812
THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND.
[book i.
be presumed that the guilt of the grantee entirely-
cancelled the grant ; the remaining lives, if any, lo-
sing the advantage which they derived through the
grantee ; forfeiture really taking effect, but for the
benefit of the grantor, not the civil power1. The
tenant of IaSnland, who by his services acquired
the good will of the lord, might hope to have his
tenure improved, if not into an absolute possession
of bocland, yet into one for his own or more lives.
In a translation of St. Augustine of Hippo’s Soli-
Ioquia, attributed like so many other things to Æ1-
fred of Wessex, there occurs this passage2:
“ But it pleaseth every man, when he hath built
himself some cottage upon his lord’s laen, with his
assistance, for a while to take up his rest thereon,
and hunt, and fowl and fish, and in divers ways
provide for himself upon the læn, both by sea and
ɪ Oswald’s grants generally contain a special clause to that effect : see
Cod. Dipl. Nos. 494,496, 606, 507,609, 511, 529,531,538,540,552.
2 MS. Cott. Vitel. A. xv. fol. 2. “ Ac ælene man lyst, si1δ,δan he
ænig cotlif on his hlafordes Isene mid his fultunɪe getimbred h∞fδ,‰t
he hine mote hwɪlum ISseron gerestan, ∙j huntigan, ι fuglian j flscan,
∙j his on gehwylicwιsan to 1Ssere Isenan tilian, ægtɪer ge on sæ ge on
lande, o^5 o,δ Sone fyrst ‰ he bocland ч éce yrfe J>urh his hlafordes
miltse ge-earnige.” Whether land so put out was called earningland,
I will not affirm ; but at the close of a grant for three lives I find this
memorandum : “ Two of the lives have fallen in ; then Eadwulf took
it, and granted it to whomsover he would as eamingland.” Cod. Dipl.
No. 679. Cotlif seems in other passages to denote small estates not
necessarily on Isen. The Saxon Chronicle, an. 963, for example uses
that term of the lands which ÆtSelwold gave to Ely, after purchasing
them of the king. This it is clear he could not have done, had they
been on any person’s Isen. Were they not perhaps settlements of un-
licensed squatters who had built their cottages on the king’s waste and
deserted lands—the old Mark—in the isle of Ely and Cambridgeshire ?
But again the Chronicle, an. 1001, speaks of the ham or vill at Walt-
ham, and many other cotlifs.
CH. XI.]
LÆ'NLAND.
813
land, until the time when by his lord’s compassion
he can earn a bocland and eternal inheritance.”
And instances occur in more formal documents.
In 977, Oswald, Archbishop of York and Bishop
of Worcester, made a grant of three hides at Ted-
dington, for three lives, to Eadric his thane, with re-
version to Worcester: “ Now there are three hides
of this land which Archbishop Oswald booketh to
Eadric his thane, both near town and from town,
even as he before held them as Isenland ɪ."
In another grant of the same prelate, between
972-992, made to his client Ælfsige, of a dwelling
in Worcester city, for three lives, he adds, “ Also
we write [or book] to him the croft appurtenant to
that tenement, which lies to the east of Wulfsige’s
croft ; that he may hold it in as large measure, for
bocland, as he before held it for Isenland 2.”
In 977, the same convent at Worcester booked
three hides for three lives to the monk Wynsige,
even as his father had held them3; and in 978-992,
they gave to Godihg the priest, also for three lives,
the tenement which he himself had without the city
gate4. In both these cases Isen appears to have
been converted into estate for successive lives.
Where there was Isen, there could properly be no
book, because the possession of the charter itself
was prima facie evidence (indeed nearly conclusive
evidence) in favour of the holder. Hence, where
from any circumstance the books were withheld,
the tenant had only a Isen : this was the case with
ɪ Cod. Dipl. Nos. 617,661. 2 Ibid. No. 679.
3 Ibid. No. 616. 4 Ibid. No. 683.