In
some manors, if a tenant died the lord laid claim to some of his live
stock as a _heriot_, which was forthwith seized by the bailiff
of the manor; and in all manors, if a man died without heirs, his
land _escheated_ to the lord of the manor; that is, it came back
to the lord who _in theory_ was the owner of the soil.
These periodical meetings at which all this business and a great deal
else was transacted were called the _Courts_ of the Manor, and
the Records of these Courts were kept with exceeding and most jealous
scrupulousness; they were invariably drawn up in Latin, according to
a strictly legal form, and were inscribed on long _rolls_ of
parchment, and are known as Manor Court Rolls. This is not the time
to say much more about the Court Rolls. They are not very easy
reading--they require a somewhat long apprenticeship before they can
be readily deciphered; but when one has once become familiar with
them, they afford the student some very curious and unexpected
information from time to time, though it must be allowed that you
have to do a good deal of digging for every nugget that you find.
Observe, however, this--that it is not far from the truth to say that
in East Anglia--for I will not travel out of my own province--every
tiller of the soil who occupied a plot of land, however small, was
sure to be a tenant under some lord of the manor; when he died _a
record of his death was entered upon the_ _Court Rolls of the
Manor_; the name of his successor was inscribed; the amount of
fine set down which his heir paid for entering upon his inheritance;
and if he died _without heirs_ the fact was noticed, the lands
which he had held being forfeited, or _escheating_, as it was
called, to the lord.
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