in law, is used for a tenure of lands by knight's service; whereby the knight was bound to perform service in war unto the king, or the meine lord of whom he held by that tenure. And chivalry was either general or special: general, when it was only in the tenement that the tenant held per servitium militare, without any specification of sergeantry, escuage, &c.; special, when it was declared particularly by what kind of knight-service the land was held.

For the better understanding of this tenure it hath been observed, that there is no law but is holden immediately or immediately of the crown by some service; and therefore all freeholds that are to us and our heirs, are called feuda, or feuda, "fees;" as proceeding from the king for some small yearly rent, and the performance of such services as were originally laid upon the land at the donation thereof. For as the king gave to the great nobles, his immediate tenants, large possessions forever, to hold of him for this or that service or rent; so they, in time, parcelled out to such others as they liked, the same lands for rents and services as they thought good: and these services were, by Littleton, divided into two kinds, chivalry and escuage; the first whereof was martial and military, the other rustic. Chivalry, therefore, was a tenure of service, whereby the tenant was obliged to perform some noble or military office unto his lord: and it was of two kinds: either regal, that is, held only of the king; or common, where held of a common person. That which might be held only of the king was called servitium, or sergeantia; and was again divided into grand and petit sergeantry. The grand sergeantry was where one held lands of the king by service, which he ought to do in his own person; as, to bear the king's banner or spear, to lead his host, to find men at arms to fight, &c. Petit sergeantry was when a man held lands of the king, to yield him annually some small thing towards his wars, as a sword, dagger, bow, &c. Chivalry that might be holden of a common person was termed feudagium, "escuage;" that is, service of the shield; which was either uncertain or certain.

Escuage uncertain, was likewise two-fold: first, where the tenant was bound to follow his lord, going in person to the king's wars, either himself, or sending a sufficient man in his place, there to be maintained at his expense, so long as was agreed upon between the lord and his first tenant at the granting of the fee; and the days of such service seem to have been rated by the quantity of land to holden: as, if it extended to a whole knight's fee, then the tenant was to follow his lord 40 days; and if but to half a knight's fee, then 20 days; if a fourth part, then 10 days, &c. The other kind of this escuage was called caffe-ward, where the tenant was obliged, by himself or some other, to defend a castle as often as it should come to his turn. And these were called escuage uncertain; because it was uncertain how often a man should be called to follow his lord to the wars, or to defend a castle, and what his charge would be therein.

Escuage certain, was where the tenure was set at a certain sum of money to be paid in lieu of such service; as that a man should pay yearly for every knight's fee 20 s.; for half a knight's fee 10 s., or some like rate; and this service, because it is drawn to a certain rent, growtheth to be of a mixed nature, not merely fugace, and yet fugace in effect, being now neither personal service nor uncertain. The tenure called chivalry had other conditions annexed to it; but there is a great alteration made in these things by the stat. 12 Car. 2. c. 24., whereby tenures by knight's service of the king, or any other person in capite, &c. and the fruits and consequences thereof, are taken away and discharged; and all tenures are to be confirmed and adjudged to be free and common fugace, &c.

properly so called, and, under the idea of a distinct military order, conferred in the way of investiture, and accompanied with the solemnity of an oath, and other ceremonies, as described in the old historians and romances, seems to have sprung immediately out of the feudal constitution.

The first and most sensible effect of this constitution was the erection of a great number of petty chivalries. For the power given by it to the barons over their numerous vassals was so great, that they all were in truth a sort of absolute sovereigns, at least with regard to one another. Hence, their mutual arms and interests often interfering, the feudal state was, in a good degree, a state of war; and their castles were so many fortresses, as well as palaces. In this state of things, all imaginable encouragement was to be given to the use of arms. And this condition of the times gave rise to that military institution which we know by the name of chivalry. Further, military discipline was not to be relaxed even in the intervals of peace. peace. Hence the origin of jousts and tournaments, those images of war. Chivalry was the natural, and even sober, effect of the feudal policy.

This conjecture of the rise of chivalry, from the circumstances of the feudal government, accounts for the several characteristics of this singular profession.

