English Economic History: Select Documents. Various
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of justice, and escheats, were never sufficient to meet emergencies, just as the feudal army was inadequate for a protracted campaign, and hence the Crown was forced to resort on the one hand to a universal land-tax (No. 16) or a limited exaction from the crown demesnes (No. 19), and on the other to a tax on the feudal unit, the knight's fee (No. 17); the provisions for the collection of a carucage illustrate the royal determination to exact the uttermost farthing, while the assessment of a scutage was conducted on the modern principle of extracting the money first and settling the liability afterwards. No. 20 is a rare surviving instance of an original writ Precipe issued before Magna Carta, and shows precisely the method of the royal procedure in attracting legal causes to the King's jurisdiction out of the hands of the lord. The section concludes with the important articles of enquiry initiated by Edward I., which led to the compilation of the Hundred Rolls and the proceedings quo warranto, and also set out in detail the King's conception of his sovereignty and of the royal origin of all feudal franchises and liberties (No. 21); while the last document (No. 22) furnishes a curious instance of one of the minor royal rights.
AUTHORITIES
The principal modern writers dealing with the subject of this section are:—Pollock & Maitland, History of English Law; Maitland, Lectures on Constitutional History; Stubbs, Constitutional History; Hazlitt, Tenures of land and customs of manors; Round, Feudal England; Round, The King's Serjeants and Officers of State; Baldwin, Scutage and Knight Service in England; McKechnie, Magna Carta; Freeman, Norman Conquest; Hatschek, Englische Verfassungsgeschichte; Digby, History of the Law of Real Property.
Documentary authorities:—The principal original sources are, The Red Book of the Exchequer (Hall, Rolls Series); The Hundred Rolls (Record Commission), Placita de quo Warranto (Record Commission); Placitorum Abbreviatio (Record Commission); Testa de Nevill (Record Commission),[46] Inquisitions Post Mortem (Record Office Calendars), Feudal Aids (Record Office Calendars).
[44] Besides these ten, the palatinate county of Chester had its own escheator, and the Mayor of London exercised the office in London. Minor escheatries were carved out from time to time.
[45] Unfree tenure is illustrated below in section III., The Manor.
[46] A new edition is in course of preparation.
1. Frankalmoin [Ancient Deeds, B. 4249]. temp. Henry II.
To all sons of Holy Mother Church, present and to come, Roger son of Elyas of Helpstone, greeting. Know ye that I have given and granted and by my present charter confirmed to God and the church of St. Michael of Stamford and the nuns serving God there, for the souls of my father and my mother and for the salvation of my soul and the souls of my ancestors and successors, in free and pure and perpetual alms, 2 acres of land, less 1 rood, in the fields of Helpstone, to wit, 3 roods of land on Peselond between the land of Payn the knight and between the land of Robert Blund, and ½ acre between the land of William Peri and between the land of William son of Ede, and 2 roods between the land of Sir Roger de Torpel, lying on both sides. I have given, moreover, to God and the church of St. Michael and the nuns serving God there, in free and pure and perpetual alms ½d. of rent which John son of Richard of Barnack used to render to me on the day of St. Peter's Chains[47] for a house and for a rood of land in Helpstone. And the aforesaid land and ½d. of rent I, Roger, and my heirs will warrant to the aforesaid nuns against all men and against all women. Witnesses:—Payn of Helpstone, Roger his son, Geoffrey of Lohoum, Geoffrey of Norbury, Walter of Helpstone, Robert son of Simon, Geoffrey son of John, Geoffrey son of Herlewin, Walter of Tickencote, Richard Pec.
[47] August 1.
2. Knight Service [Inquisitions post mortem, Edward II, 2, 19], 1308.
Somerset.—Inquisition made before the escheator of the lord the King at Somerton on 29 January in the first year of the reign of King Edward [II], of the lands and tenements that were of Hugh Poyntz in the county of Somerset on the day on which he died, how much, to wit, he held of the lord the King in chief and how much of others and by what service, and how much those lands and tenements are worth yearly in all issues, and who is his next heir and of what age, by the oath of Matthew de Esse[48] … Who say by their oath that the aforesaid Hugh Poyntz held in his demesne as of fee in the county aforesaid on the day on which he died the manor of Curry Mallet, with the appurtenances, of the lord the King in chief for a moiety of the barony of Curry Mallet by the service of one knight's fee; in which manor is a capital messuage which is worth 4s. a year with the fruit and herbage of the garden; and there are there 280 acres of arable land which are worth 4l. 13s. 4d. a year at 4d. an acre; and there are there 60 acres of meadow which are worth 4l. 10s. a year at 18d. an acre; and there is there a park the pasture whereof is worth 6s. 8d. a year and not more owing to the sustenance of deer; and the pleas and perquisites of the court there are worth 4s. a year; And there are there 12 free tenants in fee, who render yearly at the feasts of Michaelmas and Easter by equal portions 74s. 8d. for all service; and there are there 16 customary tenants, each of whom holds ½ virgate of land in villeinage, rendering yearly at the said terms by equal portions 4s., and the works of each are worth from the feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist[49] to the feast of Michaelmas 2s. a year; and there are there 28 customary tenants, each of whom holds 1 fardel[50] of land in villeinage, rendering yearly at the said terms by equal portions 2s., and the works of each for the same time are worth 12d. Sum of the extent:—22l. 12s. 8d.
Further, the aforesaid jurors say that Nicholas Poyntz, son of the aforesaid Hugh Poyntz, is next heir of the same Hugh and of the age of 30 years and more. In witness whereof the same jurors have set their seals to this inquisition.
The aforesaid Hugh de Poyntz held no other lands or tenements in my bailiwick on the day on which he died, except the lands and tenements in these inquisitions.[51]
[48] And eleven others named.
[49] June 24.
[50] A quarter of a virgate.
[51] A second inquisition is appended.
3. Grand Serjeanty [Inquisitions ad quod damnum, 135, 10], 1319.
Norfolk.—Inquisition made at Bishop's Lynn before the escheator of the lord the King on 30 March in the 12th year of the reign of King Edward, son of King Edward, by Robert de Causton.[52] … Which jurors say upon their oath that it is not to the damage or prejudice of the lord the King or of others if the lord the King grant to Thomas de Hauvill that he may grant to the venerable father John, bishop of Norwich, a custom called lastage[53] which he has and receives in the port of Bishop's Lynn in the county of Norfolk, to receive and hold to him and his successors, bishops of that place, for ever. Asked of whom that custom