Canterbury was a place of considerable importance at CHAP. XVI. this time, from the fact that it had, as we have seen, its "seven moneyers" or mints, besides its King's geréfa or sheriff, its Bishop's geréfa, and also its Burh geréfa, freely elected by the citizens, who not only administered justice in the burhwaremot, but, if necessary, led the city trainbands to the field, by which it was in some measure protected against the arbitrary will of a noble or bishop. We have already spoken of the gilds or clubs which existed in the cities and towns. CHAP. XVII. Anglo-Saxon tenures. CHAPTER XVII. ANGLO-SAXON LAND TENURES. THE WITAN. SHIRE- WE TE will now speak of the landed property of the county, and the tenure under which it was held ;* and here let me request the reader not to confound the Anglo-Saxon with the Norman tenure. The distinction is too often lost sight of; but the fact is that the former was comparatively free, while the latter, or the feudal tenure, was one of strict dependence. The earliest Saxon division was into (1) Crown land; (2) Allodium land; (3) Folkland; (4) Bocland; and (5) Lænland. (1) The crown land comprised that portion of the conquered country and spoil which was set apart for the Sovereign or chief, who placed in each vill or wic where he possessed property a villicus or wicgerefa. These places were distinguished as Royal vills, such as Wye, Eastry, and Milton; and the officer (subsequently known by the Norman term bailiff) superintended the management and cultivation of the soil and watched over the king's interests; in short, represented him. The Sovereign, as we shall see, was also usually possessed of private estates, We have no proof that Hengist, when he took possession of Kent, divided portions of the soil among his followers by the casting of lots; but we may infer that he did so, after taking care of himself, for such appears to have been the usual practice among the earliest formations of Vol. II., p. 541. German settlements. Mr. Turner says, "It is highly probable that the Saxon war-cyning [King, the son or child of the nation] succeeded to all the rights of the monarch he dispossessed, and in rewarding his companions and warriors with the division of the spoil, it can be as little doubted that from those to whom the cyning or the witena gave the lands of the British landowners, a certain portion of military service was exacted in order to maintain the conquest they had achieved." which did not merge in the Crown and were under his CHAP. XVII. absolute control. (2) After thus providing for the Sovereign, or chief, portions of land, varying no doubt in quantity, were set apart for his new settlers or followers. These, which consisted of arable land, constituted the allodium, or alod land. It formed the lot or share of the first settlers; and the smallest portion allotted was one that was deemed sufficient for the support of one family, and would keep a plough at work during the year. The pastures and the marshes, constituting chiefly what we should now call commons, or unreclaimed lands, with the woods and forests, were reserved for the maintenance of cattle, and remained in undivided possession among the whole of the freemen; but it was the arable allotment which conferred the right to participate in the advantages of these commons, woods and forests, or folcland, which (unless afterwards converted into bocland) did not, we shall see, become absolute property in the hands of the individual possessors, for the ownership remained in the State. (3, 4) Next in order were the folclands and boclands; and as Mr. Thorpe, in his "Glossary to the Ancient Laws and Institutions of England," has so ably defined them, I feel no apology is necessary for adopting his account. "FOLC-LAND, "The land of the folk or people.' It was the property of the community. It might be occupied in common, or possessed in severalty; and, in the latter case, it was probably parcelled out to individuals in the folcgemot or court of the district, and the grant sanctioned by the freemen who were there present. But, while it continued to be folcland, it could not be alienated in perpetuity; and therefore, on the expiration of the term for which it had been granted, it reverted to the community, and was again distributed by the same authority. "Folcland was subject to many burthens and exactions from which bocland was exempt. The possessors of folcland were bound to assist in the reparation of royal vills, and in other public works. They were liable to have travellers and others quartered on them for subsistence. They were required to give hospitality to Kings and great men in their progresses through the country, to furnish them with carriages and relays of horses, and to extend the same assistance to their messengers, followers, and servants, and even to the persons who had charge of their Sax. in Eng., 118. CHAP. XVII. hawks, horses, and hounds. Such at least are the burthens from which lands are liberated, when converted by charter into bocland. "Folcland might be held by freemen of all ranks and conditions. It is a mistake to imagine, with Lambarde, Spelman, and a host of antiquaries, that it was possessed by the common people only. Still less is Blackstone to be credited when, trusting to Somner, he tells us it was land held in villenage by people in a state of downright servitude, belonging, both they and their children and effects, to the lord of the soil, like the rest of the cattle or stock upon the land.