66 Bradford-upon-Avon. [ The Manor. 
We have already observed that great as were the privileges and ex- 
emptions of the Abbess she was bound nevertheless to assist in some 
public works, and more especially to providea certain number of fight- 
ing 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 fromher. The portions ofland held undersuch 
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 contri- 
bute the service of a soldier, or to pay, in the stead of this, a propor- 
tionate amercement called Escuage. The length of service demanded, 
or the amount of payment required, diminished with the quantity 
of land. For fa/fa 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 Anight-Service within the 
Manor of Bradford. In the record for 1629—John Hall, at Brad- 
ford,—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 feulty, if not homage, to the Abbess. From both these obli- 
gations, 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 Senes- 
chull, (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 jfidelitas is in Latin—And 
when a free-holder doth fealty to his Lord, he shall holde his right 
