately under the Abbess of Shaftesbury. The following examples will explain our meaning. They are taken from a survey of the Manor and Hundred of Bradford (1629-1631), long, of course, after she ceased to hold the Lordship:-they will, however, suffice for illustration. "JOHN LONG, Esqre. holdeth freely one half yardland in Wraxall as of the said Manour by Serjeancye, viz., to make out all somons in the Hundred and Court of the Manour of Bradford, which belong to the King as Lord of the Manour before the Kinges Maties Justices, and at the Countie, and to somon all the men of Wraxall to do the Lords workes, and to have his drinking when the Lords Steward shall keep the Hundred Courts and Courts of the Manour, and to do all executions which pertain to the said Hundred at his proper costs and charges besides his drinking." “DANIEL YERBURY holdeth freely one half yardland in Wraxall as of the foresaid Manour by Serjeancye, viz., to attend the Bayliff of the Hundred of Bradford, to take distresses throughout the Hundred, to make somons and to bear witness to the Bayliff." It would seem that there were occasions in which the Crown asserted its rights as Chief Lord. On the appointment for instance of a newly elected Abbess, the King not only gave his formal sanction to it, but directed the Sheriffs of the various counties, in which lands belonging to the Abbey were situate, to deliver seisin of the same to the Abbess so appointed. This was the case on the election of 'Amicia Russell' in the year 1225.2 such services as he ought to do in his own proper person to the king, as to carry the banner of the king, or his lance, or to lead his army, or to be his marshall or to be one of his chamberlaines of the receipt of his exchequer, or to do other like services." Coke, in his commentary on this last clause, adds, "or, by any office concerning the administration of justice, quia justitia firmatur solium." Coke upon Littleton, ii. 2 § 153. In another part of this MS. we have this entry;-"John Long, Esq. is Bayliff of the Hundred by right and tenure of certain lands he holdeth in [MS. illegible] (Wraxhall?) as is before set forth." 2 The document is printed in Hardy's 'Calendar of Close Rolls,' i. 553, The following is a translation of it.-"The King to the Sheriff of Dorset; Health,- Know ye that we have given our royal consent and approval to the election of Amicia Russell, a nun of Shaftesbury, as Abbess of Shaftesbury. Wherefore we direct you without delay to deliver full seisin to her of all lands, rents, chattels, and other possessions belonging to the said Abbey. Witness, Henry, the King, at Evesham, July 3, 1223. The Bishop of Sarum is commanded to do his part in this matter;"-viz., of instituting the Abbess to the ecclesiastical rights pertaining to her office. F We have already observed that great as were the privileges and exemptions of the Abbess she was bound nevertheless to assist in some public works, and more especially to provide a certain number of fighting men to attend the King, her chief Lord, in his wars undertaken for the protection of his dominions. Agnes de Ferrar who was Abbess from 1252 to 1267, and Juliana Bauceyn, her successor, were both called upon for such help by Edward I. in his expeditions against Llewellyn, King of Wales. To enable her to provide such help, the Abbess, like all other tenants in chief, exacted from those who held a certain amount of land within the Manor the same free service which the king exacted from her. The portions of land held under such conditions were called Knights' Fees. The annual value of a knights' fee in England was fixed at £20, and every estate supposed to be of this value, or assessed at that amount, was bound to contribute the service of a soldier, or to pay, in the stead of this, a proportionate amercement called Escuage. The length of service demanded, or the amount of payment required, diminished with the quantity of land. For half a knight's fee 20 days' service was due, for an eighth part but 5; and when this was commuted for the pecuniary assessment above alluded to, a similiar proportion was observed. We have many instances of tenures by Knight-Service within the Manor of Bradford. In the record for 1629-John Hall, at Bradford, John Blanchard, at Great Ashley,-Sir William Lisle, at Holte, Daniel Yerbury, at Wraxall,—and others are said to have held lands by this tenure. Every tenant within the Manor by Knight-Service was bound to render fealty, if not homage, to the Abbess. From both these obligations, she, as the head of a religious house, was exempted, and as