46 LAND REFORM 



lord he shall hold his right hand upon a book and 

 shall say thus : Hear you my lord, that I shall be to 

 you both faithful and true, and shall owe my fidelity 

 unto you for the land that I hold of you, and lawfully 

 shall do such customs and services as my duty is to 

 you at the terms assigned. So help me God and all 

 His Saints." 



The oath taken by a villein is somewhat different. 

 He does fealty "for the land that I hold of you in 

 villeinage, and shall be justified by you in body and 

 goods," etc.^ 



This holding of land in fealty seems to have lasted 

 at any rate in theory till it was abolished with other 

 feudal incidents In 1660. In 1642 an ordinance was 

 issued founded on an Act passed in that year by 

 which episcopal lands were to be sold and the 

 proceeds used for the payment of the debts of the 

 kingdom and for the service of the Commonwealth. 

 The purchasers were not to be absolute owners, but 

 were to have "letters patent for these grants which 

 they were to hold directly of the king in fealty only." ^ 



Indeed, the legal principle of land tenure in Eng- 

 land seems to have continued unchanged down to 



Rolls of the Pipe." These remarkable records were begun in the twelfth 

 century. They set forth the financial position of the holdings of the 

 country. There is no suggestion in them of any private ownership of 

 land. They contain minute particulars of lands granted by the Crown ; 

 the yearly sums payable to the Ci'own on account thereof; the disburse- 

 ments (tithes, alms, etc.) made by the holders of farms, and other matters. 

 The accounts are put in Dr. and Cr. form, and show the balance due to 

 the Exchequer. These records are edited by the "Pipe Roll Society," 

 which lias published a number of volumes. Volume iii, which contains 

 the "Introduction," is specially interesting, It gives a facsimile of the 

 elegant style of handwriting of the time, and several examples of the 

 completeness with which the accounts were kept. 



1 17 Edward II, St. 2. 



« " History of Northallerton," Rev. J. L. Say well, 1885. 



