The divisions of society remained after the Conquest very nearly as
before, but the Saxon orders of nobility, with a few very rare
exceptions, were deprived of their rank and their estates given to the
Normans.
It is important to notice here the marked difference between the new
or Norman nobility and that of France.
In England a man was considered a noble because, under William and his
successors, he was a member of the Great or National Council (S80),
or, in the case of an earl, because he represented the King in the
government of a county or earldom.
His position did not exempt him from taxation, nor did his rank
descend to more than one of his children. In France, on the contrary,
the aristocracy were noble by birth, not office; they were generally
exempt from taxation, thus throwing the whole of that burden on the
people, and their rank descended to all their children.
During the Norman period a change was going on among the slaves, whose
condition gradually improved. On the other hand, many who had been
free now sank into that state of villeinage (S150) which, as it bound
them to the soil, was but one remove from actual slavery.
The small, free landholders who still existed were mostly in the old
Danish territory north of Watling Street (see map facing p. 32), and
in the county of Kent on the southeast coast of England.
150. Tenure of Land in the Norman Period; Military Service, Feudal
Dues, National Militia, Manors and Manor Houses.
All land was held directly or indirectly from the King on condition of
military or other service. The number of chief tenants who derived
their title from the Crown, including ecclesiastical dignitaries, was
probably about fifteen hundred. These constituted the Norman barons.
The undertenants were about eight thousand, and consisted chiefly of
the English who had been driven out from their estates.
Every holder of land was obliged to furnish the King a fully armed and
mounted soldier, to serve for forty days during the year for each
piece of land bringing 20 pounds annually, or about $2000 in modern
money[1] (the pound of that day probably representing twenty times
that sum now). All the chief tenants were also bound to attend the
King's Great or National Council three times a year,--at Christman,
Easter, and Whitsuntide.
[1] This amount does not appear to have been fully settled until the
period following the Norman kings, but the principle was recognized by
William.
Feudal Dues or Taxes. Every free tenant was obliged to pay a sum of
money to the King or baron from whom he held his land, on three
special occasions: (1) to ransom his lord from captivity in case he
was made a prisoner of war; (2) to defray the expense of making his
lord's eldest son a knight; (3) to provide a suitable marriage portion
on the marriage of his lord's eldest daughter.
In addition to these taxes, or "aids," as they were called, there were
other demands which the lord might make, such as: (1) a year's profits
of the land from the heir, on his coming into possession of his
father's estate; this was called a relief; (2) the income from the
lands of orphan heirs not of age; (3) payment for privilege of
disposing of land.[1]
[1] The clergy, being a corporate and hence an ever-living body, were
exempt from these last demands. Not satisfied with this, they were
constantly endeavoring, with more or less success, to escape ALL
feudal obligations, on the ground that they rendered the state divine
service. In 1106, in the reign of Henry I, it was settled, for the
time, that the bishops were to do homage to the King, i.e. furnish
military service for the lands they received from him as their feudal
lord (S136).
In case of an orphan heiress not of age, the feudal lord became her
guardian and might select a suitable husband for her. Should the
heiress reject the person selected, she forfeited a sum of money equal
to the amount the lord expected to receive by the proposed marriage.
Thus we find one woman in Ipswich giving a large fee for the privilege
of "not being married except to her own good liking." In the
collection of these "aids" and "reliefs," great extortion was often
practiced both by the King and the barons.
Besides the feudal troops there was a national militia, consisting of
peasants and others not provided with armor, who fought on foot with
bows and spears. These could also be called on as during the Saxon
period (S96). In some cases where the barons were in revolt against
the King, for instance, under William Rufus (S130), this national
militia proved of immense service to the Crown.
The great landholders let out part of their estates to tenants on
similar terms to those on which they held their own, and in this way
the entire country was divided up. The lowest class of tenants were
the common agricultural laborers called villeins,--a name derived from
the Latin villa, meaning a country house or farm. These villeins, or
serfs, held small pieces of land on condition of performing labor for
it. They were bound to the soil and could be sold with it, but not,
like slaves, apart from it. They were not wholly destitute of legal
rights.
Under William I and his successors, all free tenants, of whatever
grade, were bound to uphold the King,[2] and in case of insurrection
or civil war to serve under him (S122). In this most important
respect the great landholders of England differed from those of the
Continent, where the lesser tenants were bound only to serve their own
masters, and might, and in fact often did, take up arms against the
King. William removed this serious defect. By doing so he did the
country an incalculable service. He completed the organization of
feudal land tenure, but he never established the Continental system of
feudal government. (See, too, the Constitutional Summary in the
Appendix, p. v, S6.)
[2] See the Constitutional Summary in the Appendix, pp. iii-v, SS5, 6.
The building is Ludlow Castle, Shropshire. Manor houses proper, as
distinct from castles, existed in England at least from the thirteenth
century
(See Gibbin's "Industrial History of England" and Cheyney's
"Industrial and Social England")
The inhabitants of a manor, or the estate of a lord, were: (1) the
lord himself, or his representative, who held his estate on condition
of furnishing the King a certain number of armed men (SS113, 150); (2)
the lord's personal followers, who lived with him, and usually a
parish priest or a number of monks; (3) the farm laborers, or
villeins, bound to the soil, who could not leave the manor, were not
subject to military duty, and who paid rent in labor or produce; there
might also be a few actual slaves, but this last class gradually rose
to the partial freedom of villenage; (4) certain free tenants or
"sokemen," who paid a fixed rent either in money or service and were
not bound to the soil as the villeins were.
Next to the manor house (where courts were also held) the most
important buildings were the church (used sometimes for markets and
town meetings); the lord's mill (if there was a stream), in which all
tenants must grind their grain and pay for the grinding; and finally,
the cottages of the tenants, gathered in a village near the mill.
The land was divided as follows: (1) the "demesne" (or domain)
surrounding the manor house; this was strictly private--the lord's
ground; (2) the land outside the demesne, suitable for cultivation;
this was let in strips, usually of thirty acres, but was subject to
certain rules in regard to methods of tillage and crops; (3) a piece
of land which tenants might hire and use as they saw fit; (4) common
pasture, open to all tenants to pasture their cattle on; (5) waste or
untilled land, where all tenants had the right to cut turf for feul,
or gather plants or shrubs for fodder; (6) the forest or woodland,
where all tenants had the right to turn their hogs out to feed on
acorns, and where they might also collect a certain amound of small
wood for feul; (7) meadow land on which the tenants might hire the
right to cut grass and make hay. On the above plan the fields of
tenants--both those of villeins and of "sokemen," or tenants who paid
a fixed rent in money or service--are marked by the letters A, B, C,
etc.
If the village grew, the tenants might, in time, purchase from the
lord the right to manage their own affairs in great measure, and so
become a Free Town (S183).