The analogous English institution was the lǽn or, as we now say, loan. If in translating a German book we render Lehn by fief, feud, or fee, we should still remember that a Lehn is a loan. And no doubt the history of our ancient land-loans was influenced by the history of the precarium. We come upon the technical terms of continental law when King Æthelbald forbids any one to beg for a benefit or benefice out of the lands that have been given to the church of Winchester[1047]. There was need for such prohibitions. Edward the Elder prayed the bishop of this very church to lend him some land for his life; the bishop consented, but expressed a fervent hope that there would be no more of such requests, which in truth were very like commands. It would seem that some of the English kings occasionally did what had been done on a large scale in France by Charles Martel or his sons, namely, they compelled the churches to grant benefices to lay noblemen[1048]. When bishop Oswald of Worcester declared how he had been lending lands to his thegns, he used a foreign, technical term: ‘beneficium quod illis praestitum est[1049].’ But it is clear that the English conception of a land-loan was very lax; it would blend with the conception of a gift. To describe transactions of one and the same kind, if such verbs as commodare and lǽnan and lǽtan were used[1050], such words as conferre, concedere, tribuere, largiri and donare were also used[1051]. A loan is a temporary gift, and the nature of the transaction remains the same whether the man to whom the loan is made does, or does not, come under the obligation of paying rent or performing services.
Loans of church lands to the great.
Unfortunately our materials only permit us to study one branch of the loan; the aristocratic branch we may call it. No doubt the lords, especially the churches, are from an early time letting or ‘loaning’ lands to cultivators. Specimens of such agricultural leases we do not see and cannot expect to see, for they would hardly be put into writing. But at an early time we do see the churches loaning lands, and wide lands, to great men. This is a matter of much importance. One other course in the feudal edifice is thus constructed. We have seen the churches interposed between the king and the cultivators of the soil; the churches have become landlords with free land-holders under them. And now it is discovered that the churches have a superiority which they can lend to others. We see already a four-storeyed structure. There are the cultivator, the church’s thegn, the church, the king. Very great men think it no shame to beg boons from the church. Already before 750 the bishop of Worcester has granted five manses to ‘Comes Leppa’ for lives[1052]; before the century is out the abbot of Medeshamstead has granted ten manses to the ‘princeps’ Cuthbert for lives[1053]. In 855 the bishop of Worcester gives eleven manses to the ealdorman of the Mercians and his wife for their lives[1054]; in 904 a successor of his makes a similar gift[1055]. But we have seen that the king himself was not above taking a loan from the church. Indeed powerful men insist on having loans, and the churches, in order to protect themselves against importunities, obtain from the king this among their other immunities, namely, that no lay man is to beg boons from them, or that no lease is to be for longer than the lessee’slife[1056]. In such cases we may also see the working of a second motive: the church is to be protected against the prodigality of its own rulers. The leases made by the prelates seem usually to have been for three lives. This compass is so often reached, so seldom exceeded[1057] that we may well believe that the English church had accepted as a rule of sound policy, if not as a rule of law, the novel of Justinian which set the limit of three lives to leases of church lands[1058].
The consideration for the loan.
Occasionally the lease is made in consideration of a sum of money paid down; occasionally the recipient of the land comes under an express obligation to pay rent. An early example shows us the abbot of Medeshamstead letting ten manses to the ‘princeps’ Cuthbert for lives in consideration of a gross sum of a thousand shillings and an annual pastus or ‘farm’ of one night[1059]. The bishop of Worcester early in the ninth century concedes land to a woman for her life on condition that she shall cleanse and renovate the furniture of the church[1060]. On the other hand, when land is ‘loaned’ to a king or a great nobleman, this may be in consideration of his patronage and protection; the church stipulates for his amicitia[1061]. We may say that he becomes the advocatus of the church, and the patronage exercised by kings and nobles over the churches is of importance, though perhaps it was not quite so serious a matter in England as it was elsewhere.
St. Oswald’s loans.
