Page:The histories of Launceston and Dunheved, in the county of Cornwall.djvu/281

 THE BLACK PRINCE. 253 by the hands of the bailiff of Trig, pays 4s. yearly j The Abbot of Glastonbury holds the manor of Lavanta, and pays 10s. ; Oliver de Carminow holds the manor of Kenel, and pays 13s. 3d. ; John le Petyt holds the manor of Bredannek, and pays 10s. ; The heir of John the Seneschal holds another Brebannek, 10s. ; Thomas de Lamentyn holds the manor of Lamentyn, and keeps charge of the Castle with one armed man, in the time of war, for 40 days, at his own proper costs ; He should therefore be distrained to do fealty, and to acknowledge by what services, &c, because he doubts whether he owes any. The sum of these rents appears above in the principal rental. Blackstone, in his Commentaries 011 the Laws of England, says that a determinate quantity of land, called a knight's fee, was necessary to make a tenure by knight-service. The value of this fee was, at its original in the reign of the Conqueror, probably stated at ^"20 per annum. He who held this proportion of land (or a whole fee) by knight- service was bound to attend his lord to the wars for forty days, in every year if called upon, which attendance was his rent or service for the land he claimed to hold. If he held only half a knight's fee he was only bound to attend twenty days, and so in proportion. Seven years after the battle of Cressy, the Black Prince, then twenty-three years of age, and his Council, visited Cornwall. He was at his castle in Dunheved on the 18th August, 1 35 3, went thence to Restormel Castle, and returned to Dunheved on the 5th September, 1353. We think that the prince and his retinue were lodged at Launceston Priory, and we venture to suggest that the complaint of Thomas Lanrac (page 101) may have been laid before the prince and his " good council " at that place. The Inquisition of Edward III. shows that, even 550 years ago, Dunheved Castle was in a state of decadence and neglect. It had never been besieged, and for 200