Part 36

[948] The Conqueror's charter for Exeter reproduced in Ordnance Facsimiles, vol. ii. is a fine specimen of the solemn charters referred to above. A considerable number of specimens, genuine and spurious (for our present purpose a forgery is almost as valuable as a true charter), will be found in the Monasticon, e.g. i. 174, Rufus for Rochester; i. 266, Rufus for Bath; ii. 109-111, 126, Henry I. for Abingdon; i. 163, Henry I. for Rochester; ii. 65-6, Henry I. for Evesham; ii. 267, Henry I. for Bath; ii. 539, Henry I. for Exeter; iii. 448, Henry I. for Malvern; vi. (1) 247, Henry I. for Merton; iii. 406, Stephen for Eye. Nor was this solemn form employed only by kings:--See Monast. ii. 385-6, Earl Hugh for Chester; iii. 404, Robert Malet for Eye; v. 121, Hugh de la Val for Pontefract; v. 167, William of Mortain for Montacute; v. 190, Simon of Senlis for St. Andrew Northampton; v. 247, Stephen of Boulogne for Furness; v. 316, Richard Earl of Exeter for Quarr; v. 628, Ranulf of Chester for Pulton. As to Normandy, see the charters in the Neustria Pia and the Gallia Christiana. A charter of Henry II. for Fontenay recites a charter by which the ancestors of Jordan Tesson founded the abbey with the consent of Duke William, also a charter of Duke William, 'quae cartae crucibus sunt signatae secundum antiquam consuetudinem'; Neustria Pia, p. 80; Gallia Christiana, xi. Ap. col. 82. It is probable that during the Norman reigns the king's cross was considered more valuable even than the king's seal; Monast. iv. p. 18, Henry I. says, 'hanc donationem confirmo ego Henricus rex et astipulatione sanctae crucis et appositione sigilli mei'; Ibid. ii. 385-6, Earl Hugh confirms a gift 'non solum sigillo meo sed etiam sigillo Dei omnipotentis, id est, signo sanctae crucis.' It is not implied in our text that every specimen of each of the two forms of instrument that we have mentioned will always display all the characteristics that have been noticed. There is no reason, for example, why in a solemn charter the king should not speak in the past tense of the act of gift, and as a matter of fact he does so in some of the Anglo-Saxon books, while, on the other hand, an instrument which begins with a salutation may well have the words of gift in the present tense (this is by no means uncommon in Anglo-Norman documents); nor of course is it necessary that an instrument in writ-form should be authenticated by a seal instead of a cross. Again, a solemn charter with crosses and pious recitals may begin with a salutation. We merely point out that the diplomata of Edward the Confessor and his Norman successors tend to conform to two distinct types. As to this matter see the remarks of Hickes, Dissertatio Epistolaris, p. 77; Hardy, Introduction to Charter Rolls, xiv., xxxvi.

[949] The curious formula, Schmid, App. XI., already has 'ne sace ne socne.' This seems to suppose that it is a common thing for a man to have sake and soke over his land.

[950] R. H. ii. 231.

[951] R. H. ii. 458.

[952] D. B. i. 172 b.

[953] R. H. ii. 283.

[954] Hale, Worcester Register, pp. xxx, 21 b; K. Appendix, 514 (vi. 237); Hickes, Dissertatio Epistolaris, i. 86; at the end of his dissertation Hickes gives a facsimile of the instrument.

[955] A record of 825 (H. & S. iii. 596-601) mentions a place 'in provincia Huicciorum' called Oslafeshlau; the editors of the Councils say 'Oslafeshlau is probably the original name of the hundred which now, either from some act of St. Oswald or by an easy corruption, is called Oswaldslaw.' One of Oswald's books (K. iii. 160) mentions 'Oswald's hlaw' among the boundaries of Wulfringtune, i.e. Wolverton, a few miles east of Worcester. It is very likely that the true name of the hundred is Oswald's hlaw, i.e. Oswald's hill, not Oswald's law, though the mistake was made at an early time. But the story told by the charter as to the fusion of three old hundreds is corroborated by Domesday, and in the thirteenth century one of the three courts was still held at Wimborntree.

[956] But Dr Stubbs, Const. Hist. i. 118, relies on part of this charter and it is not like ordinary forger's work. If, as is highly probable, there has been some 'improvement' of the charter, such improvement seems to have favoured, not the church of Worcester as against the king, but the monks as against the bishop.

[957] 'cum tolle et teame, saca et socne, et infangenetheof, et proprii iuris debitum transgressionis, et poenam delicti quae Anglice dicitur ofersæwnesse, et gyltwyte.'

