Tenant-in-chief

Inmedievalandearly modern Europe,atenant-in-chief(orvassal-in-chief) was a person who held his lands under various forms offeudal land tenuredirectly from the king or territorial prince to whom he didhomage,as opposed to holding them from another nobleman or senior member of theclergy.^[1]^[2]The tenure was one which denoted great honour, but also carried heavy responsibilities. The tenants-in-chief were originally responsible for providing knights and soldiers for the king's feudal army.^[3]

Terminology

TheLatinterm wastenens incapite.^[4]^[a]

Other names for tenant-in-chief were "captal"orbaron,although the latter term evolved in meaning. For example, the term "baron" was used in theCartae Baronumof 1166, a return of all tenants-in-chief in England. At that time the term was understood to mean the "king's barons", or "king's men", because baron could still have a broader meaning. Originally, for example inDomesday Book(1086), there was a small number of powerful English tenants-in-chief under the Norman king who were all magnates directly associated with the king.

Later, as laid-out by I. J. Sanders, the old tenancies-in-chief of England from the time of the Norman king,King Henry I of England,came to have a legally distinct form of feudal land holding, the so-called tenureper baroniam.The term "baron" thus came to be used mainly for these "feudal barons",which comprised a group that over-lapped with the tenancies-in-chief, but was not identical.^[1]

History

In most countriesallodial propertycould be held bylaypeopleor theChristian Church.However, in theKingdom of Englandafter theNorman Conquest,the king became in law the solelord paramountand only holder of land by allodial title. Thus all the lands in England became the property of the Crown.^[5]^[6]A tenure byfrankalmoin,which in other countries was regarded as a form of privileged allodial holding, was in England regarded as afeudal tenement.Every land-holding was deemed by feudal custom to be no more than anestate in land,whether directly or indirectly held of the king. Absolute title in land could only be held by the king himself, the most anyone else could hold was a right over land, not a title in landper se.^[6]In England, a tenant-in-chief could enfief, or grant fiefs carved out of his own holding, to his own followers. The creation of subfiefs under a tenant-in-chief or other fief-holder was known assubinfeudation.^[7]The kings of theHouse of Normandy,however, eventually imposed on all free men who occupied a tenement (i.e. those whose tenures were "freehold", that is to say for life or heritable by their heirs), a duty offealtyto the crown rather than to their immediate lord who had enfeoffed them. This was to diminish the possibility of sub-vassals being employed by tenants-in-chief against the crown.^[6]

In the great feudal survey Domesday Book (1086), tenants-in-chief were listed first in eachEnglish county's entry.^[2]The lands held by a tenant-in-chief in England, if comprising a largefeudal barony,were called anhonour.^[8]

Duties of tenants-in-chief

As feudal lord, the king had the right to collectscutagefrom the barons who held thesehonours.^[9]Scutage (literallyshield money,fromescutcheon) was a tax collected from vassals in lieu of military service. The payment of scutage rendered the crown more independent of thefeudal levyand enabled it to pay for troops on its own.^[8]Once a tenant-in-chief received a demand for scutage, the cost was passed on to the sub-tenants and thus came to be regarded as a universal land tax.^[9]This tax was a development from the taxation system created under the Anglo-Saxon kings to raise money to pay off the invading Danes, the so-calledDanegeld.^[10]

Heirs

When an English tenant-in-chief died, aninquisition post mortemwas held in each county in which he held land and his or her land temporarilyescheated(i.e. reverted) to thedemesneof the crown until the heir paid a sum of money (arelief), and was then able to take possession (livery of seisin) of the lands. However, if the heir was underage (under 21 for a male heir, under 14 for an heiress) they would be subject to afeudal wardshipwhere the custody of their lands and the right to arrange their marriage passed to the monarch, until they came of age. The wardship and marriage was not usually kept in Crown hands, but was sold, often simply to the highest bidder, unless outbid by the next of kin.^[11]

When an heir came of age, he or she passed out of wardship but could not enter upon their inheritance until, like all heirs of full age on inheritance, they had sued out their livery. In either case, the process was complicated.^[11]Eventually a warrant was issued for the livery to pass under theGreat Seal.^[11]From its inception in 1540, TheCourt of Wards and Liveriesadministered the funds received from the wardships, marriages and the granting of livery; both courts and practice were abolished in 1646^[12]and the whole system of feudal tenure – except forfee simple– was abolished by theTenures Abolition Act 1660.

Notes

^Tenens (singular), tenentes (plur)

Citations

^^a ^bBlochFeudal Society Volume 2p. 333
^^a ^bCoredonDictionary of Medieval Terms & Phrasesp. 272
^Bracton, who indiscriminately called tenants-in-chief "barons" stated: "sunt et alii potentes sub rege qui barones dicuntur, hoc est robur belli" ( "there are other magnates under the king, who are called barons, that is the hardwood of war" ), quoted in Sanders, I.J.,Feudal Military Service in England,Oxford, 1956, p.3; "Bracton's definition of thebaro"(plurbarones) "proves that tenants of this class were considered to be the military backbone of the realm" (Sanders, p.3)
^CoredonDictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrasesp. 161
^GanshofFeudalismp. 130
^^a ^b ^cGanshofFeudalismp. 165
^CosmanMedieval Wordbookp. 240
^^a ^bGanshofFeudalismp. 166
^^a ^bBartlettEngland under the Norman and Angevin Kingsp. 164
^BartlettEngland under the Norman and Angevin Kingsp. 165
^^a ^b ^cCourt of Wards and Liveries: land inheritance 1540–1645
^FriarSutton Companion to Local Historyp. 465

Sources

Bartlett, Robert(2000).England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings 1075 -1225.London: Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0-19-925101-8.
Bloch, Marc(1964).Feudal Society Volume 2: Social Classes and Political Organization.Chicago: University of Chicago Press.ISBN 0-226-05978-2.
Coredon, Christopher (2007).A Dictionary of Medieval Terms & Phrases(Reprint ed.). Woodbridge: D. S. Brewer.ISBN 978-1-84384-138-8.
Cosman, Madeleine Pelner (2007).Medieval Wordbook: More the 4,000 Terms and Expressions from Medieval Culture.New York: Barnes & Noble.ISBN 978-0-7607-8725-0.
"Court of Wards and Liveries: land inheritance 1540–1645".National Archives.Archivedfrom the original on 9 August 2016.Retrieved13 June2016.
Friar, Stephen (2004).The Sutton Companion to Local History.Stroud, UK: Sutton Publishing.ISBN 0-7509-2723-2.
Ganshof, L. F.; Grierson, Philip (1996).Feudalism.Mediaeval Academy Reprints for Teaching. University of Toronto Press.ISBN 978-0-8020-7158-3.
Sanders, I. J. (1956).Feudal Military Service in England: A Study of the Constitutional and Military Powers of the Barones in Medieval England.London: Oxford University Press.