more generall significations became to be what they are so this of Cnyht or Knight For plainly it s applied to the office to which their Honor bound them not to their age As appears in Our old word Rodknights that is Riding Knights f v. Verstegan pag. 319. or Knight riders which were such as held their lands by the seruice to Ride vp and down with their Lords de Manerio in Manerium which vnder Henrie III. before William of Ralegh was adiudged g Bracton lib. 2. de acq rer dom cap. 16. 35. to be cause of Ward and Marriage Stephen of Segraue being then as hee might haue good reason of a contrarie opinion They were called also Kadknights and in one that translated diuers of the Saxon laws they are thus rememberd Si hoc fit hee means if fighting were in domo hominis quem Angli vocant Radcniht alij verò Sexhendman The Sexhendman was the Saxon Sixhyndmon i. one whose worth was valued at DC shillings In our law they are stiled Milites and neuer Equites Yet so that Miles is taken for the self same with Chiualer For in the Writs of Parlament beeing in Latin to the Barons Chiualer is alwaies as an addition so exprest in French because it seems euery Baron fit for that Court is at least supposd to bee a Knight and most commonly is so And where in a Writ of h 30. Ed. 3. fol. 18. a. Mesne the Lord Paramount was namd Iohannes Tournour Miles and in the distringas ad acquietandum Iohannes T. Chiualer it was held in Court that no error was by the variance But in the common laws also Miles is aswell taken for others as for Knights Somtimes it goes for Miles gladio cinctus for one indeed Knighted as before in the Magna assisa eligenda and elswhere Other times and very often it is only for a Free-holder of lands by Knights seruice And against Miles and Tenant by Knights seruice were liber Sokemannus Burgensis Villanus Tenant in ancien demesn and Seruiens opposd Sokemans were but Tenants in socage which held by seruice of the Plough or such like Burgenses Burgesses men of Towns and Corporations of personall only not feudall worth Villain neer the like although applied afterward to Bondslaues Tenants in Ancient demesn although they had their large libertie of discharge and quiet as now yet were reckon'd so farre from the worth of old Tenants by Knights seruice that they had not rank mongst the Liberi homines Therefore in the writ of Right Close the Tenure must not be laid per liberum seruitium because saith the Register no Free man may bring that writ and whereas by the Statute of Merton quilibet liber homo may make an Attourney it was i Temp. Ed. 1. tit Attorney 102. le case 21. Ed. 1. Ms. pluis plein la est adiudge adiudged that Tenants in Ancient demesn were not in those words comprehended And in an action of Disceit against k Placit coram Rege de Temp. H. Bigod Pasch. 44. Hen. 3. Rot. 17. Berk. William Mamman and others by the Abbot of Beaulieu touching the Mannor of Farendon which the Abbot claim'd as ancient demesne by the gift of King Iohn the issue being whether part of it were Ancient demesne or no the Defendant Petit quod inquiratur per Milites praeceptum est Vicecomiti quod venire faceret coram H. le Bigod in proximo aduentu suo ad partes illas omnes Milites praedicti Comitatus ad recognoscendum c. Where note both Ancien demesn triable by the Country and also that Milites vsd for liberè tenentes as it were excluded the Abbots Tenants being by reason of their tenure not inter liberos legales Homines or fit to be in a Iurie These distinctions euen still hold By Seruientes l 22. Ed. 3. fol. 18. Seriants were those vnderstood which either by perpetuall couenant or temporary pay were bound to the warrs not by Tenure as the Milites or tenants by Knights seruice Nec miles nec seruiens litem audeat mouere saith one of m Radeuic de gest Frederic 1. lib. 1. cap. 26. Barbarossa's Militarie laws and vpon the writ of sending foure Milites to see the sick in an Essoin de Malo lecti it 's not sufficient saith Bracton si Vicecomes mittat seruientes milites enim esse debent propter verba breuis And these by reason of their pay which by couenants was most commonly for life or diuers continuall yeers were also calld Solidarij whence our word Souldiers the Spanish Soldado the French Soldat and such like because of the Soldata or Solidata the proper name of their Salarie which they