[958] D. B. i. 172 b: 'Ecclesia S. Mariae de Wirecestre habet unum hundret quod vocatur Oswaldeslau in quo iacent ccc. hidae. De quibus episcopus ipsius ecclesiae a constitutione antiquorum temporum habet omnes redditiones socharum et omnes consuetudines inibi pertinentes ad dominicum victum et regis servitium et suum, ita ut nullus vicecomes ullam ibi habere possit querelam, nec in aliquo placito, nec in alia qualibet causa. Hoc testatur totus comitatus.'

[959] Another example is Edgar's charter for Ely, A.D. 970 K. 563 (iii. 56), which bestows the soke over the two hundreds which lie within the Isle, five hundreds in Essex, and all other lands of the monastery. Kemble was inclined to accept the A.-S. version of the charter. It purports to be obtained by bishop Æthelwold and, if genuine, is closely connected with the Oswaldslaw charter; both testify to unusual privileges obtained by the founders of the new monasticism.

[960] E.g. K. 1298 (vi. 149), 'Dis is seo freolsboc to ðan mynstre æt Byrtune.'

[961] E.g. K. 277 (ii. 58), 278 (ii. 60).

[962] A.D. 875; K. 306 (ii. 101); B. ii. 159.

[963] Unsuspected charters of the seventh and eighth centuries are so few, that we hardly dare venture on any generalities about their wording. But already in a charter attributed to 674, E. p. 4, Brit. Mus. Facs. iv. 1, something very like the 'common form' of later days appears; it appears also in a charter of A.D. 691-2, K. 32 (i. 35), E. p. 12, of which we have but a fragmentary copy, and before the end of the eighth century it appears with some frequency; see e.g. Offa's charter of 774, K. 123 (i. 150): 'sit autem terra illa libera ab omni saecularis rei negotio, praeter pontis, arcisve restaurationem et contra hostes communem expeditionem.'

[964] Occasionally the contrast is expressly drawn, e.g. by Æthelbald, K. 90 (i. 108): 'ut ab omni tributo vectigalium operum onerumque _saecularium_ sit libera ... tantum ut Deo omnipotenti ex eodem agello _aecclesiasticae_ servitutis famulatum inpendat.'

[965] See above, p. 229.

[966] Privilege of Wihtræd, A.D. 696-716, Haddan and Stubbs, iii. 238: 'Adhuc addimus maiorem libertatem. Inprimis Christi ecclesiae cum omnibus agris ad eam pertinentibus, similiter Hrofensi ecclesiae cum suis, caeterisque praedictis omnibus ecclesiis Dei nostri, subiciantur pro salute animae meae, meorumque praedecessorum, et pro spe caelestis regni ex hac die, et deinceps concedimus et donamus ab omnibus difficultatibus saecularium servitutis, a pastu Regis, principum, comitum, nec non ab operibus, maioribus minoribusve gravitatibus: et ab omni debitu vel pulsione regum tensuris liberos eos esse perpetua libertate statuimus.' See also the act by which Æthelbald confirmed this privilege in 742, H. & S. iii. 340, B. i. 233-6. According to one version of this act, the _trinoda necessitas_ is, according to another it is not, excepted. The learned editors of the Councils speak of 'the suspicions common to every record that notices the Privilege of Wihtræd.' We are treading on treacherous ground. See also the less suspicious Act of Æthelbald, A.D. 749, H. & S. iii. 386: 'Concedo ut monasteria et aecclesiae a publicis vectigalibus et ab omnibus operibus oneribusque, auctore Deo, servientes absoluti maneant, nisi sola quae communiter fruenda sunt, omnique populo, edicto regis, facienda iubentur, id est, instructionibus pontium, vel necessariis defensionibus arcium contra hostes, non sunt renuenda.'

[967] A.D. 1066, Edward the Confessor for Westminster, K. 828 (iv. 191): 'scotfre and gavelfre.'

[968] Kemble, Codex, vol. i. Introduction liii-lvi., collects some of the best instances. Offa for a valuable consideration frees certain lands belonging to the church of Worcester from _pastiones_; 'nec non et trium annorum ad se pertinentes pastiones, id est sex convivia, libenter concedendo largitus est': K. 143 (i. 173), B. i. 335.

[969] A.D. 904, K. 1084 (v. 157).

[970] A.D. 826, Egbert for Winchester, K. 1037 (v. 81): 'Volo etiam ut haec terra libera semper sit ... nullique serviat nisi soli episcopo Wentano.'

