THEIR CONDITION IN 1066 141 



Bishop of Thetford pertaining to the see, and the lands of 

 the fee of the same (bishop). 1 But the word is also used in 

 another sense : " The woman who held this land (Combe, 

 Surrey) sent herself with it into the hands of the Queen, 

 and Humphrey holds it of the Queen in fee." 2 Similarly, 

 William the Chamberlain held Eia of the Queen in fee at 

 3 a year. 3 So that " fee " would appear to imply the gift of 

 a superior to an inferior. 



Hence the distinction between the lands Blacheman held 

 in allodium and in fee implies that the latter were derived from 

 the gift of some person, while the alod was not so derived, 

 and would therefore represent the estate of the original 

 settler. But we have seen that the freeholders the " liberi 

 homines" with liberty of commendation were the descend- 

 ants of the original settlers who remained on their ancestral 

 estates ; so that, as the Sussex Domesday suggests, " allo- 

 darius " and " liber homo " are different names for the same 

 person. The record that " when an allodiary of Kent died, 

 the King had a relief from his land," 4 confirms our contention 

 that the allodiary had no superior but, and rendered his 

 services to, the King. 



Another mode of pre-Domesday tenure was tenure " in 

 parage," a tenure which is thus described by the Customs of 

 Normandy : " Tenure by parage is when he who holds and 

 he of whom he holds ought, by reason of their tenure, to be 

 peers, by reason of their sharing in the heritage which de- 

 scends to them from their ancestor ; . . . the elders perform 

 the homage to the chief lords, and the juniors hold of them 

 by parage without homage." 5 The case of Siwate and his 

 brothers (p. 102) is a good example of such a holding. The 

 four brothers were sharers in the heritage, but Siwate per- 

 formed the duties of the holding, and the juniors held of him 



1 D. B., II. 191 and 193. 2 Id., I. 36 b I. 



3 Id., 129 b i. 4 Id., I. i a 2. 



5 Flach, Origines de VAndenne France, i. 253 n. 



