Feudal Land Tenure - Uncategorised

Uncategorised

• In paragio, a form of tenure frequently appearing in Domesday Book. (Coolf tenuit in paragio de rege, manor of Welige, IoW).
• In alodiu, Domesday Book tenure of Chiverton Manor, Isle of Wight. (Godric tenuit in alodiu de rege, manor of Chiverton, IoW). This is surely not an allodial title proper, which only the king himself owned, but probably signifies a category of holding from the royal demesne.
• Free burgage, tenure within a town or city.
• Curtesy tenure. A tenant "by the curtesy of England", being a widower of a wife by whom he has issue by her born alive, in respect of her enseized right in land, generally originating in a paternal inheritance. Roger Bigod claimed it unsuccessfully on the death of his wife Aliva.
• Tenant-at-will. Such tenant had no security of tenure whatsoever. It developed into the more secure "copyhold tenure", where the terms were set out in an entry on the manorial roll.
• Gavelkind. Frequently found in mediaeval Kent, "held according to the custom of gavelkind". It withdrew a dower from a widow if she remarried.
• Fee simple, a tenure with no service obligations attached which could be a free-holding (i.e. hereditable) or non-free (expiring on the tenant's death). On the abolition of feudal tenure in 1660, all existing tenures were converted to this tenure.