[971] K. 1346 (vi. 205). Compare Fustel de Coulanges, L'Immunité Mérovingienne, Revue historique, xxiii. 21.

[972] E.g. K. 1117 (v. 231): 'tribus semotis causis a quibus nullus nostrorum poterit expers fore'; K. v. pp. 259, 283, 334.

[973] To this class belong the foundation charter of Evesham mentioned above, p. 235, and Offa's charter for St. Albans, K. 161 (i. 195), which Haddan and Stubbs, iii. 469, are unwilling to decisively reject. Cenwulf's charter for Abingdon, K. 214 (i. 269), H. & S. iii. 556, sets a limit to the amount of military service that is to be demanded. Æthelstan's charter for Crediton, recently printed by Napier and Stevenson, Crawford Charters, p. 5, frees land from the _trinoda necessitas_.

[974] E.g. K. i. p. 274; ii. pp. 14, 15, 24, 26, 83; v. pp. 53, 62, 81.

[975] Observe how Bede describes a gift made by Oswy in the middle of the seventh century; Hist. Eccl. iii. 24 (ed. Plummer, i. 178): 'donatis insuper duodecim possessiunculis terrarum in quibus _ablato studio militiae terrestris_, ad exercendam militiam caelestem etc.'

[976] The passages in the dooms which mention it are collected in Schmid, Glossar, s. v. _ángild_. They are discussed by Maurer, Krit. Ueberschau, ii. 32.

[977] The clauses of immunity which mention the _ángild_ will be collected in a note at the end of this section.

[978] K. 210 (i. 265); B. i. 497; H. & S. iii. 585. The clause in question is not found in every copy of the charter. If some monk is to be accused of tampering with the book, there seems just as much reason for charging him with having omitted a clause which limited, as for charging him with inserting a clause which recognized, the jurisdiction of the church.

[979] These clauses will be discussed in a note at the end of this section.

[980] A.D. 841, K. 250 (ii. 14): 'Liberabo ab omnibus saecularibus servitutibus ... regis et principis vel iuniorum eorum, nisi in confinio reddant rationem contra alium.' Compare K. 117 (i. 144): 'nisi specialiter pretium pro pretio ad terminum.' Also Leg. Henr. 57 § 1: 'Si inter compares vicinos utrinque sint querelae, conveniant ad divisas.' Ibid. 57 § 8: 'aliquando in divisis vel in erthmiotis.' Ibid. 9 § 4: 'Et omnis causa terminetur, vel hundreto, vel comitatu, vel hallimoto soccam habentium, vel dominorum curiis, vel divisis parium.' See above, p. 97.

[981] A.D. 828, K. 223 (i. 287): 'cum furis comprehensione intus et foris'; A.D. 842, K. 253 (ii. 16) 'ut ... furis comprehensione ... terra secura et immunis ... permaneat'; A.D. 850, K. 1049 (v. 95) a similar form; A.D. 858, K. 281 (ii. 64), a similar form; A.D. 869, K. 300 (ii. 95), a similar form; A.D. 880, K. 312 (ii. 109): 'cum furis comprehensione.' See Kemble's remarks, C. D. vol. i. p. xlvi.

[982] Hist. Eng. Law, i. 565.

[983] K. 1084 (v. 157); B. ii. 272: 'Christo concessi ut episcopi homines tam nobiles quam ignobiles in praefato rure degentes hoc idem ius in omni haberent dignitate quo regis homines perfruuntur regalibus fiscis commorantes, et omnia saecularium rerum iudicia ad usus praesulum exerceantur eodem modo quo regalium negotiorum discutiuntur iudicia.' Similar words occur in a confirmation by Edgar, K. 598 (iii. 136), which Kemble rejects. This contains an English paraphrase of the Latin text.

[984] Compare K. 821 (iv. 171): 'swa freols on eallan thingan eall swa thaes cinges agen innland.'

[985] Hist. Eng. Law, i. 570.

[986] Hist. Eng. Law, i. 580.