receiu'd Soldata vero say the Feudalls dicitur quia plerunque in solidorum donatione consistit quandoque autem in Vino annona consistit I will not deriue here the n Caesar. de Bel. Gallic 3. Nicol. Damascen ap Athenaeum dipnos lib. 5. Soldarij or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are mention'd for such as liu'd as Deuoti Ambacti or neer followers about great men among the old Gaules I dare not what euer others Yet the name of Miles notwithstanding hath as well its fit application to a common hired souldier as to him that serues by reason of his tenure and so comprehends both them two and the personally honor'd Knight But them two by reason of their seruice to which their continuall rewards bind them the Knight because that after out of his own worth or hopefull forwardnes he is adiudged by some suprem Iudge of Chiualrie worthy that dignitie the character of his qualitie in his creation perpetually remains These Knights it seems were anciently call'd Baccalaurei or Bachelors a name corrupted out of Batalarij from the French Batailer perhaps that so they might be opposed against the Vexillarij or Bannerets of whom anon because the Bachelors displai'd not a Banner but only had good place of one in the armie and so exercis'd themselues in Battell whence the same name was it may o Ludouic Viues de Caus. corrupt Art lib. 2. be transfer'd to such as tooke the first degree 〈◊〉 the Militia Togata of the Vniuersitie The diligent and learn'd President of the Parlament at Rheims p In Cons. Britan art 88. Bertrand d'Argentre fetches the name of Bachelor from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so called in the Eastern Empire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. because they followed the Armie and carried the Victuall For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is saith q Constantin Themat 6. my Autor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. a kind of Cake or such like of a circular forme nam'd in the r C. tit de erogat milit annonae l. 1. de excoctione l. 2. Code Buccellatum and in some Graecians s Eustath Antecessor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 §. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Ecclesiae Regni mei à Publicis vectigalibus Operibus Oneribus absoluantur nisi instructionibus Arcium vel Pontium quae nunquam vlli possunt relaxari But these were not so much by reason of Tenure as generall subiection to occasions of State and accidentall necessitie and supply of wants to common good Those kind of Militarie Fiefs or Fees as wee now haue were not till the Normans with whom the custom of Wardships in Chiualrie they began not vnder Hen. III. as most ignorantly Ranulph Higden the Monk of Chester and Polydore tells you came into England But before that Wards were in Scotland if their Stories and laws of Malcolm II. deceiue not When he distributed the Kingdom into Tenancies then Omnes Barones saith his laws concesserunt sibi Wardam Releuium de haerede cuiuscunque Baronis defuncti ad sustentationem Domini Regis although Buchanan rather guesses that Scotland had this custom by imitation of the English or Normans But in this Malcolm's time Wardships were not at all in England Of the originall and vse of Militarie Feuds thus much With the Roturier or base tenures this place hath not to do Only a word or two of the names of Feudum and Alodium The deriuations of both are diuers For Feudum I am somwhat confident that its root is in Fides howeuer by different writing thence varied and from it is our word Feild which was anciently Feud and Feuld as in the names of Rotherfeud and Losfeuld for Rotherfeild and Losfeild occurring with diuers like in old Rolls is apparant The Vassals are stiled Fideles in Latin and Drudi i. True from the same word in Teutonique From what others herein multiplie but rouing farre fâ—om the mark I purposely abstain and from the coniecture of some because they are too ridiculous Alodes or Alodium signified anciently what in the more strict sense Enheritance doth in our law that is lands descended from the ancestor and Alodes and Comparatum are m Vide quae adnotanit H. Bignon ad Marculph Formul lib. 1. cap. 12. opposed often as Purchase and Enheritance Now euery Feud or Fief paid a Releif or Heriot vpon death of the tenant and the Heir or