THE DOMESDAY BOOK 
the exception of Lyth or Leath, which was included for the most part 
in the king’s demesne of the forest of Cumberland and lay entirely in 
the old county of Carlisle, each of the divisions was shadowed by the 
presence of a baronial castle, two of the wards at least being conterminous 
with baronies. The castle of Egremont was the seat of the dominus cap- 
italis of the barony of Coupland, and the castles of Cockermouth and 
Liddel bore the same relations to Allerdale and Eskdale. The ward 
services due to the castle of Egremont may be taken as an example of the 
existence of the institution in the county. We have already spoken of 
the anomalous character of this barony after its inclusion as a part of 
Cumberland. On its first appearance in the Pipe Rolls, it is called the 
county of Coupland’ and possessed several curious features of a quasi-in- 
dependence. The position of Egremont as the castle of the so-called 
county or ward is ascertained by a grant of privileges to the borough of 
that name by Richard de Luci, lord of the barony, towards the close of 
the twelfth century.” One can scarcely exaggerate the importance of the 
services imposed upon the borough of Egremont in their relation to the 
castle. The evidence of the Luci charter is all the more valuable as it is 
the solitary instance we possess in illustration of this little understood 
feudal vassalage as it existed in Cumberland. If war befall, so the charter 
recites, the burgesses shall find twelve men, with their arms, for the de- 
fence of the castle of ‘Acrimonte’ for forty days at their own proper cost; 
but afterwards (7 ceteris) they shall lend him clothes, food, and other 
merchandise for forty days; and if within that term he pay not their due, 
they are not bound to lend him other than merchandise until he shall 
have paid their due. Also they shall give him an aid for knighting one 
of his sons ; another aid for marrying one of his daughters ; and, if need 
be, an aid for ransom of his person or that of his heirs. They shall also 
give nim an aid when the knights of his land contribute. All this shall 
be done under the oversight of the twelve burgesses, who have not to go 
outside the gates of the borough on the summons of any one, save only to 
the door of the castle with the lord or his seneschal. It should be re- 
membered that, though Egremont castle belonged to Luci as tenant in 
chief, the Crown claimed the oversight of all castles, and the duty of 
castle guard, though nominally due to the lord, was reckoned among the 
services due to the king.° 
As tenure by cornage has not been classified by the lawyers, it may 
be worthy of mention that the incidents of wardship and marriage, which 
were among its obligations, should place it high in the list of free services. 
At present it is difficult to give it a definite position owing to its promis- 
cuous character. It includes grand serjeanty ; it has features like military 
service; and it approximates to socage. In 1278 the judges decided 
1 Pipe Rolls, 24 Hen. IIL., 3 Ric. I. et passim; Benedict Abbas, i. 108 (RS.); Hoveden, ii. 88 
(R.S.). 
2 Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Archeological Society, i. 282, where the charters of 
this borough have been printed in facsimile by the late Rev. E. H. Knowles, honorary canon of Carlisle. 
8 Pollock and Maitland, History of English Law before Edward I. i. 278-9, 2nd edit. 
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