Name Index

To

The early descent of Devonshire estates belonging to the honours of Mortain and Okehampton

Trans. Devon. Assoc. vol. 38, (1906) pp.337-356.

by

O.J. Reichel

Prepared by Michael Steer

A feudal barony or barony by tenure in England was the highest degree of feudal land tenure, namely per baroniam (Latin for "by barony") under which the land-holder owed the service of being one of the king's barons. The duties owed by and the privileges granted to feudal barons cannot now be defined exactly, but they involved the duty of providing soldiers to the royal feudal army on demand by the king, and the privilege of attendance at the king's feudal court, the precursor of parliament. If the estate-in-land held by barony contained a significant castle as its caput and if it was especially large -consisting of more than about 20 knight's fees (each loosely equivalent to a manor) - then it was termed an "honour". The paper, read at the Association's July 1906 Lynton meeting, is a treasure trove of information about a portion of the land in Devon assigned by the Conqueror to Robert Count of Mortain. This rare and much sought-after book was produced digitally from a copy in the University of Michigan Library collection and can be downloaded from Google Books, and also from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.