Folcland may be considered the original and general name of all estates save the hlot, sors or alód of the first markmen: the whole country was divided into Folclands, containing one or more hides, subject to folcriht or the public law,—and hence having no privilege or immunity of any sort; in many instances where Beda uses terra unius tributarii, terra familiae unius, and similar expressions, he can only mean to denote separate and distinct portions of folcland, and the words of Ælfred’s translation imply the same thing.
The power of disposal over this land lay in the nation itself, or the state; that is, in the king and his witan; but in what way, or by what ceremonies, it was conferred, we no longer know. Still there is great probability that it was done by some of those well-known symbols, which survived both at home and abroad in the familiar forms of livery of seisin,—by the straw, the rod or yard, the cespes viridis and the like[[544]]. We may however distinctly assert that it was not given by book or charter, inasmuch as this form was reserved to pass estates under very different circumstances.
The very fact that folcland was not the object of a charter causes our information respecting it to be meagre: it is merely incidentally and fortuitously that it is mentioned in those documents from which we derive so much valuable insight into the antiquities of Saxon England. But even from them we may infer that it was not hereditary.
Towards the end of the ninth century, Ælfred, who appears to have been ealdorman or duke of Surrey, devised his lands by will. He left almost all his property to his daughter; and to his son Æðelwald (perhaps an illegitimate child,) he gave only three hides of hereditary land, bócland, expressing however his hope that the king would permit his son to hold the folcland he himself had held. But as this was uncertain, in order to meet the case of a disappointment, he directed that if the king refused this, his daughter should choose which she would give her brother, of two hereditary estates which he had devised to her[[545]].
Again, shortly before the Conquest, we find Abbot Wulfwold thus informing Gisa bishop of Wells, Ægelnoð the abbot, Tofig the sheriff, and all the thanes in Somerset[[546]]:
“Eádweard the king, my lord, gave me the land at Corfestige which my father held, and the four farms at Æscwíc, and the fields of meadow-land thereunto belonging, and in wood and field so much that I had pasture for my cattle and the cattle of my men; and all as free in every respect as the king’s own demesne[demesne], to give or sell, during my day or after my day, to whomsoever it best pleases me.”
In both these cases it is clear that the land was holden as a benefice; that the tenant had only a life interest, which Wulfwold however succeeded in converting into a fee.
As the State were the grantors, so also there appears to have been no restriction as to the persons of the grantees. Of course this does not include serfs, or others below the degree of freemen; although an emancipated serf may sometimes have been provided with an estate of folcland, by general donation. But there is no reason to doubt that every other class might obtain grants of folcland. Those of a duke and of various bishops have been mentioned; Wulfwold’s father was probably, at least a thane. But even the king himself could and did hold land of this description. The boundary of an estate is said to run to the king’s folcland; “ab occidente Cyninges folcland quod habet Wighelm et Wulfláf[[547]].”
At a very early period however it became a practice to carve hereditary estates out of the folcland, which thus became the private property of the individual, and could by him be given, sold, or devised at his pleasure; by which the reversion to the state was defeated, and the common stock insofar diminished. It was also usual to release such land from all the dues which had previously been rendered from it, and to make it absolutely free[[548]], with the exception of the three services which were inevitably incident to all landed possession, and which are consequently known by the names of Communis labor, Generalis incommoditas, Onus inevitabile, Trinoda necessitas, and similar expressions. These estates were always granted by book or charter, and hence bore the name of bócland: and it is questionable whether the two descriptions did not, at a very early period, comprise all the land in England, as the families of the first allodial possessors died out, and their possessions either reverted to the state, or became alienated under circumstances which included them in the category of bócland.
We learn that the pretext upon which these conversions of folcland into bócland were made at first, was the erection and endowment of a religious house upon the land, by the grantee; and we also learn that sometimes the conversion was made, the thane presented with the estate, but the church or monastery not constructed. Soon after the introduction of Christianity into Northumberland, it appears indeed to have been customary to grant much greater privileges and immunities to church-lands than were found advisable at a later period, or than seem to have been permitted in the provinces south of the Humber. It stands to reason that there could be no reversion in lands granted to a corporation: hence folcland which had been presented to a church assumed what may be called a hereditary character[[549]], and could only lapse by total destruction of the particular body,—a circumstance which could obviously never be contemplated, but which did actually occur during the civil wars, internal dissensions and foreign invasions, which gradually changed the face of the whole country[[550]]. But the lands which the Northumbrian princes devoted to pious purposes, were most likely relieved from all burthens whatsoever: we have conclusive evidence that even military service was excused in that district before the time of Beda. In all probability, it was not suspected how much the defences of the country might become impaired by grants of the kind. The passages already cited from Beda’s epistle to Ecgberht may be adduced in corroboration of these assertions, but we have more direct evidence in his history[[551]]. Oswiú on his conversion placed his daughter Eánflǽd in the convent presided over by Hild, and with her he gave twelve estates, “possessiunculae terrarum,” most likely folcland, each estate comprising ten hides; in which, Beda continues, “Ablato studio militiae terrestris, ad exercendam militiam coelestem locus facultasque suppeteret,”—or as the Saxon translator expresses it, “Those twelve bóclands he freed from earthly warfare and earthly service, to be employed in heavenly warfare.” It is very clear that the duties of military service were removed in this case, and that religious warfare was to be the destination of those that held the lands. Similarly when Benedict Biscop decided upon devoting himself to a monastic life, he surrendered his lands to the king[[552]]. These must obviously have been folcland, the retaining of which he considered impossible, under the circumstances; and which, not being his own, he could not take with him into a monastery: “despexit militiam cum corruptibili donativo terrestrem, ut vero regi militaret;” and these words of Beda clearly show how we are to understand what he says of Oswiú's grant to Whitby.