Book of Fees
Encyclopedia
The Book of Fees is the colloquial title of a modern edition, transcript, rearrangement and enhancement of the mediaeval Liber Feodorum (Latin: "Book of Fees"), being a listing of feudal landholdings or "fees/fiefs", compiled in about 1302, but from earlier records, for the use of the English Exchequer
. Originally in two volumes of parchment, the Liber Feodorum is a collection of about 500 written brief notes made between 1198 and 1292 concerning fiefs held in capite or in-chief, that is to say directly from the Crown. From an early date, the book comprising these volumes has been known informally as the Testa de Nevill (meaning "Head of Nevill"), supposedly after an image on the cover of the volume of one of its two major source collections. The modern standard edition, known colloquially as "The Book of Fees" whose 3 volumes were published between 1920 and 1931, improves on two earlier 19th.c efforts at publishing a comprehensive and reliable modern edition of all these mediaeval records of fees. The nomenclature Book of Fees is that generally used in academic citations by modern scholars to refer to this 20th.c. modern published edition of the ancient collected documents.
(1272-1307), documents from these various collections were brought together into a massive book compiled for the use of the Exchequer. The Liber Feodorum, as it was officially entitled, is first referred to in the Issue Roll for 1302 which reports that John of Drokensford (Droxford
), keeper of the royal wardrobe
, paid the sum of £4 13s to William of Coshall for the service of transcribing the liber de feodis ("book concerning fees") into two volumes. The book was bound the same year and book measures 12½ by 9 inches and would have been larger had not the binder cut down the margins, removing some textual notes in the process. It is held in the National Archives under catalogue number E164/5-6. The surviving documents from which it was compiled are also held by the National Archives, catalogued under E198 as follows, in date order:
which was to be collected from King Edward I's tenants-in-chief for the marriage of his eldest daughter. The Aid was assessed on fees held by feudal tenures
of either knight service or serjeanty
. As the Exchequer needed to initiate inquiries for the purpose of assessing and collecting the aid, it was desired that the various documents should be capable of consultation in a format facilitating quick reference. In 1303 many of the original rolls were lent to the officers in charge of making the assessment and collecting of the aid.
Opposing Maxwell-Lyte's suggested purpose, the historian F.M. Powicke objected that the evidence for such a historically concrete motive is weak and asserted that the expertise alone of the officers would have been sufficient for the job. He proposed instead that a rationale for its production may be found in the political attitudes of King Edward I, whose "insistence upon feudal rights and duties kept the officials of the exchequer very busy". It was therefore naturally to be expected that during the rule of such a king unique and often fragile records to which the Exchequer had to make frequent recourse should be produced in a new edition which assisted the clerks in making their work efficient.
written on the flyleaf
, which appears to be contemporary with the manuscript itself:
M.T. Clanchy describes it as a "register" (after the medieval Latin term registrum), which he defines primarily as an administrative reference book which did not enjoy the authority of the originals as a record in legal proceedings. Earlier examples of such registers or "remembrance books" include the Red Book of the Exchequer
and the Black Book of the Admiralty
, an Old French
compilation of maritime law.
document recording a petition of monks from Croyland Abbey in 1383. Officers of the Exchequer repeated the memorandum themselves on several occasions.
The position changed however over time. Many of the original documents were already in poor condition at the time of their transcription and of those that were lent out to itinerant officers for the collection of the aid in 1303, many were never returned. Thus the book rather than originals eventually became of necessity a first reference for the Exchequer, a development which itself contributed to the neglect of the originals. Indeed by 1383 the name Testa de Nevill had come to be used colloquially for the two volumes, while the archive formerly known by that name is no longer mentioned in the sources.
Feoda tenencium in capite de domino rege:
Translation:
"Northampton: Fees of military tenants
held in chief from the Lord King and holdings in chief by the same tenants from the Lord King and holdings of wardships
which are in the hands of the Lord King in the county of Northampton on account of scutage
those of whom in truth who bear... from having their scutage and on account of knight's fees in existence within the bailiwick
of the Abbey of Northampton
.
Knight's fees held in chief from the Lord King:
and William Illingworth with a preface added by Illingworth.
the edition was “at once the hunting-ground and the despair of the topographer and the student of genealogy".