1. The passion for arms; the spirit of enterprise; the honour of knighthood; the rewards of valour, ambition, interest, glory, all concurred, under such circumstances, to produce these effects. When this turn was given to the thoughts and passions of men, use and fashion would do the rest, and carry them to all the excesses of military fanaticism. One of the strangest circumstances in the old romances, and which looks most like a mere extravagance of the imagination, is that of the women-warriors; yet in this they did but copy from the manners of the times.

2. Their romantic ideas of justice; their passion for adventures; their eagerness to run to succour the distressed; and the pride they took in redressing wrongs, and removing grievances. The feudal state being a state of almost perpetual violence, rapine, and plunder, it was unavoidable that numbers of the tenants or followers of one baron should be carried away by the followers of another; and the interest each had to protect his own, would, of course, introduce the point of honour in attempting, by all means, not only to retaliate on the enemy, but to rescue the captive sufferers out of the hands of their oppressors. It would be meritorious in the highest degree to fly to their assistance, when they knew where they were to be come at; or to seek them out with diligence, when they did not. This last service they called going in quest of adventures; which at first, no doubt, was confined to those of their own party, but afterwards, by the habit of acting on this principle, would be extended much further. So that, in process of time, we find the knights-errant, as they were now properly called, wandering the world over in search of occasions on which to exercise their generous and disinterested valour.

3. The courtesy, affability, and gallantry, for which these adventurers were so famous, are but the natural effects and consequences of their situation. For the castles of the barons were the courts of these little sovereigns, as well as their fortresses; the resort of their vassals thither, in honour of their chiefs, and for their own proper security, would make that civility and politeness which is seen at courts, and infallibly prevails there, a predominant part in the character of these assemblies. Further, the free commerce of the ladies, in these knots and circles of the great, would operate so far on the sturdiest knights as to give birth to the attentions of gallantry.

4. It only remains to account for that character of religion, which was so deeply imprinted on the minds of these knights, and was essential to their institution. Two reasons are assigned for this singularity. First, the superstition of the times, which was so great, that no institution of a public nature could have found credit that was not consecrated by churchmen and interwoven with religion. Secondly, the condition of the Christian world; which had but just recovered a breathing time from the brutal ravages of the Saracen armies. The remembrance of what they had lately suffered from these enemies of their faith, made it natural and even necessary to engage a new military order on the side of religion. And here, by the way, the reason appears why the Spaniards, of all the Europeans, were furthest gone in every characteristic madness of true chivalry. Their fanaticism in every way was especially instigated and kept alive by the memory and neighbourhood of their infidel invaders.

Such was the state of things in the western world, when the crusades to the holy land were set on foot. Whence we see how well prepared the minds of men were for engaging in that enterprise.

There is a remarkable correspondence between the manners of the old heroic times, as painted by their great romancer Homer, and those which are represented to us in the modern books of knight-errantry. A fact of which no good account can be given, but by another not less certain; that the political states of Greece, in the earliest periods of its story, was similar, in many respects, to that of Europe, as broken by the feudal system, into an infinite number of petty independent governments.

Some obvious circumstances of agreement between the heroic and Gothic manners may be worth putting down.

1. The military enthusiasm of the barons, is but of a piece with the fanaticism of the heroes. Hence the same particularity of description in the accounts of battles, wounds, deaths, in the Greek poet, as in the Gothic romancers. Hence that minute curiosity in the display of their dresses, arms, accoutrements. The minds of all men being occupied with warlike images and ideas, were much gratified by these details, which appear cold and uninteresting to modern readers.

We hear much of knights-errant encountering giants, and quelling savages, in books of chivalry. These giants were oppressing feudal lords, and every lord was to be met with, like the giant, in his strong-hold or castle. Their dependents of a lower form, who imitated the violence of their superiors, and had not their castles but lurking places, were the savages of romance. The greater lord was called a giant for his power; the less, a savage, for his brutality.

