Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun UK A form of land ownership under the feudal system, where a family held an estate in exchange for rendering a service to their liege lord.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word serjeanty.

Examples

  • We will not by reason of any small serjeanty which any one may hold of us by the service of rendering to us knives, arrows, or the like, have wardship of his heir of the land which he holds of another lord by knight's service.

    The Magna Carta Anonymous

  • As all those who held direct of the crown by military service (for those who held "by serjeanty" appear to have been classed apart), from earls downwards, were alike "barons," the great difference in their position and importance must have led, from an early date, to their being roughly divided into "greater" and "lesser" barons, and indeed, under Henry II., the _Dialogus de Scaccario_ already distinguishes their holdings as

    Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 3 "Banks" to "Bassoon" Various

  • -- Rowland le Sarcere held one hundred and ten acres of land in Hemingston by serjeanty; for which, on Christmas day every year, before our sovereign lord the King of England, he should perform altogether, and at once, a leap, puff up his cheeks, therewith making a sound, and let a crack.

    A Righte Merrie Christmasse The Story of Christ-Tide John Ashton

  • He held it 'in fee, in serjeanty, by finding for our lord the King, in his army in Wales, and elsewhere in England, whensoever war should happen, one man with a horse caparisoned or armed for war at his proper costs for forty days to abide in the war aforesaid.'

    Devon, Its Moorlands, Streams and Coasts Rosalind Northcote

  • Wigorn. _ (which was their pleasant way of saying that he lived in Worcestershire) held his manor by serjeanty of the

    The Book-Hunter at Home P. B. M. Allan

  • The North Gate was in the charge of the citizens; the others were held by persons who had that office by serjeanty under the Earls of Chester, and were entitled to certain tolls, which, with the custody of the gates, were frequently purchased by the Corporation.

    Vanishing England 1892

  • We will not have the custody of an heir, nor of any land which he holds of another by knight's service, by reason of any petty serjeanty [38] by which he holds of us, by the service of paying a knife, an arrow, or the like.

    Civil Government in the United States Considered with Some Reference to Its Origins John Fiske 1871

  • Ferre held the serjeanty of the dies cuneorum in the Exchange of London (CCR

    The Maintenance of Ducal Authority in Gascony: The Career of Sir Guy Ferre the Younger 1298-1320 Jay Lathen Boehm 1992

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.