[987] Few questions in Frankish history have been more warmly contested than this, whether the immunist had a jurisdiction within his territory. On the one hand, it has been contended that there is no evidence older than 840 that he exercised jurisdiction even as between the inhabitants of that territory. On the other hand, it has been said that already in 614 he has civil jurisdiction in disputes between these inhabitants, besides a criminal jurisdiction over them, which however does not extend to the graver crimes. A few references will suffice to put the reader in the current of this discussion; Löning, Geschichte des Deutschen Kirchenrechts, ii. 731; Brunner, D. R. G. ii. 298; Schröder, D. R. G. 174; Beauchet, Histoire de l'organisation judiciaire en France, 74; Beaudoin, Étude sur les origines du regime féodal (Annales de l'enseignement supérieur de Grenoble, vol. i. p. 43); Fustel de Coulanges, L'Immunité Mérovingienne (Revue Historique, xxii. 249, xxiii. I). One of the most disputed points is the character of the court held by an abbot, which is put before us by the very ancient Formulae Andecavenses, a collection attributed to the sixth or, at the latest, to the early years of the seventh century. It has been asserted and denied that this abbot of Angers is exercising the powers given to him by an immunity; some have said that he, or rather his steward, is merely acting as an arbitrator; Brunner, Forschungen, 665, explains him as one of the _mediocres iudices_ of decaying Roman law. On the whole, the balance of learning is inclining to the opinion that, even in the Merovingian time, there were great churches and other lords with courts which wielded power over free men, and that the 'immunities,' even if they were not intended to create such courts, at all events made them possible, or, as Fustel says, consecrated them.

[988] Madox, Hist. Exch. i. 109; Bigelow, Placita Anglo-Normannica, 114.

[989] Hist. Eng. Law, i. 224-30.

[990] Nissl, Der Gerichtsstand des Clerus im Fränkischen Reich, 247.

[991] K. 214 (i. 269); 236 (i. 312).

[992] Edw. & Guth. 4; Leg. Henr. II, § 5.

[993] D. B. i. 26.

[994] Chron. de Bello, 26-7: 'Et si forisfacturae Christianitatis quolibet modo infra leugam contigerint, coram abbate definiendae referantur. Habeatque ecclesia S. Martini emendationem forisfacturae; poenitentiam vero reatus sui rei ab episcopo percipiant.'

[995] Battle Custumals (Camden Soc.), 126: 'Septem hundreda non habent fossas nisi apud Wy, et ideo habemus ij. denarios: Archiepiscopus tamen et Prior de novo trahunt homines suos ad fossas: Abbas de S. Augustino non habet.'

[996] c. 3, X. 5, 37: 'Accepimus ... quod archidiaconi Conventrensis episcopatus ... in examinatione ignis et aquae triginta denarios a viro et muliere quaerere praesumunt.'

[997] Cnut II. 12-15.

[998] Hist. Eng. Law, i. 564.

[999] Beaudoin, op. cit. p. 94 ff.

[1000] Æthelstan, II. 2.

[1001] Konrad Maurer, Krit. Ueberschau, ii. 30 ff.

[1002] Æthelstan, II. 3. Observe how in the Latin version 'se blaford the rihtes wyrne' becomes 'dominus qui rectum difforciabit.'

[1003] K. Maurer, Krit. Ueberschau, ii. 32, 40, 41. Ine, 22, is of great importance on account of its antiquity.

[1004] D. B. ii. 18 b: 'inde vocat dominum suum ad tutorem.' See above, p. 71.

[1005] Leg. Henr. 57, § 8; 82, §§ 4, 5, 6.

[1006] See above, p. 89.

[1007] Æthelstan, VI. (Iudicia Civitatis Lundoniae), 1.

[1008] Æthelred, I. 1, § 7.

[1009] Edgar, I. 2, 3; III. 7; IV. 2, § 8; Æthelred, I. 1; III. 3, 4, 7.

[1010] Æthelred, III. 3, 4.

[1011] Æthelred, III. 7.

[1012] Edgar, IV..= 2, § 11; Æthelred, I. 3.

[1013] D. B. i. 154. See above, p. 92.

[1014] See above, p. 275.

[1015] Northumbrian Priests' Law, Schmid, App. II. 48-9.

[1016] Ibid. 57, 58. See also the texts which give the lord a share with the bishop in the penalty for neglect to pay tithe, viz. Edgar, II. 3; Æthelred, VIII. 8; Cnut, I. 8.

[1017] K. 498 (ii. 386).

[1018] See above, p. 100.

[1019] The Archbishop of York, the bishops of Durham, Chester, Lincoln and (for one manor) Salisbury, the abbots of York, Peterborough, Ramsey, Croyland, Burton and (for one manor) Westminster.

[1020] D. B. i. 280 b; i. 337.

§ 4. _Book-land and Loan-land._

[The book and the gift.]

