acre | 2.47 acres = I hectare |
alienation | transfer of ownership |
amerce | fine |
appurtenance | a right, privilege, minor property belonging to a major holding and being passed on with it |
ashlar | dressed or squared hewn stone |
assart | clear land to bring under cultivation |
assess | decide amount of tax (= cess, sess) |
assize | ordinance regulating weight and price ofan article for general consumption, e.g. price ofbread and ale with reference to the price ofgrain |
bailiwick | jurisdiction, district |
barony | land held from the king or other superior in return for military or other honourable service |
burgage | freehold property (land or tenement) held of the lord in a borough |
burgess | holder ofa burgage: inhabitant ofa borough possessing fill municipal rights |
bushel | 8 gallons, 36.37 litres (dry measure) |
Candlemas | 2 February, Purification of the Virgin Mary |
cartulary | collection of records charters, etc. Lucy Cartulary in Cockermouth Castle contains copies of documents of 12th-14th centuries relating to the family estates in Cumberland, Northumberland, Lincolnshire and Ireland. |
carucage | tax on a carucate – the amount of land a team of oxen could plough in a season |
cess | tax ( sess) |
chaloner | maker of chalons ( shalloons) |
charter | rights and liberties granted by the Crown in perpetuity |
cockpenny | customary payment to a schoolmaster at Shrovetide, originally for expenses of cock-fight |
co-parcener | one who shares an inheritance equally with others |
cornage | form of rent dependent on the number of horned cattle |
costomal, costumal | written collation or abstract of customs of a manor |
court baron | dealt with land transfers, inheritances, rents, etc. |
court leet | a court which the lord of the manor was empowered to hold for minor infractions of the law and for legislation |
customary tenant | having to pay customs or dues to the lord of the manor, could not be evicted |
d. | old penny of pre-1971. 12d.=1 shilling. 240d=£1 |
demesne | land used by the lord of the manor himself; later meaning the land immediately attached to the mansion – pleasure gardens, home farm, etc. |
deodand | living or inanimate possession causing a death, given to God as expiatory offering, through the lord for conversion to pious use, e.g. alms |
dower | whole or part of a man’s estate to which his widow had a right for her lifetime |
enfeoff | to invest with a fief, to put in possession of |
escheat; escheator | to revert to the Crown; officer responsible for such lands |
estovers | necessities allowed by law, e.g. wood from landlord’s estate to repair houses, hedges, implements, etc. |
farm | take or hold at a fixed rate for a term (lease): to grant certain rights for a return |
farthing | ¼ of a pre-1971 penny |
fee, fief | estate in land held on condition of homage and service to a superior |
feet of fines | ‘fines’ = finished, final. Mostly conveyances of land, final between two parties, all claims of others being settled. Written three times, second below first, then third at foot on back, and filed with others – hence ‘feet of fines‘ . |
feoffee | feudal tenant, holding land by legal writ |
ferm | lease (farm) |
fine | money paid by new tenant to landlord on change of tenancy – transfer fee. From final, because paid only once. |
franchise | immunity or privilege, the district over which it extends |
frankpledge | system whereby every member of a tithing (township) is answerable for the conduct of; or damage done by, any other member |
free | without obligation of rent or service |
free chace | free chase |
freehold | indefinite lease, passed on to heir |
gallows | right to erect gallows |
geld | tribute or tax paid to Crown by land holders |
haybote | right to take timber to repair fences |
hidage | tax to exchequer for every hide of land |
hold in chief | tenancy by perpetual ground rent |
honour | several manors held by one baron |
housebote | right to take timber to repair a house |
hundred | subdivision ofcounty, having 0~1l court impropriator holder ofa benefice |
in capite | land held directly from the Crown |
infangthief | right of lord of manor to try and to punish a thief caught within his manor |
Lady Day | 25 March, a quarter-day |
Lammas | 1 August, Harvest Festival |
letters | grants by Crown in answer to a petition, usually limited to the lifetime of petitioner |
liberty | rights granted to a subject by the sovereign: a person’s property or domain |
manor | smaller feudal unit than barony, including the mansion and the manor land -the lord’s demesne smaller feudal unit than barony, including the mansion and the manor land -the lord’s demesne and land occupied by some of his tenants from whom he has the right to exact fees and fines and on which he has certain rights |
mark | 13s. 4d. £2/3 |
Martinmas | 11 November, Feast of St. Martin |
messuage | dwelling house with land and outbuildings |
Michaelmas | 29 September, Feast of St. Michael |
moiety, moity | a half; or one of two parts into which divided moot meeting for regulating affairs |
motte and bailey | mound (partly or wholly artificial) and large courtyard outside castle proper, palisaded and containing stables, stores, workshops, etc. |
noutgeld | cornage |
overseer | officer appointed annually for certain duties |
pannage | pasturing swine in forest |
parcel ofland | piece of land, especially of manor or estate |
patent rolls | documents conferring privileges, rights, offices, etc. pillory right to erect a pillory |
pipe roll | annual compilation of revenue passing through the treasury, rolled up like a pipe |
pontage | toll for crossing a bridge, hence for entering a town |
put in pain | Fined = amerced |
s. | pre-1971 shilling. Is. = 12d. 20s. = £1 |
scutage | money paid to Crown by feudal landowner in lieu of personal service, usually military |
seisin | legal possession |
serf | one in condition of servitude, distinguished from slavery in that the service due to the master is more or less limited by law or custom |
shalloons | closely woven woollen material, used mostly for linings |
slipe | polish, strip |
statesman | yeoman farmer of own small estate of£ 1 0 to £50 per annum: a holding from the lord of the manor on customary tenure |
tallage | tax levied on feudal dependents by superior tenant at will tenant who holds at will or pleasure of the owner |
tithe | usually a tax of one-tenth. Great tithes- corn, hay, wood; small – other things from the ground herbs, fruit; mixed – nourished by ground – animals, cheese, etc |
toft | site of house and outbuildings with attached land |
tumsman | representative of a parish, e.g. at court |
vestry | business meeting of assembly of parishioners |
viii | feudal territorial division, formed of a number of dwellings naturally drawn together (tithing, township, civil parish) |
villein | class of feudal serf – peasant occupier or cultivator entirely subject to a lord |
warren | land enclosed for breeding game and rabbits: ‘free warren’, the right to hunt them |
whittlegate | the privilege of using one’s knife (whittle) for a week at a time at any table in the parish |
