It is consequently worse than lost labour to examine these two inquests, based as they are on opposite systems, and giving us as they do a cross-division as if they were but successive editions of the national register or rate-book.
The first point to be considered is this: What was the information which the tenants-in-chief were called upon to supply in these returns? It was not, as Dr Stubbs and others have supposed, the amount of 'service' due from each fief to the crown.[42] The information asked for was the number of 'milites' actually enfeoffed by each 'baron' and his predecessors in title, with the number of 'servitia' due from each such 'miles' to the 'baron'. In this distinction, missed by Dr Stubbs, we find the key to the problem. The crown, we shall see, must previously have known the total amount of 'service' due from each fief; but what it did not know, and what it wished to know, was the number of knights' fees which, up to 1166, had been created on each fief.
Although there is great diversity in the form of return adopted—a diversity which imparts to the cartae a pleasant flavour of character—it may fairly be assumed that, as in similar cases, they were called for throughout the realm by one uniform writ. If we may deduce the purport of that writ from the collation of those returns which refer to it most explicitly, we must infer that the information asked for was to be given under four heads:
(1) How many knights had been enfeoffed before the death of Henry I?
(2) How many have been enfeoffed since?
(3) How many (if any) remain to be enfeoffed to complete the 'service' due from the fief. Or, in other words, what is the balance of your 'service' remaining chargeable to your 'demesne'?
(4) What are the names of your knights?
In support of these statements I append the whole of the relevant returns.
| Bishop of Exeter | Archbishop of York | Bishop of Durham |
|---|---|---|
| Praecepistis mihi quod mandarem vobis per breve meum sigillatum et apertum, non quot servitia militum vobis debeam, sed (1) quot habeam milites feffatos de tempore Regis Henrici avi vestri, et (2) quot post mortem ipsius, et (3) quot sint super dominium meum.[43] | Praecipit dignitas vestra omnibus fidelibus vestris clericis et laicis, qui de vobis tenent de capite in Eboracsira, ut mandent vobis per literas suas, extra sigillum pendentes (1) quot milites quisquis habeat de veteri feffamento de tempore Regis Henrici avi vestri, scilicet de die et anno quo ipse fuit vivus et mortuus, et (2) quot habeat de novo feodamento feffatos post mortem bonae memoriae avi vestri ejusdem, et (3) quot feoda militum sint super dominium uniuscujusque, et (4) omnium illorum nomina, tam de novo feffamento quam de veteri feffatorum quae sint in illo brevi scripta, quia vultis quod si aliqui ibi sunt qui vobis nondum fecerunt ligantiam, et quorum nomina non sunt scripta in rotulo vestro, quod infra dominicam primam xlae ligantiam vobis faciant (p. 412). | Praecepit nobis, domine, vestra sublimitas, quod literis nostris sigillatis, extra sigillum pendentibus, vobis mandaremus (1) quot milites feffatos haberemus de veteri feffamento et (2) de novo, scilicet, anno et die quo Rex Henricus fuit vivus et mortuus et de [sic] post mortem ejus ... (3) super dominium vero nostrum, de quo similiter mandare præcepistis, etc. (pp. 416, 418).] |
| Herbert De Castello | Engelard De Strattone | Robert De Brintone |
|---|---|---|
| Michi et comparibus meis mandastis ut vobis per breve nostrum pendens extra sigillum, mandaremus (1) quot milites antiquitus feodatos de tempore Regis Henrici avi vestri habeamus et (2) quot de novo feodamento.... Et hii omnes ligantiam et homagium vobis fecerunt (pp. 275-6). | Michi et ceteris comparibus meis qui de vobis tenemus in capite per litteras vestras mandastis ut vobis per breve nostrum pendens extra sigillum mandaremus (1) quot milites habeamus de veteri feodamento de tempore Henrici Regis avi vestri, et (2) quot habeamus de novo feodamento (p. 276). | Michi et aliis comparibus meis per litteras vestras innotuistis ut per fidem et ligantiam quam vobis debemus per breve nostrum pendens extra sigillum mandaremus (1) quot milites haberemus de veteri feodamento de tempore Henrici Regis avi vestri, et (2) quot milites haberemus de novo feodamento post tempus Regis Henrici avi vestri, et (3) quot milites habeamus super dominium nostrum.... Et vobis quidem et filio vestro ligantiam et homagium fecerunt (p. 277).[44] |
Let me here break off for a moment to consider one of the most important points suggested by this great inquest, namely, the issue of the writs under which it was held. It has been generally assumed that each tenant received his writ direct from the crown; and a casual reading of the cartae might, perhaps, favour such a view. I have, however, been led to the conclusion that a general writ was issued to the sheriff of each county, and that its terms were communicated by him to the several tenants-in-chief, whose capita baroniæ lay within his jurisdiction.