king the service of 4 knights, but instead of there being 4 tenants who were each time to render this service, there were some 18 who were to elect the 4 who were to serve on a particular occasion, while those who remained were to contribute towards the expenses of those who served in person. The arrangement did not work very well. In 1212 the king sent a special writ to the sheriff, directing him to see that the 4 knights of the abbey of Ramsey who were in his service have necessaria sua from the other knight tenants who remained. In 1258 the abbot brought the manorial court of Broughton together, which selected 4 knights to do the required service at a payment of 4 s. a day, but the tenants would not serve when elected, and the abbot had to hire his knights and serjeants as best he could.3 In 1257 the Abbot of St. Albans could hardly get his military tenants to admit that they owed personal service at all. The undertenants are not the only ones who showed themselves reluctant to go to war. The tenants-in-chief often preferred to pay fines, though they were heavy, than attend an expedition. In 1142 the king writes to his justiciars to remit the fines which had been made for non-attendance, and induce the knights to come prepared with horses and arms; and if remitting the fines were not sufficient, they should offer money out of the treasury to induce them to come.5 There is reason to suppose that when the barons went to war with the king they were not always required to furnish their full service. In 1157, according to Matthew of Paris, whoever owed the king military service was summoned against the Welsh. The writs of summons to the barons, as printed in the Foedera, give the quotas to be furnished by them. E. g.:

Roger de Mohun, to serve as a fourth knight, that is, himself with three others.

Henry de Tracy, to serve as a third knight.

John de Corteny, to serve as a third knight, etc.

I Chron. Ram., 212, 378; Lib. Nig., 257; Stubbs, C. H., I, 262.

2 Close R., I, 123.

3 Sel. Soc., II, 76.

4 Mat. Par., VI, 372-76.

5 Foedera, I, 404.

Mat. Par., V, 639.

Only one was to bring as many as 4 knights.' These quotas represent but small portions of the fees held by these barons. Thus, William de Bellocamp was asked for three knights; in 1230 he is accounted for 7 knights.2

Robert de Bellocamp for 3 knights; in 1230 he is accounted for 17.3

William de Monte Acuto of Somerset for I knight; in 1230 John de Monte Acuto of the same county is accounted for

10.3

Robert de Newburg for I knight; in 1230 is accounted for 15.3

At the same time the ecclesiastics were summoned for their full service, and the Abbot of Ramsey actually endeavored to bring 4 knights, his regular quota, into service. There is a tendency, which becomes more noticeable under Edward, for the barons to lower their quotas if they could. In the 22d year the king had 24 persons brought together to testify whether William de Fesnes or any of his ancestors did or ought to do more than the service of one knight for the 6 fees which he held in capite, and whether the full service of 6 knights was rendered in scutage at the Exchequer. In 1221 William Mareshalle, the Earl of Pembroke, who was then out of favor, writes to the king that he has learned of the gathering of the force against the Earl of Albermarle and regretted that he had not been summoned. Wherefore he supplicated the king to send him a writ telling him with how many knights he wished him to come. It will be remembered that the scutages of Henry II were paid with fair promptness at the Exchequer. How different this had become in the 13th century can be seen in the way the scutage of Poitou, levied in the 16th year of John, was rendered for the Honor of Lancaster, which contained 781, 1, and fees.

'Rymer's Foedera, I, 635.

2 Madox, 1, 660.

3 Ibid., 661.

4 Foedera, 636.

5 Above.

"Memor., 22, Hen. III; Madox, I, 648.

7 Royal Letters, I, 170.

In the Pipe Roll, 17th year of John, the Sheriff renders account for

In the Pipe Roll, 2d year of Henry III, the Sheriff renders account for

- 1577. 12s. 9d.

- 1277. 12s. 9d. 1277. 12s. 9d.

- 1187. 16s. Id.

1077. 16s. Id. - 1077. 16s. Id. 1027.

Id.

Although the Scutage grew up as applied to knights' fees only, in the 13th century it evidently was collected from some tenures by serjeantry. It has been shown how under Henry II there was promissio servientum of a most irregular kind, but there was nothing of a scutage upon serjeantry tenures. From that time, however, the use of serjeants in the army became of increasing importance. Gneist estimates that the number of serjeants in the armies were to the knights in the ratio of 8 to 1. The muster rolls of Edward show that the difference was greater even than this, for two serjeants were considered exchangeable for one knight, and many owing knight service, especially for fractional parts of fees, offered the service of serjeants. Tenure by serjeantry is the most irregular of all the different classes of tenure, and includes many kinds and all degrees of services. Some serjeantries called for services in the army,3 and it is not strange that scutage was exacted from such tenements. But it was the exception and not the rule for a serjeantry to pay scutage, for in other cases whether a party should pay scutage or not depended on whether the tenement was by knight service or serjeantry. William Aguilon being able to prove that he held by serjeantry, namely, to furnish a cook at the king's coronation, was acquitted of the scutages charged against him.4

'Lanc. Lay. Subs., 122–25.

2 Polluck and Maitland, I, 262.

3 Persons holding by serjeantry had tenants owing knight service, e. g., for I fee, or fee. (Madox, I, 650, 651.)

Madox, I, 651.

CHAPTER VI.

SCUTAGE AND KNIGHT SERVICE UNDER EDWARD I.

There were several scutages during the reign of Edward I, as follows:

In

The feudal army was thus called upon only for insular wars. The time had not come for a standing army, but the continental wars were manned by Welsh and Scotch mercenaries and by subsidized forces from Flanders or Castile. The rate of the royal levies was uniformly 40s. on the fee, although by the first statute of Westminster, 1275, it was decided that the aid taken by a lord to knight his son or marry his daughter should not be over 20s.2 In reference to the levies of knight service for this period many curious features present themselves. the first place it was quite impossible for the Churchmen to get their military tenants to do service. The Abbot of Peterborough in 1277 could not prevail upon his men to serve even at his own expense.3 Out of a list of 48 bishops and abbots in the Parliamentary Writs of 1277, 8 rendered their service by knights or serjeants. The difficulty of obtaining fully equipped knights is evident on all sides. Most of those attempting to render their service do so by means of serjeants, two serjeants being commonly accepted instead of one knight. One who owes 4 knights presents 2 and requests that he be permitted to do the service in 3 Chron. Petrob., 24.

'Foedera, II, 637, 676.

Statute, Sel. Char., 450.

4 Parlm. Writs, I, 197.

two periods of 40 days. In 1282 the need of horses was such that it is said many could not do their service even if they wished." Most striking of all is the reduction in the number of fees accounted for by the great tenants-in-chief. Compare the quotas accounted for in 1282 with the old servitium debitum.3

The lay barons did about the same, for William de Bello Camp, Earl of Surrey, offered 6 knights, Humphry de Bohun, 3 knights, John Warenne, Earl of Surrey, II knights. Very few proffered more than 3 knights. How this change in the quotas furnished by the tenants-in-chief came about is obscure. The earliest writs of summons which are at hand show that the king was accustomed to call upon the tenants-in-chief for small quotas, when it was unnecessary to bring out the whole force. Thus, in 1234, Henry de Trubleville is ordered to attend "te quinto," that is, with four other knights; Walter Godarville "te altero," that is, with one. To furnish large numbers of knights, as formerly, would under the new conditions be excessively arduous, if not impossible. The great proponderance of the fighting forces was now infantry rather than cavalry. The ratio of cavalry to infantry may be inferred from statements of the chroniclers like the following: "Earl Patrick with 336 mailed horses and 6000 infantry;" "15 knights, 32 armigers and 1000 foot soldiers;"'7 "4000 infantry and 200 cavalry." Most of the