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Chapel en le Frith
Chapel in the Forest
Derby
An area or village with a deer park (or wild animals).
Besom
Besom is the head of a broom which is made from the
Heather plant or birch twiggs and as such
the dried plant branches are called Besoms.
Wapentake
Said to derived from the word 'weapon touch'. When
local chiefs came to swear their allegiance to
the head of the Hundred. They were suppose to have touched a spear stuck in the
ground as a sign
of allegiance. Also later used as a list of people who could be called upon to
take up arms for the
country. Anglo-Saxon in origin.
Wapentake Court
See court Leet.
Hundreds of **
Number of settlements/parishes within a geographical administered
area.
Derbyshire being divided
into 3
sections being; High Peak Hundreds, Wicksworth Hundreds & Scarsdale
Hundreds.
Manor
An area of land governed by a Lord, installed by the Crown to
administer. Overseen by a Sheriff.
Mesne Manor
A manor within a manor, being of smaller importance.
Berewicks
Small settlements within a Manor, similar to a Mesne.
Geld
A Danish Tax
Court Leet
With the view of Frankpledge (see Frankpledge), some times called a;
Wapentake Court. Held every at varies
times of the year weeks or so before the steward of the Hundred. The proceedings consisting of
presentation of minor offences, breach of bye-laws, small personal actions, the
recovery of debts amounting to 40 shillings & Installing persons into public
office.
Frankpledge
A
Norman system to preserve law and order devised in the 11th century. It
consisted of making members of a household or small village (above the age of
12) all responsible for one another's behavior. If a member of your family or
community offended you had to arrest him and present him to the court, his
frankpledge was stated 'being a member of a certain village' and he was
tried. If the Frankpledge group let him get away they had to pay a fine and as such the
culprit would be tried without his presence and the Frankpledge group would be
called upon to explain their failing to bring the culprit to court and fined
regardless. It was most common to to form your Frankpledge with those who you
trusted.
Halmote court
A court held in the Manor Hall by the Lord. To hear
local disputes within the Manor & authorise & witness the sale of
copyholds between the freemen of the Manor, being a kind of stamp duty, which
was paid to the Manor court when a Copyhold was sold.
Demesne
Being an estate, like a Manor or an area of land ownership.
Copyhold
A deed of rights to the occupation of land within the
manor, these deeds where held in
the Manor Court and recorded in the court rolls. The owner also held a copy and
that's
why their called Copyhold. These Copyholds had to be produced every year to the
Leet or
Manor court. The Copyholder 'tenant farmer' were men of substance & bought
their leases
from the Manor Lord a for a specific period, usually 999 years, much like today's
property
market of 'lease hold land', were you own your house being the bricks etc, but
you rent the land
for 999 years, paying a nominal ground rent charge.
Spiritual Tenure
(Frankalmoin) ; a payment made to the church for the
saying of prays when
someone died. Paid by the potential dead person, a kind of charitable offering
to
appease god before you die!
Carucate
As much land as a team could plough. (Mercian measurement).
Domesday Book
Hide
60-100 acres of land. (Anglo-Saxon measurement).
League
measurement being three miles.
Feudal system
A Norman legal system based on Manorial ownership of
lands which basically
means the inferior holds as the tenant of the Superior. The Superior being the
Crown. Overseen by Lords & Sheriffs who reported directly to The Crown.
Recusancy Rolls
List of names of those who failed to attend Sunday service at the parish church.
Period -Reformation.
Thegns
Men of important legal privileges & judicial powers.
Drengs
Similar to Thegns but landowners and taxpayers with certain
duties on the kings lands.
Radmen
Riding men who ran special errands & escort duties.
Villeins
Common villages who owned service to the Lord of the manor
and as such did duties such
as, castle guard, carting, cutting timber. Also they owned their own
land.
Bordars
Lower in status as Villeins.
Oxmen
Plough man, labourer.
Slaves
Workers tied to the Manor. They could save to buy their
freedom.
Knight Service
Tenure holder who had to give military service in
return for Tenure ownership.
Burgages
Crown leased building plots with fixed rents, which have borough
rights attached such as
the right to erect a stall on market-day without restriction or rent, free
passage through
parish toll gates being a kind of investment in a Trades person to attract
business to a newly
forming market town to generate business and a successful prospers town, which
pays taxes.
Burgages where the back bone invention of the Norman period a kind of New
Town
Development which were very carefully & strategically planned to generate a
vibrate local
economy.
Vert
Meaning a legal document giving
permission to take certain forest game or wood etc, a kind of
modern-day fishing license.
Also the right to take anything that grows in a forest or bears a
green leaf.
Yeomen
A farmer owning land with status,
below a lord or squire.
Hey
Enclosure method to trap wild
animals to cull.
Town Chest
A safe containing court rolls &
local documents. Reputed to have several locks of different keys held by varies parishioners,
to prevent fraudulent activity by one person.
Intestacy
When someone dies without making
a will. close family can apply for legal authority known as letters
of administration. A surviving wife/ husband has first claim and so on
through the family.
Visitation
A periodic visit made to a district by heralds in England and Wales between 1530
and 1689 to examine and enrol arms and pedigrees.
Note:
All take from varies history books. Some
Explanations vary a great deal and to some extent contradict one another in
varies source books I have read. I have assume that the above are a true representation.
However you may which to check yourself.
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