rel="nofollow" href="#ulink_5903db0b-d9bc-5fb3-aa8c-74de8513ec5e">[49] to the feast of Michaelmas 2s. a year; and there are there 28 customary tenants, each of whom holds 1 fardel[50] of land in villeinage, rendering yearly at the said terms by equal portions 2s., and the works of each for the same time are worth 12d. Sum of the extent:—22l. 12s. 8d.
Further, the aforesaid jurors say that Nicholas Poyntz, son of the aforesaid Hugh Poyntz, is next heir of the same Hugh and of the age of 30 years and more. In witness whereof the same jurors have set their seals to this inquisition.
The aforesaid Hugh de Poyntz held no other lands or tenements in my bailiwick on the day on which he died, except the lands and tenements in these inquisitions.[51]
[48] And eleven others named.
[49] June 24.
[50] A quarter of a virgate.
[51] A second inquisition is appended.
3. Grand Serjeanty [Inquisitions ad quod damnum, 135, 10], 1319.
Norfolk.—Inquisition made at Bishop's Lynn before the escheator of the lord the King on 30 March in the 12th year of the reign of King Edward, son of King Edward, by Robert de Causton.[52] … Which jurors say upon their oath that it is not to the damage or prejudice of the lord the King or of others if the lord the King grant to Thomas de Hauvill that he may grant to the venerable father John, bishop of Norwich, a custom called lastage[53] which he has and receives in the port of Bishop's Lynn in the county of Norfolk, to receive and hold to him and his successors, bishops of that place, for ever. Asked of whom that custom is holden in chief, they say, Of the lord the King in chief. Asked also by what service, they say that Thomas de Hauvill holds the manors of Dunton and Rainham and the custom called lastage in the ports of Bishop's Lynn and Great Yarmouth, in the county aforesaid, and Boston, in the county of Lincoln, by grand serjeanty, to wit, by the service of keeping a falcon of the lord the King yearly.[54] Asked how much that custom is worth yearly in the port of Lynn, they say that the aforesaid custom in the aforesaid port of Lynn is worth 16s. according to the true value in all issues yearly. In witness whereof the aforesaid jurors have set their seals to this inquisition at Lynn the day and year abovesaid.
[52] And eleven others named.
[53] Here a toll of ships' ladings.
[54] The service of grand serjeanty was usually more onerous.
4. Petty Serjeanty [Fine Roll, 3 Edward III, m. 5], 1329.
The King to his beloved and faithful, Simon de Bereford, his escheator on this side Trent, greeting. Because we have learned by an inquisition which we caused to be made by you that Nicholaa, who was the wife of Nicholas de Mortesthorp, deceased (defuncta), held on the day on which she died the manor of Kingston Russell with the appurtenances for the term of her life of the gift of William Russel, and that that manor is held of us in chief by the service of counting our chessmen (narrandi familiam scaccarii nostri) in our chamber, and of putting them in a box when we have finished our game; and that the aforesaid Nicholaa held on the day aforesaid the manor of Allington with the appurtenances for the term of her life of Theobald Russel by knight service; and that the aforesaid Theobald, son of the aforesaid William, is William's next heir of the manors aforesaid and of full age: We have taken Theobald's homage for the manor which is thus held of us and have given it back to him. And therefore we command you, that after you have taken security from the aforesaid Theobald for rendering to us a reasonable relief at our Exchequer, you cause the same Theobald to have full seisin of the manor aforesaid with the appurtenances and of the other lands and tenements which the same Nicholaa so held for the term of her life of the inheritance aforesaid in your bailiwick on the day on which she died, and which on account of her death have been taken into our hand, saving the right of every man. Witness the King at Gloucester,
26 September. By writ of privy seal.
5. An Action on the Feudal Incidents due from Lands held by Petty Serjeanty [Bracton's Note-Book, III, 290. No. 1280], 1239–40.
Jollan de Nevill was summoned to shew wherefore without licence of the lord the King he gave in marriage William, son and heir of Randolf son of Robert, who ought to be in the wardship of the lord the King because Randolf held his land of the King by the service of serjeanty, etc. And Jollan comes and says that the aforesaid William held no such land of the lord the King in chief save by the following service, to wit, that he ought to be verger (portare unam uirgam) before the justices in eyre at Lincoln, wherefore it seems to him that no wardship pertains thereof to the lord the King, and he says that at another time he was impleaded by Earl Richard[55] touching that wardship on account of certain land which the same Randolf held of the same Earl, and in such wise that an inquisition was made whereby it was proved that the same Earl had no right in that wardship, and also he says that another inquisition was made between the lord the King and him, Jollan, whereby it was proved that the wardship pertained to Jollan, and the inquisition was delivered to the Chancellor, and he puts himself on that inquisition, and thereof he says that after the wardship remained to him by that inquisition he sold the wardship and marriage forthwith to the Chancellor at Lincoln for 20 marks. And therefore let the inquisition be viewed etc.[56]
[55] Earl of Cornwall, the king's brother.
[56] For the uncertainty prevailing as to the burdens of this tenure in the thirteenth century, cf. Bracton, f. 35b. "Since such services are not done for the king's army or the defence of the country, no marriage or wardship is due therefrom to the chief lord, any more than from socage." But the gloss of this dictum quotes an instance of a justice upholding the claim of a chief lord to the wardship and marriage of the heir of a tenant by petty serjeanty.
6. Free Socage [Fine Roll, 16 Edward III, m. 15], 1342.
The King to his beloved and trusty, Richard de Monte Caniso, his escheator in the counties of Essex, Hertford and Middlesex, greeting. Because we have learned by an inquisition which we caused to be made by you that a tenement with the appurtenances in the parish of St. Clement Danes without the bar of the New Temple, London, which was of Thomas de Crauford, barber, deceased, and which is worth by the year in all issues 6s. 8d. according to the true value of the same, is holden of us in chief in free socage by the service of 18d. a year to be rendered therefrom to us at our Exchequer for all services, and that the wardship of the land and heir of the same Thomas does not pertain to us, because the wardship of such tenements holden of us in form aforesaid ought to pertain to the next friends of the same heirs to whom the aforesaid tenements cannot come by hereditary right, and that John, son of the said Thomas, is next heir of the same Thomas and of the age of fourteen years: We have taken the fealty of the same
