Serjeanty

Tenure by serjeanty was a form of land-holding in Medieval England (and is also used of similar forms in Continental Europe) under the feudal system, intermediate between tenure by knight-service and tenure in socage. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Feudalism, a term first used in the early modern period (17th century in its most classic sense refers to a Medieval Europe Political system composed Land tenure is the name given particularly in Common law systems to the legal regime in which land is owned by an individual who is said to "hold" the land Knight-service was the dominant and distinctive tenure of land as a Fief associated with a Knight under the English Feudal system. Socage was one of the feudal duties and hence Land tenure forms in the feudal system.

1 Origins and Development
2 Grand Serjeanty Distinguished from Petty Serjeanty
3 Modern Remnants
4 Suggested Reading
5 Examples of grand serjeanty
6 Related Links
7 References

Origins and Development

It originated in the assignation of an estate in land on condition of the performance of a certain duty, which can hardly be described more exactly than as not being that of knight-service. Its essence, according to Pollock and Maitland [1], might be described as "servantship," the discharge of duties in the household of king or noble; but it ranged from service in the king's host, distinguished only by equipment from that of the knight, to petty renders scarcely distinguishable from those of the rent-paying tenant or socager. Sir Frederick Pollock 3rd Baronet PC ( December 10 1845 - January 18 1937) was an English jurist best known for his History of Frederic William Maitland ( May 28, 1850 - December 19, 1906) was an English Jurist and Historian.

Serjeanties, as Miss Bateson has expressed it,

were neither always military nor always agricultural, but might approach very closely the service of knights or the service of farmers . . . The serjeanty of holding the king's head when he made a rough passage across the Channel, of pulling a rope when his vessel landed, of counting his chessmen on Christmas day, of bringing fuel to his castle, of doing his carpentry, of finding his potherbs, of forging his irons for his ploughs, of tending his garden, of nursing the hounds gored and injured in the hunt, of serving as veterinary to his sick falcons, such and many others might be the ceremonial or menial services due from a given serjeanty.

The many varieties of serjeanty were afterwards increased by lawyers classing for convenience under this head such duties as those of escort service to the Abbess of Barking, or of military service on the Welsh border by the men of Archenfield. Archenfield is the historic English name for an area of southern and western Herefordshire in England.

Serjeants (servientes) are already entered as a distinct class in Domesday Book (1086), though not in all cases differentiated from the barons, who held by knight-service. The Domesday Book (ˈduːmzdeɪ bʊk also known as Domesday, or Book of Winchester) was the record of the great survey Sometimes, as in the case of three Hampshire serjeanties -- those of acting as king's marshal, of finding an archer for his service, and of keeping the gaol in Winchester Castle -- the tenure can be definitely traced as far back as Domesday. Winchester Castle, is a Castle in England in the city of Winchester, in the county of Hampshire, built in 1067 It is probable, however, that many supposed tenures by serjeanty were not really such, although so described in returns, in inquests after death, and other records. The simplest legal test of the tenure was that serjeants, though liable to the feudal exactions of wardship, etc. , were not liable to scutage; they made in place of this exaction special composition with the crown. The tax of scutage or escuage, in the law of England under the Feudal system, allowed a knight to "buy out" of the military service due to the

Grand Serjeanty Distinguished from Petty Serjeanty

The germ of the later distinction between "grand" and "petty" serjeanty is found in the Great Charter (1215), the king there renouncing the right of prerogative wardship in the case of those who held of him by the render of small articles. Magna Carta ( Latin for Great Charter, literally " Great Paper " also called Magna Carta Libertatum ( Great Charter of Freedoms The legal doctrine that serjeanties were (a) inalienable and (b) impartible led to the "arrentation," under Henry III, of serjeanties the lands of which had been partly alienated, and which were converted into socage tenures, or, in some cases, tenures by knight-service. Henry III (1 October 1207 &ndash 16 November 1272 was the son and successor of John "Lackland" as King of England, reigning for fifty-six years from 1216 Gradually the gulf widened, and "petty" serjeanties, consisting of renders, together with serjeanties held of mesne lords, sank into socage, while "grand" serjeanties, the holders of which performed their service in person, became alone liable to the burden of wardship and marriage. Mesne (an Anglo-French legal form of the O Fr meien mod moyen mean Med In Littleton's Tenures this distinction appears as well defined, but the development was one of legal theory.

