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Serjeanty. Tenure by serjeanty was a form of land-holding in England, under the feudal system, intermediate between tenure by knight-service and tenure in socage. Image File history File links Nuvola_apps_browser. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location within the British Isles Languages English (de facto) Capital London de facto Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population – Total (mid-2004) – Total (2001 Census) – Density Ranked 1st UK 50. ... Feudalism comes from the Late Latin word feudum, itself borrowed from a Germanic root *fehu, a commonly used term in the Middle Ages which means fief, or land held under certain obligations by feodati. ... Tenure commonly refers to academic tenure systems, in which professors (at the university level)—and in some jurisdictions schoolteachers (at primary or secondary school levels)—are granted the right not to be dismissed without cause after an initial probationary period. ... Knight-service, the dominant and distinctive tenure of land under the feudal system. ... Socage was one of the forms of land tenure in the feudal system. ...

It originated in the assignation of an estate in land on condition of the performance of a certain duty, which can hardly be described more exactly than as not being that of knight-service. Its essence, according to Pollock and Maitland [1], might be described as "servantship," the discharge of duties in the household of king or noble; but it ranged from service in the king's host, distinguished only by equipment from that of the knight, to petty renders scarcely distinguishable from those of the rent-paying tenant or socager.

Serjeanties, as Miss Bateson has expressed it, "were neither always military nor always agricultural, but might approach very closely the service of knights or the service of farmers ... The serjeanty of holding the king's head when he made a rough passage across the Channel, of pulling a rope when his vessel landed, of counting his chessmen on Christmas day, of bringing fuel to his castle, of doing his carpentry, of finding his potherbs, of forging his irons for his ploughs, of tending his garden, of nursing the hounds gored and injured in the hunt, of serving as veterinary to his sick falcons, such and many others might be the ceremonial or menial services due from a given serjeanty." The many varieties of serjeanty were afterwards increased by lawyers classing for convenience under this head such duties as those of escort service to the abbess of Barking, or of military service on the Welsh border by the men of Archenfield.

Serjeants (servientes) are already entered as a distinct class in Domesday Book (1086), though not in all cases differentiated from the barons, who held by knight-service. Sometimes, as in the case of three Hampshire serjeanties -- those of acting as king's marshal, of finding an archer for his service, and of keeping the gaol in Winchester Castle -- the tenure can be definitely traced as far back as Domesday. It is probable, however, that many supposed tenures by serjeanty were not really such, although so described in returns, in inquests after death, and other records. The simplest legal test of the tenure was that serjeants, though liable to the feudal exactions of wardship, etc., were not liable to scutage; they made in place of this exaction special composition with the crown. Domesday Book (also known as Domesday, or Book of Winchester), was the record of the great survey of England completed in 1086, executed for William the Conqueror, that was similar to a census by a government of today. ... Events Domesday Book is completed in England Emperor Shirakawa of Japan starts his cloistered rule Imam Ali Mosque is rebuilt by the Seljuk Malik Shah I after being destroyed by fire. ... A castle in Winchester called Winchester Castle ... The tax of scutage or escuage in the law of England involved the pecuniary commutation, under the feudal system, of the military service due from the holder of a knights fee. ...

The germ of the later distinction between "grand" and "petty" serjeanty is found in the Great Charter (1215), the king there renouncing the right of prerogative wardship in the case of those who held of him by the render of small articles. The legal doctrine that serjeanties were (a) inalienable and (b) impartible led to the "arrentation," under Henry III, of serjeanties the lands of which had been partly alienated, and which were converted into socage tenures, or, in some cases, tenures by knight-service. Gradually the gulf widened, and "petty" serjeanties, consisting of renders, together with serjeanties held of mesne lords, sank into socage, while "grand" serjeanties, the holders of which performed their service in person, became alone liable to the burden of wardship and marriage. In Littleton's Tenures this distinction appears as well defined, but the development was one of legal theory. Magna Carta This article is about the English charters of 1215 onwards. ... Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272) is one of the least-known British monarchs, considering the great length of his reign. ... Mesne (an Anglo-French legal form of the O. Fr. ...