, presenting a new and revised, critical edition of the Book of Fees. C.G. Crump was responsible for editing the Latin text and significant contributions were also made by other officers of the P.R.O., including A.S. Maskelyne, who prepared the 700-page index. The preface was written by the Deputy Keeper of the Public Record Office, Sir Henry Maxwell-Lyte, who explained that the new edition represented a radical departure from its precursor. Firstly, the clumsy semi-geographical order adopted by the mediaeval transcriber was abandoned and instead the material was for the most part arranged chronologically. Secondly, whenever possible it was based directly on the original materials used by William of Coshal. Moreover certain omissions by the transcriber were supplied. In 1932 historian F.M. Powicke hailed the edition as an “indispensable guide...one of which the Public Record Office may well be proud”.
Exchequer
The Exchequer is a government department of the United Kingdom responsible for the management and collection of taxation and other government revenues. The historical Exchequer developed judicial roles...
. Originally in two volumes of parchment, the Liber Feodorum is a collection of about 500 written brief notes made between 1198 and 1292 concerning fiefs held in capite or in-chief, that is to say directly from the Crown. From an early date, the book comprising these volumes has been known informally as the Testa de Nevill (meaning "Head of Nevill"), supposedly after an image on the cover of the volume of one of its two major source collections. The modern standard edition, known colloquially as "The Book of Fees" whose 3 volumes were published between 1920 and 1931, improves on two earlier 19th.c efforts at publishing a comprehensive and reliable modern edition of all these mediaeval records of fees. The nomenclature Book of Fees is that generally used in academic citations by modern scholars to refer to this 20th.c. modern published edition of the ancient collected documents.
Origins
Sir Henry Maxwell-Lyte in his preface to the latest edition, suggests that the documents transcribed into the "Book of Fees" stem from two major collections of records:- The first dates from the reign of King JohnJohn of EnglandJohn , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
(1199-1216) and was long known as the Testa de Nevill ("Head of Nevill"). The classical Latin word testa literally means "burnt clay, earthen container, pot, urn", but was also used in a transferred sense to mean "shell, covering". In the low Latin of the Middle Ages the word had acquired the meaning "skull" or "head" (for which the classical Latin word is caput). Maxwell-Lyte suggested that Testa de Nevill originally referred to some receptacle for keeping a particular group of administrative documents, marked as it may have been by the head of a man named "Nevill", as it had been the custom for officers of the ExchequerExchequerThe Exchequer is a government department of the United Kingdom responsible for the management and collection of taxation and other government revenues. The historical Exchequer developed judicial roles...
to mark certain documentary collections with drawn symbols, such as the heads of important departmental officials. There are too many namesakes from the period to permit his identification, but it is known that several officials surnamed Nevill(e) were associated with the Exchequer during the 13th century, most notably Ralph NevilleRalph NevilleRalph Neville was a medieval clergyman and politician who served as Bishop of Chichester, Keeper of the Great Seal and Lord Chancellor of England...
the Chancellor himself. An Exchequer Roll of 1298 seems to bear witness to this collection of documents as it mentions a rotulus Teste de Nevill ("roll from (the) Testa de Nevill").
- The second collection consisted of two or more rolls of parchment, one of which is still extant, headed by the title Serjantie arentate per Robertum Passelewe tempore Regis H. filii Regis Johannis, meaning "Concerning the serjeantiesSerjeantyUnder the feudal system in late and high medieval England, tenure by serjeanty was a form of land-holding in return for some specified service, ranking between tenure by knight-service and tenure in socage...
let by Robert Passelewe in the time of King Henry IIIHenry III of EnglandHenry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
, son of King John". It reports on the inquiries and their subsequent proceedings when Passelewe, a royal clerk and Bishop of ChichesterBishop of ChichesterThe Bishop of Chichester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the Counties of East and West Sussex. The see is in the City of Chichester where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity...
, let (i.e. rented out, the technical term is "arrented") a number of lands held by the feudal land tenureFeudal land tenureUnder the English feudal system several different forms of land tenure existed, each effectively a contract with differing rights and duties attached thereto. Such tenures could be either free-hold, signifying that they were hereditable or perpetual, or non-free where the tenancy terminated on the...
of serjeanty. The text is accompanied by passages quoted from several documents which are also contained within the Testa de Nevill. Added to this are the returns for several counties in answer to an inquiry made in 1255.
The making of the Liber Feodorum
Towards the end of the reign of King Edward IEdward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
(1272-1307), documents from these various collections were brought together into a massive book compiled for the use of the Exchequer. The Liber Feodorum, as it was officially entitled, is first referred to in the Issue Roll for 1302 which reports that John of Drokensford (Droxford
Droxford
Droxford is a village in Hampshire, England, lying in the Meon valley, and lies around 3¾ miles east of Bishop's Waltham within the new South Downs National Park. The A32 passes through the village between Gosport and Alton...
