CHAPTER VII.

THE FEUDALIZATION OF ENGLISH INSTITUTIONS

(A) THE FEUDALIZED STATE

FOR at least three centuries before the Norman conquest all the political and social institutions of western Europe

(1087)

tended to shape themselves according to a common 92. English model, known as the feudal system. As we have seen, institutions English institutions early felt this tendency in the tenure of land and in the authority exercised by landowners over their tenants; so that the influence of the Normans was sufficient to bring about the feudalization of state, church, and society alike. The feudal system was partly a device for securing public order at a period when the king's authority was still weak and no national judicial system existed; partly a levy of a standing army for national defense; partly a convenient substitute for money rents and money taxes; partly an expression of man's natural tendency to exalt physical strength and attach himself to a leader. The system was not fully developed in England until a century after the conquest, but for clearness of description we shall group here all its parts as they were developed on English soil under the Norman kings. Under the feudal system the monarch was in theory the owner of all the lands in the realm. "The battle of Hastings was looked upon as a settlement of all the estate in England, not even excepting the estates of the Church. No man could hold an acre by an ante-Norman title. were obliged to seek the king and to buy their lands." Most of these lands were by him "granted" in large blocks to individuals on condition that they rendered

All

93. Suze-
rain and
vassal

Morgan,
England

and the Nor-
тап Осси-

pation, 21

to him three things: (1) homage-that is, public acknowl edgment of the fact that the land was received as a grant for which service was owed, and not as a free gift; (2) fealtythat is, loyal adherence to the interests of the giver; (3) service-that is, assistance to the monarch in certain stipulated ways.

The chief of these was military service, and in general the grantee was expected to furnish a "knight" (mounted warrior) for every "knight's fee" (five hides of land). The lands thus received, called "fiefs," were said to be "held of" the grantor, as "suzerain." The recipient, called the "vassal" of the monarch, received from him a title (earl, baron, etc.) varying with the amount of territory and the degree of the dignity conferred. If any vassal refused to perform any of the services above mentioned, his lands were forfeited to the donor. At the death of any vassal his lands by right reverted to the monarch; but it was customary, if the vassal left a male heir, to invest that heir with the vassal's lands. Any vassal with large holdings was at liberty, by "subinfeudation," to grant portions of his lands to vassals of his own, and thus there arose the two classes of "tenants in chief " and " mesne tenants," or tenants of tenants. The most obvious effect of this feudal system was to create a large military aristocracy, and to make fighting power the

94. Effect

of feudal

ism on society

chief measure of a man's political and social importance. As William I. had about 600 lay tenants in chief, and they had about 7400 mesne tenants, and as the lands held of William I. amounted to 60,000 knights' fees, it was certain that there would always be some thousands of men in England trained to the profession of arms, owning war

horses and a complete outfit of armor and weapons, and ready to assemble promptly at the call of their sovereign, on penalty of losing both property and honor. Such a body was more than a match for any mass of untrained, unorganized civilians, fighting, as they must, on foot and without effective weapons or armor. The military supremacy of the armor-clad horseman explains why the barons, with their bands of armed retainers and their castles as a base of operations, kept whole districts in subjection, even when their rule was unbearably harsh.

Along with military importance, a vassal acquired high social distinction: he was subject to an elaborate system of initiation into knighthood; he recognized a strict code of honor; associations or orders of knights were established which became noted for their wealth, military prowess, chivalric conduct, and social prestige.

and Conti

nental feudalism

In France this system proved faulty because the king's vassals were too few, and their fiefs were correspondingly large. Each duke or count (as the vassals were called) 95. English was so powerful that he could make private war at his own pleasure, and defy the will of his suzerain whenever he chose, strong in the support of bodies of knights owing. allegiance only to him. William had seen the evils of this system in Normandy, and he was determined that the Continental principle, "vassallus mei vassalli non est meus vassallus" (my vassal's vassal is not my vassal), should not prevail in England. Hence arose the first unique element in English feudalism, the paramount obligation of all landholders to the monarch.

day Book and the Salisbury

William first ordered a systematic survey of all the landed estates in England south of the Tees (1085), to learn the 96. Domesamount of taxable property in the country, and the corresponding services due to the crown. "So very narrowly did he cause the survey to be made, that there was not a single hide nor a rood of land, nor-it is

Law A.-S. Chron

icle, 1085

shameful to relate that which he thought no shame to do

was there an ox, or a cow, or a pig passed by, that was not set down in the accounts." The results of this survey were recorded in the celebrated Domesday Book, which gives to the historian invaluable information in regard to the population, the organization of the state, and the distribution of territory among the people at the time of the conquest.

icle, 1086

smpaneRcausfasurat Reddebær Axeyefors prheloneo 7 gablo 7 omil, aluf éfuccudinib, pannú [regi gdem. xxx.1d7 v:. levar mellif. Comma & Algaro *. lib. adiuncto molino qué infra curatié habebat. Quando fex that ́in expedrine: burgenfel. x. vyt cũ co pomily aluf, vel. v. ld dabaji yeg, in omfeeslibi.

BEGINNING OF THE DOMESDAY BOOK ENTRY For Oxford.1

Then, having summoned all the landowners to a national moot at Salisbury in August, 1086, he demanded an oath of A.-S. Chron- fealty directly to the crown. Then came "all his Witan and all the landowners of substance in England, whose vassals soever they were, and they all submitted to him and became his men, and swore oath of allegiance to him that they would be faithful to him against all others." Thereafter no landholder in England could aid in a struggle against the crown without being guilty of perjury and treason.

97. Wil

William further safeguarded the authority of the monarch

by making the number of his vassals very large. He subliam's mul- divided the few great earldoms already existing, so that no such great noble houses as those of Godwin and

tiplication of fiefs

1 Translation: "In King Edward's time, Oxford paid to the king for toll and gable and all other customs yearly £20 and six sextaries of honey. Moreover, to Earl Algar £10 in addition to the mill which he had within the city. When the king went on an expedition, 20 burgesses went with him for all the others, or they gave £20 to the king that all might be free."