Henschoten was ceded to the abbey of Oestbroek in 1130, and sold at the breaking up of the monasteries; and is now the property of Mr. Van Asch van Wyck. Since, therefore, the above extract must have been written before the Reformation, the belief that our forefathers proceeded from this country is by no means new; and the evidence in its support is, I think, stronger than that adduced by Turner and Lappenberg in favour of an immigration from Sleswig; indeed it seems not improbable that the first settlers, with Hengist at their head, sailed from the mouth of the Eem. I have more to add in a future Number, if "Notes and Queries" can afford me space.
J. S.
Woudenberg, April, 1851.
Footnote 3:[(return)]
Bondam's Charter-boek.
See Gibson, A.-S. Chron.
Minor Queries.
Villenage.—Can any of your readers inform me at what period villenage became extinct in this kingdom? I have now before me a grant of a manor from the Crown, in the third and fourth year of the reigns of King Philip and Queen Mary, conveying, amongst other goods and chattels, the bondmen, bondwomen, and villeins, with their sequels,—"Nativos, nativas, e villanos cum eoz sequelis." According to Blackstone, the children of villeins were in the same state of bondage with their parents; whence they were called, in Latin, "nativi," which gave rise to the female appellation of a villein, who was called a neife. What I wish to learn is, whether the old wording of Crown grants had survived the
existence of villenage; or whether bondage was a reality in the reign of Philip and Mary; and if so, at what it became extinct?