Woudenberg, April, 1851.
[Footnote 3: Bondam's _Charter-boek_.]
[Footnote 4: See Gibson, _A.-S. Chron._]
* * * * *
Minor Queries.
_Villenage._--Can any of your readers inform me at what period villenage
became extinct in this kingdom? I have now before me a grant of a manor
from the Crown, in the third and fourth year of the reigns of King Philip
and Queen Mary, conveying, amongst other goods and chattels, the bondmen,
bondwomen, and villeins, with their sequels,--"Nativos, nativas, e villanos
cum eoz sequelis." According to Blackstone, the children of villeins were
in the same state of bondage with their parents; whence they were called,
in Latin, "nativi," which gave rise to the female appellation of a villein,
who was called a _neife_. What I wish to learn is, whether the old wording
of Crown grants had survived the {328} existence of villenage; or whether
bondage was a reality in the reign of Philip and Mary; and if so, at what
it became extinct?