disparity between the number of fees recognized for military and the number recognized for fiscal purposes. As already noted, the reigns of John and Henry III had seen the servitia debita of the greater Crown vassals reduced to a mere fraction of their former strength, and the fines, more and more closely associated with this reduced service as they were dissociated from the scutage, came at length actually to be paid upon it at a fixed rate per fee. The case of the Courtenays of Okehampton may be taken as illustrating the way in which the Crown was affected by the changing conditions. This great Devonshire family owed a nominal service, dating from the time of Henry II, of ninety-two knights and three quarters,[1] but of these it now 'recognized' only three.[2] According to the custom prevailing under Henry III the whole honour should, in return for service or fine upon this much-reduced servitium debitum, have been certified quit as regards the Crown, and the scutage of the rear-vassals should have passed into the coffers of their lord. Thus eighty-nine of the ninety-two and three quarter fees in the traditional contingent of the Courtenays would normally have furnished the Crown with neither service nor money.[3]
The loss entailed in this and similar instances probably provided Edward I with a prima facie justification for his neglect of precedent. The Crown, in fact, seems to have represented the view that acceptance of a reduced contingent by no means impaired its claim to service or its equivalent from the remaining fees of its immediate vassals. Hence, while every tenant in chief was expected first to respond to the summons by tendering either service or a fine upon the fees which he recognized (i.e. upon the new servitium), he was required, secondly, unless he could produce specific authorization for the reduction, to pay scutage at the close of the campaign as the commutation of the service due from those of his fees which were not covered by the original proffer. Against these claims the magnates stood for the view that a completely new servitium debitum had been created, which was all that could properly be demanded from their entire holding. Though few could produce documentary evidence in support of their contentions,[4] the
- ↑ Red Book of the Exchequer, i. 251 seq.
- ↑ Chancery Misc., bundle 5, no. 1: 'Iohannes de Courtenay se tercio—non plus recognovit.'
- ↑ e.g. in 1257 John de Courtenay performed service for the three fees which he recognized (Rymer, Foedera, i. 361); he was granted his scutage upon all his lands (Scutage Roll, no. 8, m. 1), and was entered in the Pipe Roll as quit 'per breve' in Devon (Pipe Roll, no. 103).
- ↑ The Abbot of Cerne adduced a charter of Henry II fixing his service at two knights 'ad scutagium' and at one 'in expedicione' (Exch. Mem. Roll, Lord Treas. Rem., no. 65, Comm. Trin., m. 61; Cal. of Charter Rolls, ii. 243). The usual plea was immemorial custom.