successor came in alwaies as at this day in some fashion of a new Purchase But where no tenure was there the enheritance discended freely to the Heire who claimd it alwaies meerly from his ancestor Out of this difference I imagin the names of Feudum and Alodium were translated to make that distinction which is vsually twixt them whence Alodium now abusiuely denotes chiefly lands possest without seruice or subiection except only acknowledgment of superioritie in the Giuer This may hold better then that from Leudes or any which I haue seen An example of Alodes or Alodium the great Lawier Hotoman specially takes out of an old Charter made to one Paulan by our King Athelstan which is n Hector Boeth lib. 16. rememberd to haue bin found amongst the spoiles of Warre in Westmerland by the Scots vnder their Robert II. As the words were I insert it I King Athelstan Giues to Paulan Oddan and Roddan Al 's guyde and as faire Al 's euer thai mine wair And tharto Witnesse Maulde my wife The simplicitie of that age is euen pictur'd in it An age when misnomers misrecitals being deceiud such like did not make void the Kings Patent Nor doth it in substance differ from the Conquerors gift of the Palatinat of Chester whereof before And both in this of Athelstan that of the o Apud Camden in Essexia Hundred of Dauncing and Chelmer by the Confessor to Randolph Peperking and others extant of about the Conquest shew the affectation that age had to Riming in Charters Wheras now Prose without difficultie makes not one sufficient This of Feuds belongs more specially to the Dignities alreadie spoken of but also hath its vse in the vnderstanding of the nature of our ancient Knights in regard of the tenure of their Fees to whom wee make the next passage Knights Time of taking the Virilis Toga Custome of the Gaules in their Childrens taking arms Of the Germans Adoption per arma The Custome of the Longobards for the Kings sonne sitting at Table with his father Knighting by Girding with a Sword Cingulum Militiae Amittere Cingulum Som not comming in sight of the Emperor but Cincti Minerua Zosteria Balteus Knighting by a blow giuen on the eare anciently in the Empire First Mention of a knight made in England The ancient and holy ceremonies in Knighting The Marshall's fee anciently at a Knighting Kings Knighted by their Subiects Subiects Knighted by Subiects although not Lieutenants Eques Auratus One Prince may Knight in another's Territorie Infanciones Freedom to a Villain by Knight-hood Knighting by Los Ricos hombres in Spain A Knights Fief or Fee Who may be compeld to take the Order Census Equestris Miles sine Terra Inquisition of such as held Knights Fees and yet were not of the Order A Knight's Furniture by our law anciently not subiect to an Execution The Armes of a Knight descending to the Heire Ius Sigilli in a Knight Gold Rings and ius Aureorum Annulorum in Rome Their Equestris Ordo Ancient fashion of Manumission in England Seales when first in England The generall vse of them in most Nations The Iewish instruments of Contracts Their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Starra in the old Rolls Triall by a Iurie of Iews and Christians and their othes Difference of Paruum Sigillum and Magnum Sigillum Aide a faire Fitz Cheualer de Rancome de Marriage Of what lands and when the first and third kindes are to be leuied The name of Knight in most languages from a Horse What it is and whence in our and the German vse Cnihtes Rodknights Miles and Chiualer one Seuerall Notions of Miles oppos'd against Sokmans Burgesses Villains Tenants in Ancien demesn and Seruientes Liberi Homines Solidarij Knights Bachelors Som coniectures whence that name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Buccellatum The fashion of Degrading a Knight The example of Sir Andrew Harkley Of Sir Ralph Grey Losse of the hand to a base fellow striking a Knight CHAP. IX HOweuer diuers Orders of Knighthood being there are mongst them which take precedence of KNIGHTS of the Spurre or those which generally are known by the name of Knights yet by institution and vse of all States They are the ancientest and shall here go first because also the other Orders are but late attributs according to the seuerall inuentions of particular Princes As in Rome Children vntill XIV yeers of age for so will the time be although some places of good autors misconceiud hath perswaded som otherwise vsing their Toga praetexta the ensigne of Infancie did then take VirilisToga or habiliment of manhood according to the increasing hopes of their worth so in the Northern parts of Europe about that age the sonnes of Princes and others of Noble Rank vsd to
