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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: SCY-SHA |
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SERJEANTY . Tenure by serjeanty was a form of land-holding under the feudal system, intermediate between tenure by knight-service (q.v.) and tenure in socage. 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, 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 1 The parvis was the porch of old St Paul's, where each serjeant had his particular pillar at which he held interviews with his clients. renders scarcely distinguishable from those of the rent-paying tenant
Serjeants (servientes) are already entered as a distinct class in Domesday Book (io86), though not in all cases differentiated from the barons, who -held by knight-service. Sometimes, as in the case of three Hampshire serjeantiesthose of acting as king's marshal, of finding an archer for his service, and of keeping the gaol
special
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, (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
When the military tenure of knight-service was abolished at the Restoration (by 12 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). 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. 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
series ), but the Testa de Nevill (Record Commission) contains the most valuable records concerning them. Blount's Tenures is useful, but its modern editions very uncritical. Wollaston's Coronation Claims is the best authority on its subject.(J. H. R.) End of Article: SERJEANTY If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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