We can not say that from the first the gift of book-land establishes between the donee and the royal donor any such permanent relation as that which in later times is called tenure. What the king gives he apparently gives for good and all. In particular, a gift of land to a church is 'an out and out gift'; nay more, it is a dedication. Still, even within the sphere of piety and alms, we sometimes find the notion that in consequence of the gift the donee should do something for the donor. Cnut frees the lands of the church of Exeter from all burdens except military service, bridge-repair and 'assiduous prayers[1021],' and thus the title by which the churches hold their lands is already being brought under the rubric _Do ut des_. Turning to the books granted to laymen, we see that, at all events from the middle of the tenth century onwards, they usually state a _causa_, or as we might say 'a consideration,' for the gift. Generally the gift is 'an out and out gift.' Words are used which expressly tell us that the donee is to enjoy the land during his life and may on his death give it to whomsoever he chooses. Nothing is said about his paying rent or about his rendering in the future any service to the king in return for the land. The 'consideration' that is stated in the instrument is, if we may still use such modern terms, 'a past consideration.' The land comes rather as a reward than as a retaining fee. Sometimes indeed the thegn pays money to the king and is in some sort a buyer of the land, though the king will take credit for generosity and will talk of giving rather than of selling[1022]. More often the land comes as a reward to him for obedience and fidelity or fealty. Already the word _fidelitas_ is in common use; we have only to render it by _fealty_ and the transaction between the king and his thegn will be apt to look like an infeudation, especially when the thegn is described by the foreign term _vassallus_[1023]. Even the general rule that the king is rewarding a past, rather than stipulating for a future fealty, is not unbroken. Thus as early as 801 we find Cenwulf of Mercia and Cuthræd of Kent giving land to a thegn as a perpetual inheritance 'but so that he shall remain a faithful servant and unshaken friend to us and our magnates[1024].' So again, in 946 King Edmund gives land to a faithful _minister_ 'in order that while I live he may serve me faithful in mind and obedient in deed and that after my death he may with the same fealty obey whomsoever of my friends I may choose[1025].' The king, it will be seen, reserves the right to dispose by will of his thegn's fealty. A continuing relation is established between the king and his successors in title on the one hand, the holder of the book-land and his successors in title on the other.

[Book-land and service.]

However, as already said, the gift supposes that the personal relationship of lord and thegn already exists between the donor and the donee before the gift is made. This relationship was established by a formal ceremony; the thegn swore an oath of fealty, and it is likely that he bent his knee and bowed his head before his lord[1026]. The Normans saw their homage in the English commendation[1027]. The fidelity expected of the thegn is not regarded as a debt incurred by the receipt of land. And if the king does not usually stipulate for fidelity, still less does he stipulate for any definite service, in particular for any definite amount of military service. The land is not to be free of military service:--this is all that is said. However, to say this is to say that military service is already a burden on land. Already it is conceivable--very possibly it is true--that some of the lands of the churches have been freed even from this burden[1028]. What is more, if we may believe the Abingdon charters, the ninth century is not far advanced before the king is occasionally making bargains as to the amount of military service that the lands of the churches shall render. Abingdon need send to the host but twelve vassals and twelve shields[1029]. Likewise we see that on the eve of the Conquest, though other men who neglected the call to arms might escape with a fine of forty shillings, it was the rule, at least in Worcestershire, that the free man who had sake and soke and could 'go with his land whither he would' forfeited that land if he was guilty of a similar default[1030]. With this we must connect those laws of Cnut which say that the man who flees in battle, as well as the man who is outlawed, forfeits his book-land to the king, no matter who may be his lord[1031].

[Military service.]

Such rules when regarded from one point of view may well be called feudal. Book-land having been derived from, is specially liable to return to the king. It will return to him if the holder of it be guilty of shirking his military duty or of other disgraceful crime. To this we may add that if these rules betray the fact that the holder of this king-given land may none the less have commended himself and his land to some other lord against whose claims the king has to legislate, thereby they disclose a feudalism of the worst, of the centrifugal kind. The ancient controversy as to whether 'the military tenures' were 'known to the Anglo-Saxons' is apt to become a battle over words. The old power of calling out all able-bodied men for defensive warfare was never abandoned; but it was not abandoned by the Norman and Angevin kings. The holder of land was not spoken of as holding it by military service; but it would seem that in the eleventh century the king, save in some pressing necessity, could only ask for one man's service from every five hides, and the holder of book-land forfeited that land if he disobeyed a lawful summons[1032]. Whether a man who will lose land for such a cause shall be said to hold it by military service is little better than a question about the meaning of words. At best it is a question about legal logic. We are asked to make our choice (and yet may doubt whether our ancestors had made their choice) between the ideas of misdemeanour and punishment on the one hand and the idea of reentry for breach of condition on the other.

[Escheat of book-land.]