BOC-LAND.

"Land held by book or charter. It was land that had been severed by an act of government from the folc-land, and converted into an estate of perpetual inheritance. It might belong to the church, to the king, or to a subject. It might be alienable, and devisable at the will of the proprietor; it might be limited in its descent, without any power of alienation in the possessor. It was often granted for a single life, or for more lives than one, with remainder in perpetuity to the church. It was forfeited, for various delinquencies, to the state.

"Estates in perpetuity were usually created by charter after the introduction of writing, and on that account Boc-land and land of inheritance are often used as synonymous expressions. But at an earlier period they were conferred by the delivery of a staff, a spear, an arrow, a drinking-horn, the branch of a tree, or a piece of turf; and when the donation was in favour of the church, these symbolical representations of the grant were deposited with solemnity on the altar; nor was this practice entirely laid aside after the introduction of title-deeds. There are instances of it as late as the time of the Conqueror. It is not, therefore, quite correct to say, that all the lands of the Anglo-Saxons were either folc-land or boc-land. When land was granted in perpetuity it ceased to be folc-land, but it could not with propriety be termed boc-land, unless it was conveyed by a written instrument.

"Boc-land was released from all services to the public, with the exception of contributing to military expeditions, and to the reparations of castles and bridges. These duties or services were comprised in the phrase of Trinoda necessitas,' which were said to be incumbent on all persons, so that none could be excused from them. The church, indeed, contrived, in some cases, to obtain an exemption from them; but in general its lands, like those of others, were subject to them. Some of the charters, granting to the possessions of the church an exemption from all services whatever, are genuine, but the greater part of them are forgeries.

"Boc-land might nevertheless be subjected to the payment of an annual rent to the State by its original charter of creation. We have an instance of this among the deeds of Worcester cathedral, collected by Henning. Æthelbald, king of the Mercians, had, it appears, granted to Eanulf, grandfather of Offa, an estate of inheritance, burthened with an annual payment of ale, corn, cattle, and other provisions to a royal vill; and this estate, with the rentcharge attached to it, Offa afterwards gave in remainder to the see of Worcester, after his own life and that of his sons.

"Boc-land might be held by freemen of all ranks and degrees.

"The estates of the higher nobility consisted chiefly of Boc-land. Bishops

and abbots might have boc-land of their own in addition to what they held in right of the church.

"The Anglo-Saxon kings had private estates of boc-land, and these estates did not merge in the crown, but were devisable by will, gift, or sale, and transmissible by inheritance, in the same manner as boc-land held by a subject."

Folc. land esin

FOLC-LAND. [free folk, land land"]

"The land of the folk or people. It was the property of the community. It might be occupied in common, or possessed in severalty; and in the latter case,it was probably parcelled out to individuals in the folc-gemotor court of the district; and the grant sanctioned by the freemen who were there present. But While it continued to be folc-land, it could not be alienated in perpetuity; and, therefore, on the expiration of the term for which it had been granted, it reverted to the community, and was again distributed by the same authority 'Spelman describes folc-land as 'terra popularis, quæ jure communi possidetur sine scripto.' Fole-land In another place he distinguishes it accurately from boc-land: Prædia Saxones duplici titulo possidebant: vel scripti authoritate, quod bocland vocabant, vel populi testimonio, quod foleland dixere? Boland

.

2 Fok-land was subject to many burthens and exactions from which boo land was exempt. The possessors of folkland were bound to assist in the reparation of royal vills, and in other public works. They were liable to have travellers and others quartered on them for subsistence. They were required to give hospitality to kings and great men in their progresses through the country, to furnish them with carriages and relays of horses, and to extend the same assistance to their messengers, followers, and servants, and even to the persons who had charge of their hawks, horses, and hounds. Such at least are the burthens from which lands are liberated when converted by charter into boland.

"Folland might be held by freemen of all ranks and conditions. It is a mistake to imagine with Lambarde, Spelman, and a host of antiquaries, that it was possessed by the common people only. Still less is Blackstone to be credited, when, trusting to Somner, he tells us it was land held in villenage by people in a state of downright servitude, belonging, both they and their children and effects, to the lord of the soil, like the rest of the cattle or stock upon the land. Blackstone, ii, 927 A deed published by Lye exposes the error of these representations.Anglo-Saxon Dict., App. 2 Alfred, a

72 i. e. “The Saxons possessed lands by a twofold title; either by authority of a writing, which they called boc-land, or by the testimony of the people, which they called folc-land."

4

nobleman of the highest rank, possessed of great estates in bog-land, beseeches King Alfred, in his will, to continue his folk-land to his son, Ethelwald; and if that favour cannot be obtained, he bequeaths, in lieu of it, to his son, who appears to have been illegitimate, ten hides of bootland at one place, or seven at another. From this document it follows, first, that folc-land was held by persons of rank; secondly, that an estate of folk-land was of such value, that seven, or even ten hides of boc-land were not considered as more than equivalent for it; and, lastly, that it was a life-estate, not devisable by will, but in the opinion of the testator, at the disposal of the king, when by his own death it was vacated.

"It appears also from this document, that the same person might hold estates both in boc-land and in folc-land; that is to say, he might possess an estate of inheritance of which he had the complete disposal, unless in so far as it was limited by settlement; and with it he might possess an estate for life, revertible to the public after his decease. In the latter times of the AngloSaxon government it is probable there were few persons of condition who had not estates of both descriptions. Every one was desirous to have grants of folc-land, and to convert as much of it as possible into boc-land. Money was given and favour exhausted for that purpose.

