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when other tenants pay for reliefe,* one whole knight's fee, one hundred shillings, he, the said Sir Philip, shall pay but fifty shillings; and when escuaget is assessed throghe owtt the lande, or to ayde for to make th❜eldest

* This word is thus explained by Blount, "a feudatory or beneficiary estate in lands was at first granted only for life, and after the death of the vassall it returned to the chief lord, for which reason it was called feudum caducum, viz., fallen to the Lord by the death of the tenant; afterwards, these feudatory estates being turned into an inheritance by the connivance and assent of the chief Lord, when the possessor of such an estate died, it was called hæreditas caduca, i.e. it was fallen to the chief Lord, to whom the heir having paid a certain sum of money he did then relevare hæreditatem caducam out of his hands; and the money thus paid was called a relief. This must be understood after the Conquest, for in the time of the Saxons there were no reliefs, but heriots paid to the Lord at the death of his tenant, which in those days were horses, arms, &c., and such tributes could not be exacted of the English immediately after the Conquest, for they were deprived of both by the Normans; and instead thereof in many places the payment of certain sums of money was substituted, which they called a relief, and which continues to this day." LAW DICTIONARY, sub voce, fol. Lond. 1717.

+"ESCUAGE (Scutagium, from the Fr. Escu, i.e. a Buckler or Shield) signifies a kind of knight's service, called service of the shield; the tenant holding by it was bound to follow his Lord into the Scotish or Welsh wars at his own charge, which is taken away and discharged by act of parliament, 12 Car. II, cap. 24. He, who held a whole knight's fee, was bound to serve with horse and arms for forty days; and he, who held half a knight's fee, was to serve twenty days. Escuage also is sometimes taken for that duty or payment, which they, who held lands under this tenure, were bound to make to the Lord, when they neither went themselves to the wars, nor provided one in their place. Escuage is sometimes called a reasonable aid, which was demanded by the Lord of his tenants who held lands in Knights-service, viz., concesserunt Domino Regi ad maritandam filiam suam de omnibus qui tenent de Domino Rege in capite de singulis scutis 20 solidos solvendos' (Matt. Paris, anno 1242). It was an uncertain duty 'till it was known how much money the parliament would raise; but Escuage certain is called Socage." Blount's LAW DICTIONARY, sub

sonne of the Lord, knyght; or for to marrye the eldest daughter of the Lord, the said Sir Philip shall pay bott the motye* of it that other shall pay.

Neverthelesse, the said Sir Philip shall fynde, meyntienge,f and susteigne, one bacon flyke,f hanging in his hall at Whichenoure,§ redy arrayede all times of the yere, bott in Lent; to be given to everyche mane, or womane married, after the day and the yere of their mariage be passed; and to be gyven to everyche mane of religion, archbishop, bishop, prior, or other religious; and to everyche preest, after the yere and day of their profession finished, or of their dignity reseyved in forme followyng; whensoever that ony suche byfore named wylle come for to enquire for the baconne, in their own persone, or by any other for them, they shall come to the baillyfe, or to the porter, of the Lordship of Which noure, and shall say to them in the manere as ensewethe;

'Bayliffe, or porter, I doo you to knowe; that I am come for myself (or, if he be come for any other, shewing for whome) to demaunde one Bacon flyke, hanging in the halle of the Lord of Whichenoure after forme thereunto belongyng.'

After which relacioun, the baillyffe or porter shall * i.e. Moiety.

+ i.e. Maintain.

i.e. Flitch.

§ Whichnour, Whichnor, Wichnor, or Wichnoure, as it is variously spelled, is a small village, of Staffordshire, situated in the north division of the hundred of Offlow and deanry of Tamworth, on the antient Rikenhild street, about half way between Burton and Lichfield. It is so called from its situation on a fine eminence on the north side of the river, Trent, wic in the Saxon signifying a village or dwelling place, and orra, or orre, a bank. See Shaw's Hist. of Staffordshire, vol. i, p. 118.

|| In the folio of 1675 it is printed, I presume by a blunder of the compositor" (if he be come for any other shewing for whom demaunde one Bacon," &c., vol. ii, p. 107.

assign a day to him, upon promyse by his feythe to retourne; and wyth him to bryng tweyne of his neighbours. And in the meyne time, the said Bailliffe shall take with him tweyne of the freeholders of the Lordship of Whichenoore; and they three shall go to the manoir of Rudlowe belongynge to Robert Knyhtleye, and there shall somon the forseid Knyghtleye or his baillyffe, commanding him to be ready at Whichenoore the day appoynted, at pryme of the day, withe his caryage; that is to say, a horse and a sadylle, a sakke and a pryke* for to convey and carye the said baconne and corne a journey owtt of the countee of Stafford at his costages.† And then the sayd baillyffe‡ shall with the sayd freeholders somone all the tenaunts of the said manoir to be ready at the day appoynted at Whichenoore for to doo and perform the services which they owe to the baconne. And at the day assign'd, all such as owe services to the baconne, shall be ready at the gatte of the manoir of whichenoure, frome the sonne-rysinge to none, attend