-(Blackstone, II., 92.) A deed published by Lye exposes the error of these representations. (Anglo-Saxon Dict., App. II., 2.) "BOC-LAND, land held by book or charter. It was land that had been severed by an Act of the Government from the folcland, and converted into an estate of perpetual inheritance. It might belong to the Church, to the King, or to a subject. It might be alienable and devisable at the will of the proprietor; it might be limited in its descent without any power of alienation in the possessor. It was often granted for a single life, or for more lives than one, with remainder in perpetuity to the church. It was forfeited for various delinquences to the State. "Estates in perpetuity were usually created by charter after the introduction of writing, and on that account bocland and land of inheritance [the allodium land] are often used as synonymous expressions. But at an earlier period they were conferred by the delivery of a staff, a spear, an arrow, a drinking horn, the branch of a tree, or a piece of turf ; and when the donation was in favour of the Church, these symbolical representations of the grant were deposited with solemnity on the altar. Nor was this practice entirely laid aside after the introduction of title deeds. There are instances of it as late as the time of the Conqueror. It is not, therefore, quite correct to say that all the lands of the AngloSaxons were either folcland or bocland. When land was granted in perpetuity it ceased to be folcland, but it could not with propriety be termed bocland, unless it was conveyed by a written instrument. "Bocland was released from all services to the public,* with the exception of contributing to military expeditions and to the reparations of castles and bridges. These duties of services were comprised in the phrase of trinoda necessitas which were said to be incumbent on all persons, so that none could be excused from them. The Church, indeed, contrived in some cases to obtain an exemption from them, but in general its lands, like those of others, were subject to them. Some of the charters granting to the possessions of the Church an exemption from all services whatever are genuine, but the greater part of them are forgeries. "Bocland might, nevertheless, be subjected to the payment of an annual rent to the State by its original charter of creation, and might be held by freemen of all ranks and degrees. "The estates of the higher nobility consisted chiefly of bocland. *This is doubted, except in the grants to churches and privileged persons. Bishops and abbots might have bocland of their own in addition to what CHAP. XVII. they held in right of the Church. "The Anglo-Saxon Kings had private estates of bocland, and these estates did not merge in the crown, but were devisable by will, the subject of gift, or sale, and transmissible by inheritance, in the same manner as bocland held by a subject." (5) The thanes, or other owners of these different classes of estates, first reserved for themselves sufficient for the homsteads and farms and the dwellings of their dependants, consisting of cottarii and serri, who by labour in their various departments supplied the daily wants of their respective chiefs; and the remainder of the land was leased out to those who had no land, and often on harsh and onerous conditions. This land the Saxons called Læn or loan-as it was considered to be lent. It was often granted for lives, especially by the ecclesiastics; but in the case of folcland the lessee could, of course, only grant a lease commensurate with his own term or estate. * Thus we have the original alod, the lot or share of land of the chief or King and his companions in arms who were the first settlers; the folcland, or property of the community; the bocland, or land held by book or charter, severed from the folcland by an Act of the State or Government of the day, and converted into an estate of inheritance; and the lan-land, or the land which could be let and granted out of each of the others. The allodium land and bocland are by Spelman, Somner, Hasted, and other writers frequently classed together, and these writers speak only of bocland and folcland, which is no doubt incorrect. Mr. Kemble and Mr. Thorpe appear to agree on this point. Bocland formed no part of the family inheritance, and the owner could dispose of it as he pleased, whereas the paternal inheritance, the original allodium land, could not be left away from the family. * Leases for lives have always prevailed more in the West of England than in the South. Very little land has ever been held in Kent under leases for lives. The Rectorial tithes of Wye, however, are still held in this manner by Mr. Drax, M.P., under the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, as part of the possessions of the See of Canterbury; and the late Earl of Guildford held considerable property of the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury, in Romney Marsh, under a Lease for lives which expired at his death, in 1861. N |