"In many Saxon wills we find petitions similar to that of Alfred; but in none of them that I have seen is the character of the land, which could not be disposed of without consent of the king, described with the same precision. In some wills, the testator bequeaths his land as he pleases, without asking leave of any one Somner's Gavelkind, 88, 211; Hickes, Pref. xxxii; Diss. Epist. 29, 54, 55, 59; Madox, Formul. 3957;-in others he earnestly beseeches the king that his will may stand, and then declares his intentions with respect to the distribution of his property Lambarde, Kent, 540; Hickes, Diss. Epist. 54; Gale, i, 457; Lye's Append. ii, 1, 5; Heming, 40-and in one instance he makes an absolute bequest of the greater part of his lands, but solicits the king's consent to the disposal of a small part of his estate [Hickes, Diss. Epist. 62 There can be no doubt that boc-land was devisable by will, unless where its descent had been determined by settlement; and a presumption therefore arises, that where the consent of the king was necessary, the land devised was not boc-land, but folc-land. If this inference be admitted, the case of Alfred will not be a solitary instance, but common to many of the principal Saxon nobility.

"That folc-lands were assignable to the thegns, or military servants of the state, as the stipend or reward for their services, is clearly indicated in the celebrated letter of Bede to Archbishop Ecgbert (Smith's Bede, 305, 312). In that performance, which throws so much light on the internal state of Northumberland, the venerable author complains of the improvident grants to monasteries, which had impoverished the government, and left no lands for

the soldiers and retainers of the secular authorities, on whom the defence of the country must necessarily depend. He laments the mistaken prodigality, and expresses his fears that there will be soon a deficiency of military men to repel invasion, no place being left where they can obtain possessions to maintain them suitably to their condition. It is evident from these complaints, that the lands so lavishly bestowed on the church had been formerly the property of the public, and at the disposal of the government. If they had been boc-lands, it could have made no difference to the state whether they belonged to the church or to individuals, since in both cases they were beyond its control, and in both cases were subject to the usual obligations of military service. But if they formed part of the folc-land, or property of the public, it is easy to conceive how their conversion into boc-land must have weakened the state, by lessening the fund out of which its military servants were to be provided.

"A charter of the eighth century conveys to the see of Rochester certain lands on the Medway, as they had been formerly possessed by the chiefs and companions of the Kentish kings. (Text. Roffens. 72, edit. Hearne; Kemble, Cod. Dipl. No. CXI.) In this instance folc-land, which had been appropriated to the military service of the state, appears to have been converted into boc-land, and given to the church."

To this view of boc-land and folc-land we-will add what Lord Coke says upon the subject. After having explained the eight formal parts of a deed of feoffment, he proceeds thus: "This is called charter land, and accordingly the Saxons called it Bockland, as it were booke land." (1 Inst. 6o.)

Again

"Terra ex scripto Saxonicè Bockland. Fundum veteres aut ex scripto qui Bockland, i., Bookland, aut sine scripto qui Folkland dicebatur, possidebant. Quæ fuit ex scripto possessio commodiore erat possessione, libera atque immunis. Fundus sine scripto censum pensitabat annuum, atque officiorum servitute quâdam est obligatus. Priorem viri plerumque nobiles atque ingenui, posteriorem rustici fere et pagani possidebant." (Co. Litt. 1 Inst. 58".)

"Land held by charter, in Saxon Bockland. The antients possessed lands either by writing [charter] which is called Bockland, that is Bookland, or without charter, which is called Folkland. The possession which was by charter was the more advantageous, free, and unburthened. Land held without charter was burthened with an annual rent, and is bound to the performance of certain services. The former is possessed, for the most part, by the nobles and gentry, the latter by rustics and villagers."

This account of the Anglo-Saxon tenures relates to all the kingdoms of the Octarchy in general. We will now examine some antient records, with a view to ascertain the tenure of lands in Kent, and the customs and services to which they were liable.

For this purpose we must resort to the antient leiger-books and registers preserved in our cathedral and monastic establishments, the chief of which, in this county, were those of Christ Church and of Saint Augustine, at Canterbury.

It appears that the original charters of both those venerable establishments, for the most part, perished in the conflagrations which had befallen those structures.

Thus it appears—

"A.D. M.lxvij. The city of Canterbury was set on fire by the carelessness of some individuals, and the rising flames caught the mother-church thereof

. . a mighty and interminable grief oppressed this church, because the privileges granted by the popes of Rome, and by the kings and princes of this kingdom, all carefully sealed and collected together, by which they and theirs were bound to defend and uphold the church for ever, were now reduced to ashes. Copies of these documents were sought for and collected from every place where such things were preserved; but their bulls and seals were irrecoverably destroyed, with the church in which they had been deposited.” 73

A similar catastrophe, accompanied by a similar destruction of charters, appears to have befallen the sister monastery of Saint Augustine, at Canterbury.

73 Architectural Hist. of Canterbury Cathedral, by Professor Willis (p.9, Lond. 1845), who cites Eadmer, a contemporary historian, Vit. Bregwini, Ang. Sac. t. ii, p. 187.