), keeper of the royal wardrobe
Wardrobe
A Wardrobe is a cabinet used for storing clothes.Wardrobe may also refer to:* Wardrobe , a full set of multiple clothing items* Wardrobe , part of royal administration in medieval England...
, paid the sum of £4 13s to William of Coshall for the service of transcribing the liber de feodis ("book concerning fees") into two volumes. The book was bound the same year and book measures 12½ by 9 inches and would have been larger had not the binder cut down the margins, removing some textual notes in the process. It is held in the National Archives under catalogue number E164/5-6. The surviving documents from which it was compiled are also held by the National Archives, catalogued under E198 as follows, in date order:
- 1198, Inquiry into serjeanties recorded during the assessment of a carucageCarucageCarucage was a medieval English land tax introduced by King Richard I in 1194, based on the size—variously calculated—of the estate owned by the taxpayer. It was a replacement for the danegeld, last imposed in 1162, which had become difficult to collect because of an increasing number of exemptions...
(E198/2/1) - 1212 Inquiry into tenures and alienations (E198/2/4-8)
- 1219, EyreEyre-Places:*Eyre, Isle of Skye, Skye, Scotland*Electoral district of Eyre, Western Australia*Eyre River *Eyre Highway, South and Western Australia*Eyre Bird Observatory, Western Australia*Eyre Peninsula, South Australia...
s (E198/2/9) - 1220, CarucageCarucageCarucage was a medieval English land tax introduced by King Richard I in 1194, based on the size—variously calculated—of the estate owned by the taxpayer. It was a replacement for the danegeld, last imposed in 1162, which had become difficult to collect because of an increasing number of exemptions...
(E198/2/10) - 1227, Eyre (E198/2/11)
- 1235, Feudal aidFeudal aidFeudal aid, or just plain aid is the legal term for one of the financial duties required of a tenant or vassal to his lord. Variations on the feudal aid were collected in England, France, Germany and Italy during the Middle Ages, although the exact circumstances varied.-Origin:The term originated...
for marrying the king's sister (E198/2/13-18) - 1236, Inquiry into aliens
- 1242, ScutageScutageThe form of taxation known as scutage, in the law of England under the feudal system, allowed a knight to "buy out" of the military service due to the Crown as a holder of a knight's fee held under the feudal land tenure of knight-service. Its name derived from shield...
of Gascony (E198/2/21-27) - 1244, Inquiry into serjeanties and aliens (
- 1250, Inquiry into serjeanties (E198/2/31)
Reason for production
Maxwell-Lyte suggests that the production of the book was prompted by the AidFeudal aid
Feudal aid, or just plain aid is the legal term for one of the financial duties required of a tenant or vassal to his lord. Variations on the feudal aid were collected in England, France, Germany and Italy during the Middle Ages, although the exact circumstances varied.-Origin:The term originated...
which was to be collected from King Edward I's tenants-in-chief for the marriage of his eldest daughter. The Aid was assessed on fees held by feudal tenures
Feudal land tenure
Under the English feudal system several different forms of land tenure existed, each effectively a contract with differing rights and duties attached thereto. Such tenures could be either free-hold, signifying that they were hereditable or perpetual, or non-free where the tenancy terminated on the...
of either knight service or serjeanty
Serjeanty
Under the feudal system in late and high medieval England, tenure by serjeanty was a form of land-holding in return for some specified service, ranking between tenure by knight-service and tenure in socage...
. As the Exchequer needed to initiate inquiries for the purpose of assessing and collecting the aid, it was desired that the various documents should be capable of consultation in a format facilitating quick reference. In 1303 many of the original rolls were lent to the officers in charge of making the assessment and collecting of the aid.
Opposing Maxwell-Lyte's suggested purpose, the historian F.M. Powicke objected that the evidence for such a historically concrete motive is weak and asserted that the expertise alone of the officers would have been sufficient for the job. He proposed instead that a rationale for its production may be found in the political attitudes of King Edward I, whose "insistence upon feudal rights and duties kept the officials of the exchequer very busy". It was therefore naturally to be expected that during the rule of such a king unique and often fragile records to which the Exchequer had to make frequent recourse should be produced in a new edition which assisted the clerks in making their work efficient.
