THE ENGLISH LAND SYSTEM 45 



The principle of feudalism was a life estate only, the 

 land reverting to the King on the death of the holder ; 

 the greatest landlord therefore was only a tenant, 

 holding land under the King on condition of services 

 rendered, usually of a military kind. These tenants- 

 in-chief in their turn granted land to sub-tenants on 

 the conditions that personal service should be given 

 or annual payments made in money or in kind. In 

 parish records and county histories the particulars of 

 these tenures are very frequently given. For instance, 

 " The hundred of Wynkelegh is in the hands of Sir 

 Roger de Keynges, and the same Roger holds the 

 said hundred from Lord Gilbert, and aforesaid Gilbert 

 holds the said hundred of the king in chief; that the 

 hundred is valued at a half mark per annum." ^ 



The oath of fealty taken by freemen and villeins 

 before the lords from whom they held lands involved 

 mutual obligations between the two parties. It in no 

 way suggests that either party was an owner of land 

 or anything more than a holder of it. The statute 

 enjoins that : "When a freeman shall do fealty to his 



^ " History of the Manor of Winkleigh, Devon," by Charles Worthy, 

 1876. An immense number of parish records contain similar inform- 

 ation. As an instance, in the history of Southmolton, among other cases 

 it is stated that : " The Manor of Southmolton with the said Borough 

 and hundred is held of the king in the form aforesaid and is worth yearly 

 clear ;^i8." " Records of Southmolton," John Cock, 1893. 



The services by which lands were held varied greatly ; they were 

 sometimes of a substantial kind, and often light and even nominal. 



On the holder of the land at Bicton (Devonshire) was imposed the 

 duty of guarding the gate of Exeter Castle. The holder of land at 

 Budleigh had to pay us. a year. Some holders had to execute sum- 

 monses and distraints, others to supply the king with bows and arrows, 

 and salmon when he came to Dartmoor to hunt. Some had to supply 

 armed attendants, etc. A list is given in a paper read before the 

 Devonshire Association by the Rev. Oswald Reichel, July 20, 1905. 



See also more complete accounts in the " Pipe Rolls," or the " Great 