When the military tenure of knight-service was abolished at the Restoration (by Charles II, cap. Charles II (Charles Stuart 29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685 was the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland. 24), that of grand serjeanty was retained, doubtless on account of its honorary character, it being then limited in practice to the performance of certain duties at coronations, the discharge of which as a right has always been coveted, and the earliest record of which is that of Queen Eleanor's coronation in 1236. Eleanor of Provence (c 1223 &ndash 26 June 1291 was Queen Consort of King Henry III of England. The most conspicuous are those of champion, appurtenant to the Dymokes' manor of Scrivelsby, and of supporting the king's right arm, appurtenant to that of Worksop. The Honourable The Queen's Champion is an office held in grand Serjeanty by the owner of the Manor of Scrivelsby since 1066 The latter duty was performed at the coronation of King Edward VII (1902).

Modern Remnants

The meaning of serjeant as a household officer is still preserved in the king's serjeants-at-arms, serjeant-surgeons and serjeanttrumpeter. The horse and foot serjeants (servientes) of the king's host in the 12th century, who ranked after the knights and were more lightly armed, were unconnected with tenure.

Examples of grand serjeanty

Manor of Worksop, white kid gloves
Manor of Scrivelsby, The Queen's Champion
Manor of Kenninghall, the Chief Butler of England
Manor of Farnham, right to provide gloves and support king's right arm, while the Royal Sceptre was in his hand during Coronation. The Manor of Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England, is held in grand Serjeanty. The Manor of Scrivelsby, Lincolnshire, England is a manor held by grand Serjeanty, a form of tenure which requires the performance of a The Honourable The Queen's Champion is an office held in grand Serjeanty by the owner of the Manor of Scrivelsby since 1066 The Chief Butler of England is an office of Grand Sergeanty associated with the feudal Manor of Kenninghall in Norfolk Farnham Royal is a Village and Civil parish within South Bucks district in Buckinghamshire, England. A sceptre or scepter is a symbolic ornamental staff held by a ruling Monarch, a prominent item of royal Regalia. A coronation is a ceremony marking the investiture of a Monarch with regal power specifically involving the placement of a crown upon his or her head and the
Manor of Bardolfe
Manor of Nether Bilsington, right to present three Maple cups
Manor of Eston-le-Mount, Chief Larderer and caterer
Manor of Grand Wilmondley
Manor of Lyston, right to bear a charger of wafers
Manor of Pelham
Manor of Heydon, right to bear a towel for washing the monarch's hands
Manor of Bedford, Almoner
Manor of Addington, right to serve a Mess of Dillegrout
Manor of Ashele, naperer
Manor of Sculton, larderer
The manor of Kinver and Stourton was held by the service of keeping the Royal Forest of Kinver

References

History of English Law Before the Time of Edward I by Pollock & Maitland

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. Napery is another term for Linen used for household purposes such as table linen. A larder is a cool area for storing Food prior to useLarders were commonplace in houses before the widespread use of the Refrigerator. Kinver is a large Village in South Staffordshire district Staffordshire, England. Stourton is a hamlet in Staffordshire, England a few miles to the northwest of Stourbridge. A royal forest is an area of land where certain rights are reserved for a Monarch or the Aristocracy, usually set aside for Hunting (see Medieval hunting Quia Emptores ( Medieval Latin for "because the buyers" the Incipit of the document was a Statute passed by Edward I of England The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911 is a 29-volume reference work that marked the beginning of the Encyclopædia Britannica The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone

Dictionary

-noun

(UK) A form of land ownership under the feudal system, where a family held an estate in exchange for rendering a service to their liege lord.

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