Feudal relief was a one-off "fine" or form of taxation payable to an overlord by the heir of a feudal tenant to license him to take possession of his

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form ...

, i.e. an estate-in-land, by inheritance. It is comparable to a death duty or inheritance tax. The equivalent duty at the lower levels of the feudal hierarchy was heriot (in England) or ''le droit du meilleur catel'' (in France).

Etymology

The word relief comes from the Latin verb ''levo'', to raise, lift up, elevate, with the addition of the Latin inseparable adverbial particle ''re-'', which has three distinct meanings: back, against and again. The Latin composite verb ''relevo'' results. The term used in mediaeval Latin charters is ''Relevius''. The payment thus obtains an heir's "relief" by his being "re-elevated" or "lifted-up again" into the place of honour and privilege formerly occupied by his predecessor.

Rationale

s were originally granted by

William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 10 ...

as a reward for past service, there was no logical reason in feudal terms why the tenant's heir should take up the fief without himself having provided the king with some similar valuable past service. The payment of a fine for such "relief" can thus be seen within the logic of feudalism as payment in-lieu of such past service. Thus the right to inherit a fief was akin to a pre-emption right: the king would re-grant the fief to the heir in priority to a third party, so long as the heir paid his fine. This was a valuable right as the heir was more expert in the exploitation of the fief in question than of any other comparable estate of land, for example he was aware through experience of its optimal cropping rotation based on its differing soil-types and micro-climates, and he had available a local work-force loyal to his family.

Example from Pipe Rolls

The Pipe Roll was a class of parchment roll used by the

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or i ...

to record financial receipts. The Pipe Roll of 6 Henry III (1222) contains the following entry:

''Ricardus filius Willelmi de Scalariis II pro relevio suo de dimidia baronia...£...'' (''received from'' Richard son of William de Scalarius II for his relief concerning half a barony.....''the sum of £''...prob. £50)

Varieties of relief

In the case of a

feudal baron A feudal baron is a vassal holding a heritable fief called a ''barony'', comprising a specific portion of land, granted by an overlord in return for allegiance and service. Following the end of European feudalism, feudal baronies have largely been ...

, that is to say one who held ''per baroniam'', it is termed "baronial relief", set at £100. Following

Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by t ...

of 1215, the standard rates became one quarter of a year's profit of the estate payable by an under-tenant, and a full year's profit payable by a non-baronial

tenant-in-chief In medieval and early modern Europe, the term ''tenant-in-chief'' (or ''vassal-in-chief'') denoted a person who held his lands under various forms of feudal land tenure directly from the king or territorial prince to whom he did homage, as opp ...

Rates payable

It is clear from the pre-eminent positioning in

(1215), of the clauses concerning the regulation of relief, that the question of the exaction of extortionate reliefs was one of the major complaints made by the barons to King John. These clauses, in order numbers 2 and 3 follow no other but a clause which promises the free election of bishops to the English church, an issue of paramount significance in the mediaeval world. There can be no better exposition of the charging structure than that given in the Charter itself, which is quoted as follows:

(2) "If any earl, baron or other person who holds lands directly from the Crown for military service shall die, and at his death his heir shall be of full age and owe a Relief, the heir shall have his inheritance on payment of the ancient scale of Relief. That is to say, the heir or heirs of an earl shall pay £100 for the entire earl's barony, the heir or heirs of a knight 100 shillings at most for the entire
knight's fee In feudal Anglo-Norman England and Ireland, a knight's fee was a unit measure of land deemed sufficient to support a knight. Of necessity, it would not only provide sustenance for himself, his family, and servants, but also the means to furnish h ...
and any man that owes less shall pay less in accordance with the ancient usage of fees".

(3) "But if the heir of such a person is under age ''(i.e. 21)'' and a ward, when he comes of age he shall have his inheritance without Relief or fine".

In summary, therefore, Magna Carta set feudal relief for earls (who all held ''per baroniam'' and were therefore themselves barons) at £100 and for knights at 100 shillings (i.e. £5) per

knight's fee In feudal Anglo-Norman England and Ireland, a knight's fee was a unit measure of land deemed sufficient to support a knight. Of necessity, it would not only provide sustenance for himself, his family, and servants, but also the means to furnish h ...

, in both cases restoring the rates to their traditional levels. Although no mention appears to be made of the rates payable by barons for their baronies, it is known that the level set was as for earls, £100.Sanders, 1960, preface, vi The relative proportion of relief for barony and knight's fee of 20:1 seems to imply that originally a barony consisted of, or was equivalent in some way, to twenty knight's fees.

Sources

*Sanders, I.J. English Baronies, A Study of their Origin & Descent 1086-1327, Oxford, 1960

References

External links

Canute, King of the English: On Heriots and Reliefs, c. 1016-1035
Feudalism