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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: Lydart on Saturday 28 June 08 12:50 BST (UK)
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Browsing on Google old books ... I found this:-
"The lands amounted to thirty-two knights fees ..."
There is an area of Monmouth called Kings Fee ... a similar explanation, maybe ?
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A Knight's Fee, in land measurement, was a variable measure which depended on the quality of the soil. It was considered to be the amount of land which could support a knight and his family for a year, and could be between 4 and 8 hides.
Stan
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A Knight's Fee, as an area of administration, was the area held by a knight for which he was obliged to perform military service, or Knight Service, to his immediate overlord.
Stan
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King's Fee just means that the estate belonged to the King.
In Feudal Law, Fee means an estate in land.
Stan
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Thanks for that Stan.
could be between 4 and 8 hides.
... in English please ??
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HIDE (Lat. ‘hida, OE higid, hid or hiwisc, members of a household), is a measure of land. In its earliest form the hide was the typical holding of the typical family. Gradually, this typical holding came to be regarded as containing 120 “acres “ (not 120 acres of 4840 sq. yds. each, but 120 times the amount of land which a plough team of eight oxen could plough in a single day).
The size was variable, depending on the soil quality. A hide of good arable land was smaller than a hide of poor quality, as it was primarily the amount considered adequate for the support of one family and dependants.
Stan
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So .... a knights fee was lets say about 5 hides; times that by what the oxen could plough; times that by my original question re 32 knights fees ...
... thats a BIG estate !
Goodness !!
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I reckon it was about 19,200 acres :)
Stan
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To think I was just browsing about a very dubiously slightly possible family link !
Thanks anyway Stan; added a bit more to my knowledge today ! :D
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There seems to be a lot of discussion about how big hides and hundreds are/were.
See RootsChat Reference Library (http://surname.rootschat.com/lexicon/index.php) => Lexicon (click here) (http://surname.rootschat.com/lexicon/reflib-lexicon.php?letter=H)
(Tip: click on the category: Place Names & Land - on the right - for related topics, like wapentakes and other now-unused land measures, etc :) )
Bob
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It was the institution of fees for the rent and use of land that brought about the feudal system. Fee derives from a Latin root which also gives us the word Feudal.
William I [The Conqueror] owned England outright. His barons held estates in fee from him, something rather large - even up to about a quarter of a county. They were obligated to provide trained soldiers when required by the King or money in lieu. They achieved that by leasing manors to Knights who would in turn lease lands to yeomen who had the end requirement to provide men at arms.
There was no standing army at that time.
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The Queen is still the legal owner of the UK :o
Explanatory notes to the Land Registration Act 2002.
The Crown is the only absolute owner of land in England and Wales: all others hold an estate in land. Estates, which derive from feudal terms of tenure, originally took many forms but were reduced by the Law of Property Act 1925 to two, an estate in fee simple “freehold” – and an estate for a term of years – “leasehold”.’ Fee simple is a medieval term for the sum paid to represent the fact that freehold is a tenancy, with the Monarch the ultimate landowner.
In fact Queen Elizabeth II is claimed to be the largest landowner on Earth
Stan
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The Queen is still the legal owner of the UK
Well the bit she owns here in Wales needs its grass cutting ... do you think one of her boys would do the job for me ??
;D