Grant is extant of u Pet. de Vineis lib. 6. Ep. 17 Frederique II. that a knight may be made quanquam pater suus Miles non fuerit nostris constitutionibus caueatur quod milites fieri nequeant qui de genere Militum non nascuntur In France it was x Belmanorian apud Tilium lib. 1. vide Ranulph de Glanuilla lib. 5. cap. 5. adiudged anciently that where the Lord of a Villain I vse the word as in our law had knighted his Villain being a Gentleman he became free and had the honor lawfully but if another had knighted him nothing had been wrought by it For none could manumit him but his Lord. And till Manumission or vnlesse knighthood had had Ciuill freedome for its ground he was not capable of it Neither there might any great man confer this dignitie vpon one which were not before a Gentleman without grieuous Mulct But the king only might do it And mongst old laws y Ex legib Hisp. Fr. Mennenius of Spain Quil bet Infancio euery Gentleman or hijdalgo potest esse Miles in Aragonia alij verò non Et si fortè non Infancio promoueatur per Ricum hominem ad Militiam perdit honorem quem tenebat Ricus homo one of their Ricos hombres vel si non tenebat nunquam tenere debet Et illi promotus semper remanet villanus sublato sibi equo armis Now to the dishonor of Merit and Noblesse how many most vndeseruing either for qualitie or parentage bear this most honorable Title But some ancient adiuncts to knighthood here next offer themselues They are chiefly The respect of the Honor to Possessions Their Martiall Equipage Their right of vsing a Seale The Aide a faire fitz Chiualer The Name and honorable regard to it and Degradation Of them all in their Order The Knights Feif or Fee is as commonly known by name as Knight But what it was or is is not to all known An old z testimonie makes it DC LXXX acres consisting of IV. Hydes Of Hydes before where of Barons Other certainties x Lib. Rub. Scaccarij are proposd for a Knights Fee anciently but * v. 4. Ed. 2. tit Auoury 200. in vain It s neerest truth to set no number of Acres nor quantitie of Territorie but only of Reuenue out of land which being XX l. yeerly was the value of a Knights Fee Remember what is alreadie deliuerd of an entire Baronie and the possessions of other dignities In them the Relief alwaies expresses the fourth part of the annuall reuenue by vertue of the Grand Charter which in this point was made in imitation of what was common law in the Relief of a Knights Fee being as appears by Glanuil and Geruase of Tilburie iust c. shilâ—ings What then more plainly could proue that the knights Fee that is the Possession fit for the maintenance of a Knight in those dayes was exactly land of X X l. yeerly And they which had such an estate might bee compelled to take and it seems of right demand a Knighthood Yet vnder Hen. the III. and Edward 〈◊〉 some of lesse Reuenue were calld to this Dignitie Anno sub eodem 1256 exijt edictum Regium saith Matth. Paris praeceptumque est acclamatum per totum Regnum Angliae vt quilibet qui haberet XV. libratas terrae supra armis redimitus tyrocinio donaretur vt Angliae sicut Italiae Militia Roboraretur Et qui nollent vel qui non possent honorem status Militaris sustinere pecunia se redimerent Heere XV. pound reuenue was the same and afterward all the a Matth. Paris pag. 1249. edit Lond. vbi legendum pro decem quindecem Shirifes of England were amerced euery one at fiue Marks in the Exchequer for not distraining the Tenants in their Countie according to that precept And other like examples are in themselues vnlike for value But by the Statute of Westminster 1. of Resonable Aide XX. pound Socage land and a Knights Fee are compar'd for like possessions and in I. Edward II. an act of Parlament was that if any were distrain'd to bee made Knight hauing neither in Fee nor for life twentie pounds reuenue and the same were prou'd vpon his complaint by inquest he should be discharg'd Nor that any man should be compell'd to bee a Knight before his full age of XXI years Yet after that the writs haue bin for such as had fortie pound yearly b 19. Ed. 2. Claus. memb 16. Dors. 7. Ed. 3. tit Auerment 37. Claus. 