Another terror of the Gothic ages, was monsters, dragons, and serpents. Their stories were received in those days for several reasons: 1. From the vulgar belief of enchantments; 2. From their being reported on the faith of eastern tradition, by adventurers from the holy land; 3. In still later times from the strange things told and believed on the discovery of the new world.

In all these respects, Greek antiquity resembles the Gothic. For what are Homer's Laestrigons and Cyclops, but bands of lawless savages, with each of them a giant of enormous size at their head? And what are the Grecian Bacchus, Hercules and Theseus, but knights-errant, the exact counterparts of Sir Launcelot, and Amadis de Gaul?

3. The oppressions which it was the glory of the knights to avenge, were frequently carried on, as we are told, by the charms and enchantments of women. These charms, we may suppose, are often metaphorical; Chivalry; as expressing only the blandishments of the sex. Sometimes they are taken to be real, the ignorance of those ages acquiescing in such conceits. And are not these stories matched by those of Calypso and Circe, the enchantresses of the Greek Poet?

4. Robbery and Piracy were honourable in both: so far were they from reflecting any discredit on the ancient or modern redressees of wrongs. What account can be given of this, but that, in the feudal times, and in the early days of Greece, when government was weak, and unable to redress the injuries of petty sovereigns, it would be glorious for private adventurers to undertake this work; and, if they could accomplish it in no other way, to pay them in kind by downright plunder and rapine?

5. Bastardy was in credit with both. They were extremely watchful over the chastity of their own women; but such as they could seize upon in the enemies quarter, were lawful prize. Or if, at any time, they transgressed in this fact at home, the fault was covered by an ingenious fiction. The offspring was reputed divine. Their greatest heroes were the fruit of godfathers approached by mortals; just as we hear of the doughtiest knights being born of fairies.

6. With the greatest heroisms and favours of character, the utmost generosity, hospitality, and courtesy, was imputed to the heroic ages. Achilles was at once the most relentless, vindictive, implacable, and the friendliest of men. We have the very same representation in the Gothic romances. As in those lawless times, dangers and difficulties of all kinds abounded, there would be the same demand for compassion, gentleness, and generous attachments to the unfortunate, those especially of their own clan, as of resentment, rage, and animosity against their enemies.

7. Again, the martial games celebrated in ancient Greece, on great and solemn occasions, had the same origin and the same purpose as the tournaments of the Gothic warriors.

8. Lastly, the passions for adventures so natural in their situation, would be as naturally attended with the love of praise and glory. Hence the same encouragement, in the old Greek and Gothic times, to panegyrists and poets. In the affairs of religion and gallantry, indeed, the resemblance between the hero and the knight is not so striking. But the religious character of the knight was an accident of the times, and no proper effect of his civil condition. And that his devotion for the fair sex should so far surpass that of the hero, is a confirmation of the system here advanced. For the consideration had of the females in the feudal constitution, will of itself account for this deference. It made them capable of succeeding to fiefs, as well as the men. And does not one see, on the infant, what respect and dependence this privilege would draw upon them?

It was of mighty consequence who should obtain the favour of a rich heiress. And though, in the strict feudal times, she was supposed to be in the power and at the disposal of her superior lord, yet this rigid state of things did not last long. Hence we find some distressed damsel was the spring and mover of every knight's adventure. She was to be rescued by his arms, or won by the same and admiration of his prowess. The plain meaning of all which was this: That in these turbulent times, a protector was necessary to the weakness of the sex, to the courteous and valorous knight was to approve himself fully qualified for that purpose.

It may be observed, that the two poems of Homer were intended to expose the mischiefs and inconveniences arising from the political state of Old Greece: the Iliad, the dissensions that naturally spring up among independent chiefs; and the Odyssey, the influence of their greater subjects, more especially when unrestrained by the presence of their sovereign. And can anything more exactly resemble the condition of the feudal times, when, on occasion of any great enterprise, as that of the crusades, the designs of the confederate Christian states were perpetually frustrated, or interrupted at least, by the dissensions of their leaders; and their affairs at home, as perpetually disturbed and disordered by the rebellious usurpations of their greater vassals? Jerusalem was to the European, what Troy had been to the Grecian princes.