But from our present point of view by far the most interesting form that the loan takes is the loan to the thegn or the cniht. Happily it falls out that we have an excellent opportunity of studying this institution. We recall the fact that by the gifts of kings and underkings the church of Worcester had become entitled to vast tracts of land in Worcestershire and the adjoining counties. Now between the years 962 and 992 Bishop Oswald granted at the very least some seventy loans comprising in all 180 manses or thereabouts[1062]. In almost all cases the loan was for three lives. In a few cases the recipient was a kinsman of the bishop, in a few he was an ecclesiastic; far more generally he is described as ‘minister meus,’ ‘fidelis meus,’ ‘cliens meus,’ ‘miles meus,’ ‘my knight,’ ‘my thegn,’ ‘my true man.’ When the ‘cause’ or consideration for the transaction is expressed it is ‘ob eius fidele obsequium’ or ‘pro eius humili subiectione atque famulatu’: a recompense is made for fealty and service. Any thing that could be called a stipulation for future service is very rare. A definite rent is seldom reserved[1063]. Sometimes the bishop declares that the land is to be free from all earthly burdens, save service in the host and the repair of bridges and strongholds. To those excepted imposts he sometimes adds church-scot, or the church’s rent, without specifying the amount. Sometimes he seems to go further and to say that the land is to be free from everything save the church’s rent (ecclesiasticus census)[1064]. In so doing he gives a hint that the recipients of the lands will have something to pay to, or something to do for the church. Were it not for this, we might well think that these loans were made solely in consideration of past services, of obedience already rendered, and that at most the recipient undertook the vague obligation of being faithful and obsequious in the future.
St. Oswald’s letter to Edgar.
But happily for us St. Oswald was a careful man of business and put on record in the most solemn manner the terms on which he made his land-loans. The document in which he did this is for our purposes the most important of all the documents that have come down to us from the age before the Conquest[1065]. It takes the form of a letter written to King Edgar. We will give a brief and bald abstract of it[1066]:—‘I am (says the bishop) deeply grateful to you my lord, for all your liberality and will remain faithful to you for ever. In particular am I grateful to you for receiving my complaint and that of God’s holy Church and granting redress by the counsel of your wise men[1067]. Therefore I have resolved to put on record the manner in which I have been granting to my faithful men for the space of three lives the lands committed to my charge, so that by the leave and witness of you, my lord and king, I may declare this matter to the bishops my successors, and that they may know what to exact from these men according to the covenant that they have made with me and according to their solemn promise. I have written this document in order that none of them may hereafter endeavour to abjure the service of the church. This then is the covenant made with the leave of my lord the king and attested, roborated and confirmed by him and all his wise men. I have granted the land to be held under me (sub me) on these terms, to wit, that every one of these men shall fulfil the whole law of riding as riding men should[1068], and that they shall pay in full all those dues which of right belong to the church, that is to say ciricsceott, toll, and tace or swinscead, and all other dues of the church (unless the bishop will excuse them from any thing), and shall swear that so long as they possess the said land they will be humbly subject to the commands of the bishop. What is more, they shall hold themselves ready to supply all the needs of the bishop; they shall lend their horses; they shall ride themselves, and be ready to build bridges and do all that is necessary in burning lime for the work of the church[1069]; they shall erect a hedge for the bishop’s hunt and shall lend their own hunting spears whenever the bishop may need them. And further, to meet many other wants of the bishop, whether for the fulfilment of the service due to him or of that due to the king, they shall with all humility and subjection be obedient to his domination and to his will[1070], in consideration of the benefice that has been loaned to them, and according to the quantity of the land that each of them possesses. And when the term for which the lands are granted has run out, it shall be in the bishop’s power either to retain those lands for himself or to loan them out to any one for a further term, but so that the said services due to the church shall be fully rendered. And in case any shall make wilful default in rendering the aforesaid dues of the church, he shall make amends according to the bishop’s wite[1071] or else shall lose the gift and land that he enjoyed. And if any one attempt to defraud the church of land or service, be he deprived of God’s blessing unless he shall make full restitution. He who keeps this, let him be blessed; he who violates this, let him be cursed: Amen. Once more, my lord, I express my gratitude to you. There are three copies of this document; one at Worcester, one deposited with the Archbishop of Canterbury and one with the Bishop of Winchester.’
Feudalism in Oswaldslaw.