A pryke signifies a spur, from its having at one time consisted of a single point. (See BLOUNT'S FRAGMENTA ANTIQUITATIS, by Beckwith, p. 132). Hence the scriptural phrase of "it is hard to kick against the pricks," which indeed had been said by Terence at least a hundred and eighty years before the time of the apostles:

"Nam quæ inscitia est

Adversum stimulum calces."

Terentii Phormio, Act 1, Sc. 2, L. 27. And hence too the use of the word in our old writers for riding hastily; as in Spenser's FAIRY QUEEN:

"A gentle knight was pricking on the plain."

This word is explained by Minshew to mean cost, and is of very frequent occurrence in Dugdale, as well as in other of our older writers.

The reader, who is unused to our old authors, must not be surprized at the looseness of the orthography, the same word being spelt in half a dozen different ways; it is more or less the case with all of hem.

yng and awatyng for the comyng of hym that fetcheth the baconne. And when he is comyn, there shall be delivered to him and hys felowys chapeletts, and to all those whiche shall be there to do their services deue to the baconne; and they shall leid the seid demandant wythe trompes and tabours and other maner of mynstralseye to the halle dore, where he shall fynde the Lord of Wychenoore or his steward, ready to deliver the baconne in this manere. He shall enquere of hym, whiche demandeth the baconne, yf he have brought tweyn of hys neybors with hym. Whiche must answere, 'they be here redy.' And then the steward shall cause thies two neighbours to swere yf the seid demandaunt be a weddyt man; or have be a man weddyt; and yf sythe his marriage one yere and a day be passed; and yf he be a freeman or a villeyn.

And yf his seid neighbours make othe that he hath for hym all thies three poynts rehersed; then shall the baconne be take downe, and broghte to the halle-dore; and shall there be layd upon one half a quarter of wheatte, and upon other of rye. And he that demandeth the baconne shall kneel upon his knee; and shall holde his right hande upon a booke, which booke shall be layde above the baconne and the corne; and shall make othe in this manere.

'Here ye, Sir Philippe de Somervile, Lord of Whichenoore, mayntener and gyver of this baconne,—that I, A sithe I wedded B my wife, and sythe I hadde hyr in my keping and at my wylle by a yere and a day, after our mariage, I wold not have chaunged for none other, farer ne fowler, rycher ne pourer, ne for none other descended of gretter lynage, slepyng ne wakyng, at noo time. And yf the seid B were sole, and I sole, I wolde take her to be my wyfe before alle the wymen of the worlde, of what condiciones soever they be, good or evylle;

as helpe me God and his seyntis, and this fleshe and all fleshes.'

And hys neighbors shall make othe that they trust veraly he hath said truly. And yff it be founde by his neighbours, before named, that he be a freeman, there shall be delyvered to him half a quarter of wheate and a cheese. And yf he be a villeyn, he shall have half a quarter of rye wythoutte cheese. And then shall Knyghtley, the Lord of Rudlowe, be called for, to carrye all thies thynges to fore rehersed. And the said corne shall be layd upon one horse, and the baconne above ytt; and he to whom the baconne apperteigneth, shall ascend upon his horse, and shall take the cheese before hym, yf he have a horse; and yf he have none, the Lord of Whichenover shall cause him to have one horse and sadyll, to* such time as he be passed hys Lordshippe; and so shalle they departe the manoir of Whichenovre with the corne and the baconne tofore hym that hath wonne itt, with trompets, tabouretts, and other manere of mynstralce. And all the free tenants of Winchenovre shall conduct hym to* (he) be passed the lordship of Whichenovre. And then shall all they retorne, except hym to whom apperteigneth to make the carryage and journey wythowtt the countye of Stafforde at the costys of his Lord of Whichenovre.

And yff the said Robert Knighteley do not cause the baconne and corne to be conveyed as is rehersed, the Lord of Whychenovre shall do it be carryed, and shall dystreigne the said Robert Knyghteley for his defaulte, for one hundred shyllings, and shall kepe the distres, so taken, irreplevisable."

It is not a little singular that a custom of the same kind in substance, though differing in the details, should have existed also at the priory of Dunmow, in Essex, whence

* i.e. till.

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