90 
soldiers received for personal service. To the king, or general, 
part of the conquered lands were allotted; while the remainder, 
under the names of Jdeneficia or fiefs, was divided among his 
principal officers. As the common safety required that these 
officers should, upon all occasions, be ready to appear in arms for 
the common defence, and should continue obedient to the general 
or king, they bound themselves to take the field when called upon 
to do so, and to serve him with a number of men or vassals, in 
proportion to the extent of their territory. This was the origin of 
baronies. ‘These great officers again parcelled out their lands 
among their followers, and annexed the same or somewhat similar 
conditions, to the grants they made. This was the origin of 
manors. Large baronies often consisted of various manors, and 
this is especially apparent in the Barony of Kendal and Lordship 
or Liberty of Furness, which respectively comprised many manors. 
The lords of the manors subgranted or let the same in parcels of 
various extent to their tenants or vassals, either for military or more 
menial services, or at certain rents. When the Crown, at first 
elective, became hereditary, the fiefs or baronies, at first granted 
during pleasure, also descended from father and son, and so became 
perpetual ; and, by a natural consequence, more and more powerful 
became the barons, and so in proportion the authority of the 
king became more limited. In the same manner the tenants of 
the various manors gradually acquired a right to hold their lands 
in perpetuity instead of only so long as it pleased their lord. 
The king’s demesne, or the portion of land which he retained 
in his own hands, was that from which he drew subsistence for his 
court, and revenue for the ordinary expenses of his government : 
whereas the taxes payable by a vassal were originally only three— 
one when his eldest son was made a knight, another when his 
eldest daughter was married, and the third to ransom him when 
made a prisoner. There were also some other waifs and strays 
which came to his exchequer in the shape of wardships, marriages, 
&c., of his own vassals. When very hard up, his subjects perhaps 
granted him what was called a “benevolence,” something like a 
parent paying the gambling debts or tailor’s bills of his son, and so 
