Fealty and Protection
| Author | Christopher Jessel |
| Pages | 307-314 |
Chapter 18
Fealty and Protection
services
18.1 HOMAGE AND FEALTY
Before the manor came to be seen as land or other property it comprised a set of relationships. The most basic relation, possibly going back before the conversion to Christianity, is homage.
He who has to do homage ... ought to go to his lord anywhere he can find him within the realm or even elsewhere if he can conveniently get there; for the lord is not bound to seek out his tenant. And he ought to do his homage thus. The tenant ought to put both of his hands between the hands of his lord, by which is signified on the lord’s side protection, defence and warranty, and on the tenant’s side, reverence and subjection. And he ought to say these words: I become your man for the tenement which I hold of you, and I will bear you faith in life and member and earthly honour against all men, saving the faith due to the lord King.
1 The principal account is Coke, Sir Edward, A commentary on Littleton being the first part of the
Institutes of the Laws of England (1628) 64a ff. Discussions of homage and fealty most often occur in the context of feudalism: see 22.1. See also Bloch, M, Feudal Society (English translation by LA Manyon) (Routledge Kegan Paul, 1961); Poly, J-P and Bournazel, E, The Feudal Transformation 900–1200 (Holmes and Meier, 1991); Chibnall, M, Anglo-Norman England 1066–1166 (Basil Blackwell, 1986) 61; Hilton, RH, The English Peasantry in the Later Middle Ages (Clarendon Press, 1975) 132; Stubbs, W, Select Charters from the beginning to 1307 (Oxford University Press, 9th edn, 1913) 193; also see Britton, Containing the Ancient Pleas of the Crown (c 1290) Bk 3, Ch 4.
2 Bracton, Sir Henry (ed), De legibus et consuetudinibus angliae (c 1257) (SE Thorne (ed))
(Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1977) f 78–84, esp 80.
308 The Law of the Manor
Homage as such was basic and did not imply any relation with land. It was strictly personal. If the man died his son was not bound by his father’s homage and had to make his own. If the lord died his men were not bound to his son and the first thing an heir had to do, whether he was a new king or the heir to a manor, was to assemble his father’s followers and ask them to do homage. If they did not then they were not bound to him.
Peers have done homage at coronations, although since that of Edward VII this has been shortened. It may be further altered at the next coronation bearing in mind the altered status of hereditary peers (23.2).
The unfree peasantry did not need to perform homage. If the lord inherited land he automatically inherited the people bound to the land. When a child was born into a villein family it was automatically a serf. These people did not voluntarily become bound by homage, they were bound by law, and so they were the homage without needing a ceremony. After the end of villeinage the body of copyholders continued to be called the homage in the customary court.
On the Continent the clergy did not do homage.
In England homage for secular estates of freehold was abolished by s 2 of the Tenures Abolition Act 1660. That Act, by s 7, did not extend to copyhold (for which homage was not due in any case) nor to land held in frankalmoign which did not owe fealty. Bishops still do homage to the sovereign on appointment. A...
Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI
Get Started for FreeStart Your 3-day Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your 3-day Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your 3-day Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your 3-day Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your 3-day Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting