feudal aids

views updated Jun 27 2018

feudal aids. In the English feudal society which followed the Norman Conquest, custom permitted the king, at times of exceptionally heavy expenditure, to take an ‘aid’ (auxilium) from his tenants-in-chief; a lord, similarly, could exact an aid from his free tenants. There was continual conflict about the occasions and amounts of such aids. Magna Carta (1215) listed three occasions when the king, or a lord, might demand a ‘reasonable’, but unspecified, amount. These were: the knighting of his eldest son; the marriage of his eldest daughter (once); and the ransom of his own person from captivity. In 1275 in the statute of Westminster, the king also set a limit on the amounts which could be claimed.

Margaret Wilkinson

aids, feudal

views updated May 09 2018

aids, feudal. See feudal aids.