7. Ed. 3. part 1. Dors. memb 7. 22. both in Ed. II. and III. their times and of diuers succeeding And vnder Henry VI. the Chiefe Iustice c Babington 7. Hen. 6. sol 16. C. Sir Richard Haukesford of the Common Pleas sayes that the King might compell euery man of xll. yearly worth in lands to receiue Knighthood by writ out of the Exchequer and if they appear'd not at the first day but come after to take this order by rigour of Law they are not to be receiu'd but amerced for default Where he remembers that when writs in that kind went out at the second day a great Burgesse of Southwork able to dispend c. Marks yearly appear'd on whom they were vnwilling that the honor should be bestowed and after deliberation resolu'd that because hee came not the first day hee should not be Knighted This Census or Militarie value hath some proportion to that of the Ordo Equestris in Rome Their Ordo Equestris or secundus Ordo as they calld it in respect of the Senators being Ordo primus had it's known worth in possessions That worth was CD M. of their Sestertij in present estate of our sterling M. M. M. C. XXV pounds euery M. Sesterij or one Sestertium which are all one reckon'd at VII pounds XVI shillings III. pence Yet in those more ancient times of England when the relief of a Knights Fee and so a Knights Fee were truely known as now also too frequently this honor was giuen to such as had not any land twixt them and other a difference is made in d Roger. de Houeden part 2. pag. 424. lib. Rub. scaccarij Richard I. his edict of Torneaments Rex statuit Torniamenta fieri in Anglia charta sua confirmauit ita quod quicunque torniare vellet daret ei pecuniam secundum formam subscriptam videlicet Comes daret pro licentia torniandi XX. Marcas argenti Barones decem Marcas argenti Miles Terram habens IV. Marcas argenti Miles non habens Terram II. Marcas argenti Out of this Militarie Reuenue and the right of compulsion in the King to make the possessors Knights you may easily vnderstand what Pro respectu Militiae is in the Exchequer Rolls anciently and why in Enquests of Eires the presentations were of such as had a whole Knights Fee and were not Knighted being of full age In an Eire
the three reserud in King Iohns Grand Charter to be leuied without consent of Parlament Nullum so the words are o Charta ista est apud Matth. Paris in Annalibus Thomae Rudborne Monachi Wintonienses Ms. in the Kings person scutagium vel auxilium ponam in Regno nostro nisi per commune consilium Regni nostri nisi ad Corpus nostrum redimendum ad primogenitum Filium nostrum Militem faciendum ad primogenitam filiam nostram semel maritandam Et ad hoc non fiat nisi rationabile auxilium And in the same Nos non concedimus de caetero alicui quod capiat auxilium de liberis hominibus suis nisi ad corpus suum redimendum ad faciendum primogenitum Filium suum Militem ad primogenitam filiam suam semel Maritandam ad hoc non fiat nisi rationabile auxilium That aide de Rançon as it is calld in the Custumier of Normandie occurrs not as I remember in our Law annals printed but in the not publisht yeers of p 21. Ed. 1. fol. 66. Edward 1. a release by one Robert of Bentham to the Abbot of Ford is pleded of all seruices forspris suit reall reasonable aide pur luy reindre hors de prison ou ces heires quel heur qu' ils fussent enprisones From the Normans vntill Edward I. these Aides were all vncertain but to be leuied with moderation and according to the quantitie of the Tenants worth ne q Glanuil lib. 9 cap. 8. nimis grauari inde videatur vel suum contenementum amittere Neither was any certaintie of Age in the sonne and heire by the law known But in III. r West 1. cap. 36 Edward I. it was enacted that for the Knighting and marriage of a whole knights Fee should be XX. shillings giuen and of XX. pounds yeerly so cage as much and so pro rata and that none should bee leuied vntill the sonne and heire were of XV. yeers age and the daughter of VII But the King was not bound by this Statut extending only to common persons as appears by Records s Parl. 20. Ed. 3. Art 45. alibi of interceding time where the value leuied was greater Therefore by the act of XXV Edward III. the Kings Aides were brought to a like value All lands are subiect to these Aides except only ancient demesne and grand and petit serieantie Tenures as the law hath been t 11. Hen. 4. fol. 31. 