1430.
In the 19th of Henry the Sixth, 1441, is said to have held his manor of
Birmingham, of Sir John Sutton, Lord of Dudley, by military service;
but instead of paying homage, fealty, escuage, &c. as his ancestors had
done, which was very troublesome to the tenant, and brought only empty
honour to the Lord: and, as sometimes the Lord's necessities taught him
to think that money was more _Solid_ than suit and service; an agreement
was entered into, for money instead of homage, between the Lord and the
tenant--Such agreements now became common. Thus land became a kind of
bastard freehold:--The tenant held a certainty, while he conformed to
the agreement; or, in other words, the custom of the manor--And the Lord
still possessed a material control. He died in 1479, leaving a son,