A Register only
For whatever purpose, the new compilation was not intended to replace or supersede the original documents in the sense of definitive and authoritative records. This is made clear in a memorandumMemorandum
A memorandum is from the Latin verbal phrase memorandum est, the gerundive form of the verb memoro, "to mention, call to mind, recount, relate", which means "It must be remembered ..."...
written on the flyleaf
Flyleaf
Flyleaf is an American alternative metal band, formed in the Belton and Temple, Texas regions in 2000. The band has charted on mainstream rock, Christian pop and Christian metal genres. They performed around the United States in 2003 until releasing their eponymous debut album, Flyleaf, in 2005....
, which appears to be contemporary with the manuscript itself:
- Memorandum quod iste liber compositus fuit et compilatus de diversis inquisitionibus ex officio captis...et sic contenta in eodem libro pro evidenciis habentur hic in Scaccario et non pro recordo. ("It must be remembered that this book was composed and compiled from several official inquests...and therefore the contents in this book are held for evidence here in the Exchequer and not for the record").
M.T. Clanchy describes it as a "register" (after the medieval Latin term registrum), which he defines primarily as an administrative reference book which did not enjoy the authority of the originals as a record in legal proceedings. Earlier examples of such registers or "remembrance books" include the Red Book of the Exchequer
Red Book of the Exchequer
The Red Book of the Exchequer is a 13th-century manuscript compilation of the records of the English Exchequer. Made of vellum, the book was compiled by a royal clerk who died in 1246...
and the Black Book of the Admiralty
Black book of the admiralty
The Black Book of the Admiralty is a compilation of English admiralty law created over the course of several English monarchs' reigns, including the most important decisions of the High Court of Admiralty. Its starting point is the Rolls of Oléron, which were promulgated in c. 1160 by Eleanor...
, an Old French
Old French
Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century...
compilation of maritime law.
Legal authority
The written cautionary instruction that the compilation could not replace the originals in the sense of a legal record which could be used as evidence is repeated in later times. For example the statement on the flyleaf is cited in the vernacular by an Old FrenchOld French
Old French was the Romance dialect continuum spoken in territories that span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from the 9th century to the 14th century...
document recording a petition of monks from Croyland Abbey in 1383. Officers of the Exchequer repeated the memorandum themselves on several occasions.
The position changed however over time. Many of the original documents were already in poor condition at the time of their transcription and of those that were lent out to itinerant officers for the collection of the aid in 1303, many were never returned. Thus the book rather than originals eventually became of necessity a first reference for the Exchequer, a development which itself contributed to the neglect of the originals. Indeed by 1383 the name Testa de Nevill had come to be used colloquially for the two volumes, while the archive formerly known by that name is no longer mentioned in the sources.
Transcripted example
Norh'mpton: Feoda militum tenencium de domino rege in capite et tenencium de ipsis tenentibus de domino rege in capite et tenencium de wardis quae sunt in manu domini regis in comitatu Norht' propter scutagium eos quorum vera(?) tulerunt de habendum scutagium suis et propter feoda militum existencium infra balliam abbis burgi.Feoda tenencium in capite de domino rege:
- Eustach de Watford tenet in WATFORD dimidium feodum
- Ricardus de Lindon tenet unum feodum in ESTON in comitatu NOR'HT et CASTR in comitatu ROTELAND et unum feodum in BUDENHO et BOESTON in comitatu BEDEFORD
- Gilbertus de Preston dimidium feodum in GRETTON per cartam regis Johannis et sicut in regno XII regis Edwardii filii rex Edwardii in Nor'ht
Translation:
"Northampton: Fees of military tenants
Knight's fee
In feudal Anglo-Norman England and Ireland, a knight's fee was a measure of a unit of land deemed sufficient from which a knight could derive not only sustenance for himself and his esquires, but also the means to furnish himself and his equipage with horses and armour to fight for his overlord in...
held in chief from the Lord King and holdings in chief by the same tenants from the Lord King and holdings of wardships
Ward
Ward may refer to:* A Watchman as in Watch and Ward* Ward , someone placed under the protection of a legal guardian* USS Aaron Ward, a series of U.S...
which are in the hands of the Lord King in the county of Northampton on account of scutage
Scutage
The form of taxation known as scutage, in the law of England under the feudal system, allowed a knight to "buy out" of the military service due to the Crown as a holder of a knight's fee held under the feudal land tenure of knight-service. Its name derived from shield...
those of whom in truth who bear... from having their scutage and on account of knight's fees in existence within the bailiwick
Bailiwick
A bailiwick is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and may also apply to a territory in which the sheriff's functions were exercised by a privately appointed bailiff under a royal or imperial writ. The word is now more generally used in a metaphorical sense, to indicate a sphere of...
of the Abbey of Northampton
Northampton Abbey
Northampton Abbey was founded in Northampton in 1104-05 by William Peverel as an Augustinian monastery dedicated to St James.The abbey church was rebuilt on a large scale during the reign of King Edward I and completed in around 1310...
