and zif they be not forclosed by zifte or be devis of her antecessourys.’ ‘And zif the heritage be parted betwixen hem by her comoun assent, thanne have the eldere parcener avauntage to chesyn which part that he wil.’[1] This custom points to the Frisians or Goths, and that Frisians largely settled in the eastern counties there can be no doubt. The general custom of inheritance among the Frisians was the partibility of the property equally among all the children, males and females. It will be noted that the burgesses of Ipswich had the same privileges as those of London and the people of Kent in regard to devising their estates or conveying them to others, and the evidence is strong that both Kent and the neighbourhood of London was partly settled by Frisians.
In the eastern counties there are a considerable number of manors in which some form of the custom of borough-English or junior right survived as the customary mode of inheritance. Corner, who investigated this subject, tells us that he found it on eighty-four manors in Suffolk.[2] He also states that there were fourteen in Essex and twelve in Norfolk known to him.[3] Among the Norfolk manors are Kenninghall, Gessinghall, Herling Thorp, Semere Hall, and Thelton. Among the Suffolk manors are Sibton and its members, Yoxford and its members, Aldborough, Hoxne, Brockford near Woodbridge, Fressingfield, Elmswell (Framlingham), Geslingham, Pakenham, Middleton, and Mendlesham. The members of the Court Leet of Clare were called Headboroughs, a similar name to that in use in Sussex, where borough-English largely prevailed. Among the Essex manors are Maiden, Chesterfield, South Berstead, Tony Walthamstow, Wivenhoe, Wikes, Wrabness, and Woodford.