the latter could only be received by the Lord in person, and the affairs of the Abbess were managed through her Steward or Seneschall, (as he was termed), it is conceived that an oath of fealty was all that was demanded from the superior tenants within this Manor. What was implied in this service is best explained in the words of Littleton-"Fealty is the same that fidelitas is in Latin-And when a free-holder doth fealty to his Lord, he shall holde his right hand upon a booke, and shall say thus:-'Know ye this, my Lord, that I shall be faithfull and true unto you, and faith to you shall beare for the lands which I claime to hold of you, and that I shall lawfully doe to you the customes and service which I ought to doe, at the terms assigned, so help me God and his saints;' and he shall kisse the booke. " But in addition to this obligation which was thus binding on the higher order of Tenants within the Manor, all the vassals, of whatever degree, were bound to attend the Lord's courts, and 'do suit and service,' as it was termed. Of the courts themselves we shall speak presently all that we will now say is that in course of years this practice fell into desuetude, and was commuted into a money payment instead of personal attendance. Hence we find such entries as the following, shewing to what a late period these payments to the Lord of the Manor were continued. The extracts are of the date 1629-1631. "Freeholders fines for Respite of Suite to the Courts. Sir William Lisle payeth yearly for Suite fine.. William Powlett, Esqre for the like. Thomas Westley, Gent" for the like Thomas Barnfield, Gent" for the like. 020 0 1 0 008 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 0 4 In the following extract from the same record we have similar charges made on the several Tythings and Parishes within the Hundred. In the case of one Tything, Leigh and Woolley, it seems that through their Tythingman' they were wont, even as recently as two centuries ago, to render personal service and suit of Court. "Yearly payments paid at the Law-days by the Tythingmen. "The Tything of Attford payeth by the Tythingman at the Lady-day Leet, in the name of Law-day silver, 2s. 6d., and at Michas Lawday 2s. 6d., and for respite of suite to the Three-Weeken Court yearly at Michas Law-day 12d. in toto per ann. 1 Coke upon Littleton,' ii. 2, § 91. 06 0 060 "The Tything of Holte payeth by the Tythingman the like sum, and in manner as before...... "The Tything of Lighe and Wooley yearly payeth by the Tythingman at Lady-day Leet, in the name of certain money as Law-day silver, 2s. 4d., and Michas Law-day, 2s. 4d, but nothing for respite of suite to this Court, because he commonly appeareth in person.... 0 48 "The Tything of Trowle by the Tythingman payeth yearly at either Law-day, 21d., and at Michas for suite of Court, 12d. in toto ..... 0 4 6 "The Tything of Winnesley and Stoke by the Tythingman payeth yearly at either Law-day 4s. and at Michas 2s. for suite fine, in toto 0 10 0 "More the said Tything payeth yearly at Michas a payment called Vel-noble. 068 060 "The Tything of Wraxall payeth yearly by the Tythingman at either 010 "The Tything of Chalfield payeth nothing 0 00 .... Som paid, 46s. 10d." The whole spirit of the Feudal Tenures was based on the subjection of the vassal to the Tenant in capite, and hence we commonly find inserted in old deeds some special service due to the chief lord of the fee. These services were often merely nominal; still they preserved the memorial of the relation in which the various undertenants, however numerous, stood to the Lady of the Manor. A very frequent condition is the gift of "a rose at the festival of the nativity of St. John Baptist:"-sometimes it is "one halfpenny paid at the same time, or at the festival of St. Michael" (unum obolum domino capitali feodi):-in other deeds we find mentioned, “two capons at Michaelmas,"-"a pair of gloves and one farthing,"-half a pound of cummin,-one pound of pepper,—one pound of wax. In other cases, moreover, it is some service in husbandry to be performed for the lord, the original condition of the tenure of villenage of which we have already spoken, the last, however, being ulti • Vel-noble. Elsewhere this is called Veal-Money. Formerly the tenants of the Manor at Winsley had to pay this assessment in kind; afterwards it was commuted for 6s. 8d., the value of a noble;" hence the name Vel-noble. In the margin of the MS., quoted above, we have the following entry, "The Homage of the copyholders gathereth within themselves yearly, to be paid at one payment, vis. viiid." |