.
Knight's fees held in chief from the Lord King:
- Eustace de Watford holds half a fee in WatfordWatfordWatford is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, situated northwest of central London and within the bounds of the M25 motorway. The borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the urbanised parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District.Watford was created as an urban...
- Richard de Lindon holds one fee in Eston in the county of Northampton and Castr in the county of RutlandRutlandRutland is a landlocked county in central England, bounded on the west and north by Leicestershire, northeast by Lincolnshire and southeast by Peterborough and Northamptonshire....
and one fee in Budenho and Boston in the county of BedfordBedfordshireBedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east.... - Gilbert de Preston half a fee in Gretton as by the charter of King John just as in the 12th year of the reign of King Edward the son of King Edward in Northamptonshire".
1804 edition
A printed edition of the book was first produced by staff of the Exchequer in December 1804, at the special request of Royal Commissioners. The text was taken from a transcript made by an Exchequer clerk named Simpson, and was edited by John CaleyJohn Caley
-Life:He was the eldest son of John Caley, a grocer in Bishopsgate Street, London. Acquaintance with Thomas Astle led to a place in the Record Office in the Tower of London. In 1787 he received from Lord William Bentinck, as clerk of the pipe, the keepership of the records in the Augmentation...
and William Illingworth with a preface added by Illingworth.
- Caley, John and William Illingworth (ed. and pref.). Testa de Nevill sive Liber feodorum in Curia Scaccarii. Temp. Hen. III & Edw. I. London, Exchequer / Record Commission, 1804.
1807 edition
In 1807 was published a diplomatic edition in the format of one thick volume, in which a non-chronological arrangement of the contents was retained, and blank spaces between various entries sometimes omitted. It is said to "bristle with error and confusion throughout". Maxwell-Lyte complained that the resulting structure was potentially misleading and highly inconvenient to students and scholars seeking to establish dates for particular entries. In the opinion of the historian and geneaologist J. Horace RoundJohn Horace Round
Horace Round was a historian and genealogist of the English medieval period. He translated the Domesday Book for Essex into contemporary English. As an expert in the history of the British peerage he was appointed Honorary Historical Adviser to the Crown.-Family and early life:Round was born on 22...
the edition was “at once the hunting-ground and the despair of the topographer and the student of genealogy".
- Diplomatic edition, with an index of places and persons prepared by Sir Henry Ellis and Thomas Hartwell HorneThomas Hartwell HorneThomas Hartwell Horne , was a theologian, and librarian. He was born in London and educated at Christ's Hospital. He then became a clerk to a barrister, and used his spare time to write. He was initially affiliated with the Wesleyans but later joined the Church of England.Horne wrote more than...
. OCLC: 1407059.
1920-31 3 volume edition
Between 1920 and 1931 a new edition in three volumes was published by the Public Record OfficePublic Record Office
The Public Record Office of the United Kingdom is one of the three organisations that make up the National Archives...
, presenting a new and revised, critical edition of the Book of Fees. C.G. Crump was responsible for editing the Latin text and significant contributions were also made by other officers of the P.R.O., including A.S. Maskelyne, who prepared the 700-page index. The preface was written by the Deputy Keeper of the Public Record Office, Sir Henry Maxwell-Lyte, who explained that the new edition represented a radical departure from its precursor. Firstly, the clumsy semi-geographical order adopted by the mediaeval transcriber was abandoned and instead the material was for the most part arranged chronologically. Secondly, whenever possible it was based directly on the original materials used by William of Coshal. Moreover certain omissions by the transcriber were supplied. In 1932 historian F.M. Powicke hailed the edition as an “indispensable guide...one of which the Public Record Office may well be proud”.
- "Liber Feodorum: The Book of Fees commonly known called Testa de Nevill, reformed from the earliest MS, by the Deputy Keeper of the Records", Preface by Sir Henry Maxwell-Lyte, 3 volumes, published by His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1920-31. (Available from Family History Archives in the digital collections of the Harold B. Lee Library.)
External links
- E 198, The National Archives
- "Public records: Land taxes and feudal surveys", medievalgenealogy.org.uk