A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK 



Wyverstone he had three-quarters of the commendation of a freeman."' 

 There was sub-commendation, too, whereby a commended man could in 

 turn have others commended to him, and a sort of feudal chain could be 

 formed, with personal rather than tenurial links. Thus Edric held of Robert 

 Malet two freemen who had been commended to Robert's antecessor^ Edric 

 of Laxfield,"' and a freeman was commended to one who was himself com- 

 mended to Edric of Laxfield."^ But though the bond created by commenda- 

 tion was essentially personal, it constantly, perhaps usually, involved a tenurial 

 relation. If the commended man were the lord's homo^^^ he was also often 

 his tenant. Here, too, the tie might be loose or close. It is carefully put 

 on record that a man is or is not free to give or sell his land. The phrases, 

 ' poterant dare et vendere terram,' ' non poterant dare et vendere terram sine 

 licencia,' recur frequently, especially in connexion with the great religious 

 houses. Sometimes freemen could give and sell their land, but the sac and 

 soke and commendation remained to the former lord, with service and 

 custom. There was a change of occupiers, but no change in the conditions 

 of occupation. Of three freemen at Saxham, in Thingoe Hundred, two 

 could give and sell, and the third had to obtain leave from the Abbot 

 of St. Edmunds. Two of St. Edmund's sokemen at Long Melford could 

 only give and sell with the full consent {pleno concessu) of the abbot. At 

 Bradfield, in Thedwastre Hundred, there were freemen who could p.ve and 

 sell, but the soke and the service remained to the Saint, whoever should 

 buy the land."' 



At Whatfield, in Cosford Half-hundred, Roger Bigot had become the 

 overlord of a freeman over whom in King Edward's day St. Edmund had 

 commendation and the whole soke {totam socam). At Herringswell, in Lack- 

 ford Hundred, a sokeman had half his land, with the soke, under Wisgar, and 

 the other half, with the soke, under St. Edmund. In one case a man and his 

 wife were free to give and sell their lands, but the sake and soke and com- 

 mendation over the woman remained to St. Edmund ; in another, the 

 hundred was called on to bear witness that one of ten freemen could only 

 give and sell his land with the full consent {pleno consensu) of the Abbot of 

 St. Edmunds, while the other nine could give and sell at will.^^" 



After the Norman Conquest all land in Suffolk was held by strict feudal 

 tenure, by derivation from {de) a lord. The older, less stringent relation, 

 the method of holding under [sub) a lord, and the old freedom in the choice 

 of lords and the alienation of land, gradually became things of the past.^^^ Here, 



"»Dom. Bk. 321^. 



"• Ibid. 3133 ; Dom. Bk. and Beyond, 74 ; cf. Dom. Bk. 305^, ' Winestuna : Duo liberi homines com- 

 mendati cuidam commendato Edrici.' 



"' Ibid. 3463 ; cf. 309^, ' Wivertestuna ' : A man half commended to the abbot and half sub-com- 

 mended to R. Malet's ' antecessor ' ; A free woman sub-commended (' sub-commendata ') to R. Malet's 

 'antecessor' ; 3201J, Thornham Parva ; 376, Helmingham ; 377, Winston. 



"' Ibid. 3423 ; ' In Kirketuna, i liber homo Godricus presbyter commendatus Edrici tempore regis 

 Edwardi antequam se utlagavit et postquam se utlagavit fuit homo Normanni.' 



'" Ibid. 3563 et seq. St. Edmund ; ibid. 359, 362 ; Maitland, Dom. Bk. and Beyond, 46 et seq., 66 

 et seq. 



'" Dom. Bk. 330^, 392, 3633, Liuennera ; 368, Bedingefelda. 



'" Maitland, Dom. Bk. and Beyond, 46 ; Pollock and Maitland, Hist, of Engl. Law, '\, 2 10 et seq ; Vinogra- 

 doiF, op. cit. 219 et seq. ; cf. Dom. Bk. 333, 'Sub eo tenuit i libera feroina '; 428,428(5, ' Hoketona ten[uit] 

 Huthtradus sub Heroldo T.R.E. . ; . Kanavadisc ten[uit] Normannus cum soca et saca sub rege E. 

 . . . Neuuetona ten[uit] idem Uthret sub Heroldo.' But cf. 41 13, W. de Boevilla holds sub G. de 

 Mandeville. 