When the military tenure of knight-service was abolished at the Restoration (by Charles II, cap. 24), that of grand serjeanty was retained, doubtless on account of its honorary character, it being then limited in practice to the performance of certain duties at coronations, the discharge of which as a right has always been coveted, and the earliest record of which is that of Queen Eleanor's coronation in 1236. The most conspicuous are those of champion, appurtenant to the Dymokes' manor of Scrivelsby, and of supporting the king's right arm, appurtenant to that of Worksop. The latter duty was performed at the coronation of King Edward VII (1902). Charles II or The Merry Monarch (29 May 1630–6 February 1685) was the King of England, King of Scots, and King of Ireland from 30 January 1649 (retrospectively de jure) or 29 May 1660 (de facto) until his death. ... Eleanor of Provence (c 1223 – 26 June 1291) was Queen Consort of King Henry III of England. ... // Events May 6 - Roger of Wendover, Benedictine monk and chronicler of St Albanss Abbey dies. ... Edward VII King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Emperor of India His Majesty King Edward VII (Albert Edward) (9 November 1841–6 May 1910) was the first British monarch of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. ...

The meaning of serjeant as a household officer is still preserved in the king's serjeants-at-arms, serjeant-surgeons and serjeanttrumpeter. The horse and foot serjeants (servientes) of the king's host in the 12th century, who ranked after the knights and were more lightly armed, were unconnected with tenure. (11th century - 12th century - 13th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 12th century was that century which lasted from 1101 to 1200. ...

The best summary of tenure by serjeanty is in Pollock and Maitland's History of English Law. McKechnie's Magna Carta (1905) should also be consulted; and for Domesday the Victoria History of Hampshire, vol. I. The best list of serjeanties is in the Red Book of the Exchequer ("Rolls" series), but the Testa de Nevill (Record Commission) contains the most valuable records concerning them. Blount's Tenures is useful, but its modern editions are very uncritical. Wollaston's Coronation Claims is the best authority on its subject. Magna Carta This article is about the English charters of 1215 onwards. ... Thomas Blount (May 10, 1759-February 7, 1812) was an American Revolutionary War veteran and statesman from the state of North Carolina. ... Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks (March 20, 1826 - May 21, 1897), English antiquary, was educated at Eton and at Trinity College, Cambridge. ...

Serjeanty is to be distinguished from offices held hereditary in gross. An office, not being held by serjeanty, or attached to some particular office or title, is said to be in gross. Examples include the Lord Great Chamberlain, the right to carry the spurs at a coronation (vested in the Lord Hastings and the Lord Churston, by descent from the Hastings...

Examples of grand serjeanty

• Manor of Workshop, white kid gloves
• Manor of Scrivelsby, The Queen's Champion
• Manor of Kenninghall, the Chief Butler of England
• Manor of Farnham
• Manor of Bardolfe
• Manor of Nether Bilsington, right to present three Maple cups
• Manor of Eston-le-Mount, Chief Larderer and caterer
• Manor of Grand Wilmondley
• Manor of Lyston
• Manor of Pelham
• Manor of Heydon
• Manor of Bedford, Almoner
• Manor of Addington, right to serve a Mess of Dillegrout
• Manor of Ashele, naperer
• Manor of Sculton, larderer

The Manor of Worksop, Derbyshire, England, is held in grand serjeanty. ... A manor held by grand serjeanty, the tenure being dependent upon the owner rendering service - when called upon to do so - as the Queens Champion. ... This article needs copyediting (checking for proper English spelling, grammar, usage, tone, style, and voice). ... The Chief Butler of England is an office of Grand Sergeanty associated with the feudal Manor of Kenninghall in Norfolk. ...

References

• History of English Law Before the Time of Edward I by Pollock & Maitland

This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, a publication in the public domain. Encyclopædia Britannica, the 11th edition The 11th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...