The Liber Feodorum

THE BOOK OF FEES

COMMONLY CALLED
TESTA DE NEVILL,
REFORMED
FROM THE EARLIEST MSS.

BY
THE DEPUTY KEEPER OF THE RECORDS.

First published in 1920 on behalf of the Public Record Office. In December 1804, the Royal Commissioners on the Public Records made an order:- "That the Books intituled Testa de Nevill in the King's Remembrancer's Office, containing an account of Knights' Fees and Serjeanties in the reigns of Henry the Third and Edward the First, be forthwith transcribed and printed".

The book thus authorised was published in folio in 1807, and for more than a century it has been "at once the hunting-ground and the despair of the topographer and the student of genealogy". It bristles with error and confusion throughout. The very title-page is misleading:- "Testa de Nevill sive Liber Feodorum in curia Scaccarii, Temp. Hen. III. and Edw. I.".

Although the greater part of the text belongs to the reign of Henry III, the sections belonging to the reign of Edward I actually occupy less space than sections belonging to the reign of John, while some scattered sections date back even to the reign of Richard I.

The Preface runs as follows:- "In the King's Remembrancer's Office of the Court of Exchequer are preserved Two ancient Books called the Testa de Nevill, or Liber Feodorum, which are described in the Return of Abel Moysey, Esq. Deputy King's Remembrancer, printed in the Reports from the Select Committee of the House of Commons, appointed to inquire into the State of the Public Records of the Kingdom, &c. as containing "Nomina Villarum, Serjeanties, and Knights Fees, in several Counties, taken by Inquisition temp. Hen. III. and Edward I."; and it is there also observed, "that these Two Books contain the Compilations known by the Name of Testa de Nevill"; and that in the Cover of each Book there is a Memorandum in an ancient Hand, of which the following is a Copy; "Contenta pro Evidenciis habeantur hic in Scc'io et non pro Recordo".

"These Books contain principally an Account,

1. Of Fees holden either immediately of the King, or of others who held of the King in Capite, and if alienated whether the Owners were enfeoffed ab antiquo, or de novo, as also Fees holden in Frankalmoigne, with the Values thereof respectively.
2. Of Serjeanties holden of the King, distinguishing such as were rented or alienated, with the Values of the same.
3. Of Widows and Heiresses of Tenants in Capite, whose Marriages were in the Gift of the King, with the Values of their Lands.
4. Of Churches in the Gift of the King, and in whose Hands they were.
5. Of Escheats, as well of the Lands of Normans as others, in whose Hands the same were, and by what Services holden.
6. Of the Amount of the Sums paid for Scutage and Aid, &c. by each Tenant.

• Pages 1-50
• Pages 51-100