CURIOUS TENURES OF ENGLISH LAND

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 88, 14 April 1934, Page 19

CURIOUS TENURES OF ENGLISH LAND

, A perusal df some ancient English land tenures makes curious reading. It seemed to be- a fairly common practice of kings "in the old days," when conferring favours, to hand out parcels of land, "breaking ii^) big estates," so to speak, in some cases,:and bringing about a, kind of "back-to-the-land" policy in their own regal fashion, says the Melbourne ''Age.'' The receipt of such royal privileges usually carried an obligation, to render service, but , the service in. many instances appeared to bo out of proportion, to tho payment made. Be thisas it may, colour and quaintness are-' seen in perusing theso tenures, the terms in some instances indicating pastimes and military roqui foments of tho period. iWJiqii archery was the vogue, barbed, Botched and unflctched arrows, bows and quivers were demanded by the king for his hunting expeditions, in exchange for manorial rights. An estato in Kent came into the "possession of ono Solomon Attcfeld in return for_his accompanying King John.when" ho went to sea "to hold his .Majesty's, head" should ho become seasick. It is recorded that another estate was held by virtue of tho possessor finding an esquire '-for the. king for 40 days and for providing straw and litter for the king's bed. Some lands attaching to the Manor Koyal of Aylosbury belonging to "William tho Conqueror were granted by him to his friends on condition that they should provido . straw for his.'bed and'ehamber, and three eels for his use''in winter: and in summer stra/ny rushes, and two green geese thrice;-'etery' year if he should visit Ay'lesbury, so "often. Straw and rushes sound^pcculiar to us today, when kapok and} spring iliiattressos, linoleums, and carpets aro so widely used; ■ "A year's rent for one manor was "a pound of pepper and a pound of cum-' min,'V a'pair of gilt spurs', being demanded a'nrrtially for another, while one .sparrow' hawk was all that was asked by a Countess of Salisbury in return for a manor in her possession. Why the king should be handed "a pair of spurious sixpences" when he

hunted in Furbrook Forest is hard to comprehend; but such were- the terms for the holding of certain lands in Dor'sat. In ..return for manorial rights, also in Dorset, we read that a certain knight was bound to put 'away, the pieces when the king had honoured him by trying his skill as a chess .player. < , A certain lord, in exchange for a land holding, had to "measure the measures of the Royal Household, keep the king's female domestics in order, and to dismember malefactors."- -Steel needles, silver needles, ■ hose, gloves, spits for roasting the king's meat, peppercorns, falcons, nightcaps, are other indications of tho form that many rentals took in earlier days in England. Thero is a houso in Devon on lease for 2000 years from tho death of Queen Elizabeth (,1603). It is interesting to notice on the corner stone of a houso in Cornwall the statement that "Walter Kc'nda], of Lostwithiel, founder of this house, "hath a lease for three thousand yeares, which had beginning the 29th of September, Anno 1652." Who would not give one red rose per year for 166 acres with a house? At this small price an estate in Sussex was let.for 10,000 years in the second year of James First.

The conditions of many ancient tenures became troublesome to fulfil, as can bo readily imagined, and in numerous cases were altered to money payments when arrangements could be made bctwc.cn the piil'ties concerned. A rather picturesque incident is related of John, Enrl of Warren and Surrey, who appeared before the Commissioners of Edward First to show by what .title he. held his lands. ~ Flashing an old sword before tho astonished eyes of'tho king's representatives,, he exclaimed: "Behold, my Lo'rdd, here' is my warrant. My ancestors, coming into this land with William.the. Conqueror, did obtain their lands by this sword;' and I am resolved, by tho sword to defend them against whomsoever' shall endeavour to. dispossess me; for William did not himself conquer and subdue the land, but our forefathers were sharers therein!"