A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



In Buckinghamshire the most common form of tenure in chief was 

 tenure by military service, the tenant holding his land in return for provid- 

 ing so many knights to serve in the royal army. In 1 166 23 a full return was 

 made of the number of knights due from the land of the military tenants in 

 chief, each of whom had enfeoffed the majority of his knights. Thus Earl 

 Walter GifFard held no land in demesne (for which he would have to supply 

 knights to the king's army) within the county, all his quota of service having 

 been distributed among ninety-six knights, and these knights did service for 

 their land which they held of him. The size of these grants was very various, 

 for Hugh Bolebec owed the earl the service of twenty knights, and Geoffrey 

 the son of William twenty-six knights, but others had only to provide half the 

 service due from one knight. In other cases, however, part of the land alone 

 had been granted away ; William Malduit thus provided four and a half 

 knights from his demesne, depending most probably on the service of members 

 of his household, and when that was not available employing hired soldiers, 

 for the word miles at this time meant little more than a mounted soldier. 



A tenure in many ways akin to military service was that of serjeanty ; 

 it was called grand serjeanty when the tenant held of the king, and petty 

 serjeanty when he held of a mesne lord. The tenant in serjeanty performed 

 some specially personal service for his lord, and in grand serjeanty he could 

 alienate no part of his land without leave. Several such tenancies were found 

 in Buckinghamshire. At ' Aston and Ilmire ' ** John son of Bernard held of 

 the king by the serjeanty of keeping his hawks ; Thomas son of Bernard 2t 

 held i oo solidatae of land by the serjeanty marescancie accepitrum domini regis. 

 The most interesting example, however, was at Aston Clinton. The manor 

 was held by William de Montagu 26 in grand serjeanty, but under the 

 previous lord much of the land had been alienated to tenants who paid him 

 a money rent. This had been done without the king's licence, and when 

 Robert S7 Passelewe was sheriff part of this rent was recovered to the king 

 and was paid through the lord of the manor. The demesne land of the 

 manor had, however, undergone another change, being held by military 

 tenure by the service of one knight ; but so late as the reign of Edward VI K 

 the tenants were still paying their rent under the name of serjeanty. 



On the foundation of monastic houses the donors as a rule granted their 

 lands in ' frankalmoin,' i.e. a tenure for which the grantee did spiritual 

 service only. The most common service performed was that of praying for 

 the souls of the grantor and his ancestors. By an inquisition the monastery 

 of Biddlesden 29 was said to hold all its lands in frankalmoin, but not all the 

 houses were so fortunate. When land was held by military service or 

 serjeanty, the abbot himself was responsible for its performance and the lands 

 were distinguished as the abbot's temporalities. The abbot of Missen,den so 

 thus held land at Aston Clinton by serjeanty ; at Kimble he held 20 hides of 

 land by military service. 



Lastly, freehold land was held by common socage, that is, a money 

 rent was paid by the tenant. The older monastic feoffments were often made 



n Cartae Baronum, Black Bk. of Exch. " Hmd. R. (Rec. Com.), i, 25. 



K Ibid. 27. K Hund R. (Rec. Com.), i, 20. " Testa de Nevill (Rec Com.), 256, 257. 



18 P R.O. Mins. Accts. Edw. VI. w Harl. MS. 84, .31. 



K Hund. R. (Rec. Com.), i, 20, 31. 



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