Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1868-09-02
Land IenUreS.


estate was held in Great Britain, was that
the entire realm primarily belonged to the
sovereign, and might be parcelled out and
disposed of by him according to his pleasure.
| When William the Conqueror ascended the
! English throne. he divided the conquered
land among his followers, to be held by them
subject to certain conditions. These condi-
! tiOns are known by the name Of tenures, and,
upon their violation, the land became for
feited, and returned to the sovereign. This
. practice was followed until the time Of
/ Charles IL when tenures were dissolved.
save only those requiring honorable service.
The conditions which accompanied the
! royal grant of land were Of service either in
person or by proxy, or of tribute in money
or produce The most common tenure was
Of military service, under which the lord of
the manor was obliged to accompany his
sovereign to the wars, at the head Of body
of soldiers proportonate u the extent and
value of the territory over which he was
lord. This tenue was Of the most simple
kind, and was based upon the equitable prin-
ciple that the land proprietors should be at
all times ready to defend the land against
the nation : foes.
But very many of the Crown-tenurcs Of
England were curious enough, and some Of
them seem to have been invented for the
purpose Of pensioning favortes Of royalty,
while imposing only IA nominal tax to offset
the valut- Of the gitt. \ writer in CL1oo
6ers-s Journal has collected the most curious
of these, some of which we quote When
we reflect that feudal tenure is the basis Of
all the old landed nobility of England, we
can but smile at the arstocratic pride of
cestry which pervades that class of society.
Henry ". vested the lordship of the Isle
of Man in the Earl of Northumberland con-
ditionally, that at the coronation he bore
that naked sword with which he was grded
when he arrived at the port of Holderness,
called Lancaster sword Upon the great
Earl's attainder, after the Shrewsbury fight,
the island was transferred forever To Sir John
Stanley and his heirs upon the easy terms Of
the presentation of a pair of falcons upon
similar occasions. Ihe task OF
bearing the golden sceptre of the dove in
the coronation procession was attached to the
manors of Nddiug and kettilbertston, while
Worksop is still we believe, held by the ser
vice of finding the King glove for his right
hand, and supporting his arm as long as he
holds the sceptrc during the ceremonial.
The Picots held one half Of their manor Of
Heydene by holding basin for His Majesty
abiutions, the other half being secured by
holding the towels, the lord of another man
or supplying the water The manor of Nd
dington was held by it's lord making pot ul
Of Nlanpygernon Ia pottage of almond milk.
capon Drawn, parboiled chicken, sugar, and
spice, (and serving it at the banquet Charles
II. graciously accepted thsi dainty dish, but
wisely declined to partake Of it. The ma
nor of Finchingfied was held by the service
of turning the spit for the coronation din
ner ; aud another etit sergeanty connected,
with the occasion was the finding of a maple
spit for the Finchingfcld representative to
turn.
sT The Countess of Warwick was expected
to carve the Kings Christmas dinner, and
was allowed to carry off the carving knife
Sir William Russell held manor in Dorset
shire by the service of putting away the
by trying his skill as Il chess-player. When
Majesty visited Clarendon, the De Roches,
who ruled at Winterslow, was bound to
20 to the battle buttery and take therefrOm
enough wine to make pitcher of clarct, and
present it to the King. departing home
again with the cup out Of which the King
had drunk, and the cask of wine tapped
for the occasion. When the King mounted
his horse in Stafford Cambridge. or Carlisle.
there were manorial lords to hold his stirrup.
When he voyaged in the Channel, Atfield,
of Atterton, had the pleasant job of holding
/ his head if he were seasick. The most dis
agreeable service of all was that attached to
! Shirefeld, Hants, the lord Of which manor
had to measure the measures of the royal
household, keep the King female domestIcs
/ in order, and dsmember malefactors
/ @ Comical conditions are not wanting to
some military services. Reginald de Grey
had done his duty when he strengthened his
liege lords army by the addition of a man
upon saddleless horse, armed with a bow
without a string, and arrow without a
head. A footman with the same weapons
was contributed by the lord of another man
or but the man was Obliged to go barefoot,
and clad only in his shirt and breeches.-
Harkecet (Salop) sent one archer with a
bow and three arrows, whose term OF ser
vice expired as soon as he had discharged
his three arrows at the enemy. a foot
soldier, supplied by the Corbets, of Chet
tington, for His Majesty's Welsh cam
paigns, joined the army with a bow and
three arrows, and one bacon, or salted
hog" Half of this bacon he handed over to
the Kings Marshal who doled him a daily
allowance of it for his dinner when the mar
shal came to the end of his moiety OF the
bacon, the soldier was at liberty to go home
again
Nor was the title to land the only re-
ward received for personal services to the
King Some of his noble servants seem to
have obtained pretty good pickings besides
:. One great nobleman claimed the best
goblet used by the King, and sundry drink
ing-yessels of less account, for acting as
chief butler The Lord Mayor, whose duty
consisted in carrying gold cup full OF wine
to the newly-crowned monarch after dinner
was remunerated for his trouble by receiving
the cup he had borne and one containing
water for tempering the draught, IT the hine