gavelkind

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gavelkind

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

gavelkind [M.E.,=family tenure], custom of inheritance of lands held in socage tenure , whereby all the sons of a holder of an estate in land share equally in such lands upon the death of the father. Most of the lands in England were held in gavelkind tenure prior to the Norman Conquest in 1066, and the custom of dividing lands among the male heirs is still preserved in parts of England, notably the county of Kent. This system of inheritance of lands is to be contrasted with borough-English and primogeniture .

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gavelkind

A Dictionary of British History | 2004 | | © A Dictionary of British History 2004, originally published by Oxford University Press 2004. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

gavelkind was the practice of partible or equal inheritance, as opposed to primogeniture. It was predominant in Kent but found elsewhere, particularly in Wales and Ireland.

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JOHN CANNON. "gavelkind." A Dictionary of British History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 9 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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gavelkind

The Oxford Companion to British History | 2002 | | © The Oxford Companion to British History 2002, originally published by Oxford University Press 2002. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

gavelkind was the practice of partible or equal inheritance, as opposed to primogeniture. It was predominant in Kent but found elsewhere, particularly in Wales and Ireland. The result was the creation of small estates with considerable political independence. It was extinguished in 1922 by 12 & 13 Geo. V c. 16. See also borough English.

J. A. Cannon

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JOHN CANNON. "gavelkind." The Oxford Companion to British History. Oxford University Press. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. 9 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

JOHN CANNON. "gavelkind." The Oxford Companion to British History. Oxford University Press. 2002. Encyclopedia.com. (November 9, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-gavelkind.html

JOHN CANNON. "gavelkind." The Oxford Companion to British History. Oxford University Press. 2002. Retrieved November 09, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-gavelkind.html

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Kent and primogeniture in King Lear.(Critical essay)
Magazine article from: Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900; 3/22/2008; ; 700+ words ; ...charters that were [theirs] before," he is referring to "gavelkind," Kent's distinctive system of land tenure, which dictated...unless his land be socage tenure whereof there is little, or gavelkind, such as is only in one province, in Kent) or else be purchased...
Kent and primogeniture in king lear.(Critical essay)
Magazine article from: Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900; 3/22/2008; ; 700+ words ; ...charters that were [theirs] before," he is referring to "gavelkind," Kent's distinctive system of land tenure, which dictated...unless his land be socage tenure whereof there is little, or gavelkind, such as is only in one province, in Kent) or else be purchased...
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Magazine article from: Renaissance Quarterly; 6/22/2000; 700+ words ; ...Era Magna Cha rta and the English Constitution"; R. J. Smith, "The Swanscombe Legend and the Historiography of Kentish Gavelkind"; David Barclay, "Representing the Middle Ages: Court Festivals in Nineteenth-Century Prussia"; Ulrich Muller...
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Magazine article from: Albion; 6/22/2002; ; 700+ words ; ...student. The average American undergraduate is unlikely to be familiar with, for example, the terms "enfeoffment to use" or "gavelkind." Nevertheless, this is an extremely useful contribution to the study of the family and household.
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Magazine article from: Canadian Journal of History; 4/1/1996; ; 700+ words ; ...services and customary dues. It generally passed from father to youngest son in the form of a complete holding. In Kent, with gavelkind tenure, men were free to sell or otherwise alienate their land and it was shared among all male heirs on the death of a tenant...
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Newspaper article from: The Daily Mail (London, England); 1/6/2009; 700+ words ; ...requirements to maintain roads and local fortifications. Probably the greatest survival of Anglo-Saxon customary tenure was gavelkind, which remained in force in Kent until 1926. Under this tradition, the people of Kent agreed to accept William as their...
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Magazine article from: Canadian Journal of History; 4/1/2000; ; 700+ words ; ...valence of dividing the land is so clearly defined: early modern critics of primogeniture lauded the ancient Kentish custom of Gavelkind land tenure (partible inheritance), and engrossing of estates was a key strategy of "improvement." In the second half...

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