Court of Chivalry, a court formerly held before the lord high constable and earl marshal of England jointly, and having both civil and criminal jurisdiction: but since the attainder of Stafford duke of Buckingham under Henry VIII, and the consequent extinguishment of the office of lord high constable, it hath usually, with respect to civil matters, been heard before the earl marshal only. This court by flat. 13 Ric II. c. 2. hath cognizance of contracts and other matters touching deeds of arms and war, as well out of the realm as in it. And from its sentences lies an immediate appeal to the king in person. This court was in great reputation in the times of pure chivalry, and afterwards during the English connexions with the continent, by the territories which their princes held in France: but is now grown almost entirely out of use, on account of the feebleness of its jurisdiction, and want of power to enforce its judgments; as it can neither fine nor imprison, nor being a court of record.

The civil jurisdiction of this court of chivalry, is principally in two points; the redressing injuries of honour; and correcting encroachments in matters of coat-armour, precedence, and other distinctions of families. As a court of honour, it is to give satisfaction to all such as are aggrieved in that point; a point of a nature so nice and delicate, that its wrongs and injuries escape the notice of the common law, and yet are fit to be redressed somewhere. Such, for instance, as calling a man a coward, or giving him the lie; for which, as they are productive of no immediate damage to his person or property, no action will lie in the courts at Westminster; and yet they are such injuries as will prompt every man of spirit to demand some honourable amends; which, by the ancient law of the land, was given in the court of chivalry. But modern resolutions have determined, that how muchsoever a jurisdiction may be expedient, yet no action for words will at present lie therein. And it hath always been most clearly holden, that as this court cannot meddle with anything determinable by common law, it therefore can give no pecuniary satisfaction or damages; in as much as the quantity and determination... determination thereof is ever of common law cognizance. And therefore this court of chivalry can at most order reparation in point of honour; as, to compel the defendant mendacium sibi ipsi imponere, or to take the lie that he has given upon himself; or to make such other submission as the laws of honour may require. As to the other point of its civil jurisdiction, the redressing of usurpations and encroachments in matters of heraldry and coat-armour; it is the business of this court, according to Sir Matthew Hale, to adjust the right and armorial ensigns, bearings, crests, supporters, pennons, &c.; and also rights of places or precedence, where the king's patent or act of parliament, which cannot be over-ruled by this court, have not already determined it. The proceedings of this court are by petition in a summary way; and the trial not by a jury of twelve men, but by witnesse, or by combat. But, as it cannot imprison, nor being a court of record; and as, by the regulations of the superior courts, it is now confined to so narrow and restrained a jurisdiction; it has fallen into contempt. The marshalling of coat-armour, which was formerly the pride and study of all the best families in the kingdom, is now greatly disfigured; and has fallen into the hands of certain officers and attendants upon this court, called heralds, who consider it only as a matter of locre, and not of justice; whereby such falsity and confusion have crept into their records, (which ought to be the standing evidence of families, decents, and coat-armour,) that though formerly some credit has been paid to their testimony, now, even their common seal will not be received as evidence in any court of justice in the kingdom. But their original visitation books, compiled when progresse were solemnly and regularly made into every part of the kingdom, to inquire into the state of families, and to register such marriages and decents as were verified to them upon oath, are allowed to be good evidence of pedigrees.

2. As a criminal court, when held before the lord high constable of England jointly with the earl Marshal, it had jurisdiction over pleas of life and member, arising in matters of arms and deeds of war, as well out of the realm as within it. But the criminal, as well as civil part of its authority, is fallen into entire disuse: there having been no permanent high constable of England, (but only pro hac vice, at coronations and the like,) since the attainder and execution of Stafford duke of Buckingham, in the 13th year of Henry VIII.; the authority and charge, both in war and peace, being deemed too ample for a subject; so ample, that when the chief justice Fineux was asked by king Henry VIII. how far they extended? he declined answering; and said, the decision of that question belonged to the law of arms, and not to the law of England.