10. Hen. 6. Auowry 267. Anc. dem 11. anciently deliuerd One that wrote a litle after the Statut of Westminster I. speaking of Auowrie for reasonable aide a faire fits eign Chiualer allows as good barres to the Auowrie for the tenant to plede that u Briton Chap de prises de auers the Father himself is no Knight or that the sonne is not yet of age pur ordre de Chiualler prendre so that one not knighted cannot claime this aide of his Tenants And the fit age to receiue the Order is fifteene according to that Statut although if the sonne and heire of a Tenant x 5. Iacob c. Sr Drue Drurie D. Coke part 6. Plowd c. Ratcliffe D. Coke part 8. c. Sr Henry Constable by Knights seruice be Knighted in his fathers life time at what age soeuer he is at his fathers death discharged of Wardship both of land and bodie and the Wardship of the bodie of one knighted within age after the death of his ancestor presently ends For the King being suprem Iudge of Chiualrie by knighting his subiect adiudges him fit for Knights seruice his deficiencie in which kind by reason of his age is entended by the law vntill one and Twentie vnlesse the king adiudge him otherwise For their Name that in all places except England hath its originall from a Horse the most vsuall beast of the Warres as the Roman Equites were titled from their Equus publicus being also before called y Iunius Gracchanus apud Plin. lib. 33. cap. 2. Celeres and Trossuli For to the Spaniards they are Caualleros to the Italians Cauallieri to the French Cheuallers all in their prouinciall tongues from the Latin Caballus and in the British Margoghs in like signification For as now so anciently Marc or Marg in that language as other more interpreted a Horse Whence euerie Knight with his two Esquires on Horseback in Brennus his armie was stiled z Pausanias in Phocicis Trimarcisia which though it bee applied to the Celts or Gaules mongst whom also Caesar specially reckons as their chief lay Order the Equites or Margoghs yet without much difficultie it may bee communicated to the Britons And the Germans call them Reytteren that is Ridars a word in a Buchanan Reb. Scot. lib. 7. in Malcolm 3. Scotland to this day vsed Old Rimes of b Ms. Of the Horse Sheep and Goose. Dan Lidgate Eques ab Equo is said of very right And Cheualier is said of Cheualrie In which a Rider called is a Knight Arragoners done also specifie Caballiero though all that partie Is name of Worship and so took his ginning Of Spores of gold and chiefly Riding As all these in this Western part expresse a speciall honor implying abilitie of martiall seruice with horse so the old Greeks attributed not to a great man a better name then what truly was the same with euery of those That is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence Hecuba c Euripid. in Hecuba calls Polymestor King of Thrace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nestor So the chief men and of best worth in d Herodot lib. 〈◊〉 Chalcis were known by the Title of Hippobatae i. Equites But our English calls them Knights the word signifying a Minister Scholer or Disciple Leornung Cnihts is vsd for the Disciples in the old Euangelists of the Saxons as most worthie Clarenceulx hath noted And it was taken also for the yonger sort Tyrones or such like For where the Latine of venerable Bede hath of King Sigibert instituit Scholam in qua Pueri literis erudirentur the e Habes apud Caium de Antiq. Cantabrig lib. 1. English-Saxon hath he sceole gesette on ðaere cnihtas geonge men gesette getyde laerde i. hee instituted a Schoole and placed in it Cnihtes Knights and yong men both furnished and learned At this day a Diener seruant or vallet is both in Alemanique and Belgique called Ein Knecht And to this sense in Cnichtas in the translation of Bede perhaps hath tyro and tyrocinium allusion in those Monks which thereby expresse somtimes a Knight and Knighthood But as it goes for the Titularie name of this Honor I suppose it rather for a Minister or Seruant denoting that one which had vndertaken the Order was a Martiall minister or seruant known and as it were in perpetuall seruice retained for the State And that as Comes and Baro from their