53 2 Constitutional History. [chap.
provisors which were irreconcileahly offensive to the papacy
and its supporters. The lawyers had long taken up the burden
of a theory which claimed to be equally of divine right ; and
they had fenced it about with the doctrines of allegiance and
of treason, with oaths of fealty and acts of homage. This his-
tory is not peculiar to England, but it comes into our national
institutions somewhat late, and its details are somewhat clearer
than they are in the case of the continental nations.
Fealty, 462. The obligations of fealty, homage, and allegiance1,
allegiance, although their result is nearly the same, are founded on three
different principles. Fealty is the bond that ties any man to
another to whom he undertakes to be faithful ; the bond is
created by the undertaking and embodied in the oath. Homage
is the form that binds the vassal to the lord, whose man he
becomes, and of whom he holds the land for which he performs
the ceremony on his knees and with his hands in his lord’s
hands. Allegiance is the duty which each man of the nation
owes to the head of the nation, whether the man be a land-
owner or landless, the vassal of a mesne lord or a Iordless
man ; and allegiance is a legal duty to the king, the state, or
Combina- the nation, whether it be embodied in an oath or not. But,
tion of the •....» . . ,, . 1 -I « . ∙ 1-»
three in the although thus distinct in origin, the three obligations had come
between the in the middle ages to have, as regards the king, one effect,
the⅛ing-nd The idea, the development of which has been traced in an
early chapter of this work, of making land the sign and sacra-
ment of all relations between ruler and subject, had from the
Norman Conquest thoroughly pervaded the law of England.
As all land was to be held of the king, all landowners were
bound by mediate or immediate homage to him ; and as the
lord of the land was supreme judge, every man who was amen-
able to judgment owed fealty and allegiance to the king on
that ground ; his fealty was not due as an obligation which he
ɪ On the forms see Madox, Bar. Angl. pp. 270 sq. ; Spelman’s Glossary,
s. vv. Fidelitas, Homagium, Ligantia; Select Charters, pp. 67, 82, 152,
&c. ; Statutes, i. 226, 227 (‘Modus faciendi homagium et fidelitatem ,) ;
Digby, Real Property, pp. 62, 63 ; Bracton, fo. 77 b, 78 Î lib. ii. c. 35 ;
Glanvill, lib. ix. c. 1 ; Littleton, Tenures, s. 85-94 ; Coke upon Littletorv
65 b, sq. ; Assises de Jerusalem, i. 313.
XXi.] Homage and Fealty. 533
had spontaneously incurred, but as the means of certifying his
sense of the duty to bear allegiance. And thus, with respect
to the king, fealty and allegiance were practically identical ;
and the act of homage to the king implied and was accompanied
by the oath of fealty; the oath recognised that it was the same
thing to be ‘ foial ’ and ζ Ioial ’ ; the king’s , fideles ’ and his
‘ Iigii ’ were the same, and the closest of all relations with him
was expressed by the term t liege homage.’
The oath of allegiance, prescribed to every subject over the Oattisof
age of fourteen ɪ, was in substance the same as the oath of
fealty taken at the time of doing homage, although of course
variations of form were admissible2 ; for neither fealty nor
homage was confined to the relations subsisting between king
and subject, whilst allegiance was due to the king alone ; every
1 i Voloms nous qe trestouz ceux de xiiii aunz ou plus nous facent ser-
ment qe il nous serount feaus et leaus, et qe il ne serount felouns ne a
felouns assentauntz ;’ Britton, lib. i. c. ɪʒ; the form is given more fully
in c. 31 : it is thus translated ; t Hear this, you N. bailiffs, that I, P. from
this day forward will be faithful and loyal to our Lord E. King of England,
and his heirs, and will bear unto them faith and loyalty of life and limb,
of body and chattels, and of earthly honour, and will neither know nor
hear of their hurt or damage, but I will oppose it to the best of my power,
so help me God and the saints? This is the oath taken on the admission
to a tithing or frankpledge. The mention of the i heirs ’ has been omitted
from the oath since the revolution of 1688 ; Blackstone, Comm. i. 368.
2 The oath of fealty taken after homage is given by Britton, lib. iii. c. 4.
In case of fealty to the king it is this : ‘ Hear this ye good people, that I,
such a one by name, faith will bear to our lord King Edward from this
day forward, of life and limb, of body and chattels and of earthly honour ;
and the services which belong to him for the fees and tenements which I
hold of him, will lawfully perform to him as they become due, to the best
of my power, so help me God and the saints? The oath of fealty to any
other liege lord was this: ‘Hear you this, my lord John, that I, Peter,
from this day forward, will bear you faith of life and limb, saving my
faith to the king and his heirs ; and the services which belong to you for
the fees and tenements I hold of you, lawfully will perform to you, as they
become due, to the best of my power,’ &c. To any lord not liege, the
form was : i Hear you this, my lord John, that I, Peter, will bear you
faith from this day forward, and the services? &c., &c., omitting mention
of life and limb. See Britton, ed. Nichols, i. 48, 185 ; ii. 39, 4τ. Liege
homage is that which is paid by the tenant to the lord i a quo tenet suum
Capitaletenementum ; ’ Glanv. ix. ɪ ; ‘ contre totes riens qui vivre et morir
puissent;, Ass. de Jer. i. 215, 313 ; the liege lord being ‘ dominus prae-
cipuus et Iegitimus quia feoffator primus et propter primurn feoffamentum
et capitale; i Bracton, fo. 79 b; rcui soli ratione dominii sic tenetur ut
contra ipsum nihil alii debeat, rege duntaxat excepto; * Dial, de Scacc.
lib. ii. c. 4. See also LI. Henr. I. cc. xxxii. § 2 ; xliii. § 6 ; lv. § 2 ; Ixxxii
§5.