55-545: Serjeant may refer to: The holder of a serjeanty , a type of feudal land-holding in England A generally obsolete spelling of sergeant , although still used in some British Army regiments, notably The Rifles Serjeant-at-arms , an officer appointed to keep order during meetings Serjeant-at-law , an obsolete class of barrister in England and Ireland Craig Serjeant (born 1951), Australian former cricketer Serjeant (horse) ,
110-412: A British Thoroughbred See also [ edit ] Marcus Sarjeant (born 1964), person who fired six blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II in 1981 Sergeant (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Serjeant . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to
165-532: A dispute between the two abbeys which was not settled until 1315. A settlement was reached when the Abbess of Barking paid the Abbot of Stratford Lanthorne £200 (equivalent to £181,000 in 2023); in return, the abbot agreed to maintain the bridges and causeway and to pay an annual rent of four marks (equivalent to £2,400 in 2023) to the abbess. Mary Becket, the sister of Saint Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury ,
220-575: A few that were honourable or ornamental were retained in their original form as part of the coronation ceremony. Some being still useful were performed by deputy, or absorbed into the regular administrative system. When the military tenure of knight-service was abolished at the Restoration of the Monarchy by King Charles II (1660–1685), that of grand serjeanty was retained, doubtless on account of its honorary character, it being then limited in practice to
275-429: A household officer is still preserved in the monarch's serjeants-at-arms, serjeant-surgeons and serjeant-trumpeter. The horse and foot serjeants ( servientes ) of the king's army in the 12th century, who ranked after the knights and were more lightly armed, were unconnected with land tenure. Serjeanty is to be distinguished from offices held hereditarily "in gross". These are not serjeanties, as they were not incidents of
330-460: A public open space known as Abbey Green . It is recognisable for its partially restored Grade-II* Listed Curfew Tower, which features on the coat of arms of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham . Barking Abbey is also notable because the adjacent St Margaret's Church , a grade I listed building dating back to the 13th century, was built within its grounds. The Abbey Ruins are used as
385-500: A saint associated with female learning. Prior to 1214, as a "royal foundation", the abbesses of Barking had been chosen by the King. However, following pressure from the Pope, King John allowed the nuns to conduct elections to choose their abbess. The crown would later, however, claim they had the right to select a nun to join the abbey each time a new monarch acceded to the throne. This privilege
440-477: A venue each May for outdoor classical concerts, as well as an annual pilgrimage by members of the Eastern Orthodox Church . Barking Abbey was one of two monasteries built in the 7th century by Saint Erkenwald (later Bishop of London ). Erkenwald founded Chertsey Abbey for himself, and Barking Abbey for his sister Saint Ethelburga . Erkenwald and Ethelburga were of royal ancestry and were born in
495-465: Is found in Magna Carta of 1215, the king there renouncing the right of prerogative wardship in the case of those who held of him by the render of small articles. The legal doctrine which developed that serjeanties were inalienable (i.e. non-transferable) and impartible led during the reign of King Henry III (1216–1272) to the arrentation (permission to enclose in exchange for rent) of those serjeanties
550-555: The Middle Ages , tenure by serjeanty ( / ˈ s ɑːr dʒ ən t i / ) was a form of tenure in return for a specified duty other than standard knight-service . The word comes from the French noun sergent , itself from the Latin serviens, servientis , "serving", the present participle of the verb servo , "to keep, preserve, save, rescue, deliver". " Sergeant " is derived from
605-454: The River Thames was flooded. The devastation was severe and the abbey's fortunes never completely recovered: The devastation of the land, and the high cost of repairing dykes led to the abbey's impoverishment. In 1382 the abbey's lands were recorded as still "inundated" (flooded), and their yearly income had fallen to 400 marks (equivalent to £265,000 in 2023). In 1409, 32 years after
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#1732844207964660-453: The Tower of London . It was also at the abbey that King William received the submissions of the brothers Morcar, Earl of Northumbria , and Edwin, Earl of Mercia ; Morcar and Edwin's sister, Queen Ealdgyth was the widow of the defeated King Harold II (Godwinson). Queen Maud/Matilda (c.1080–1 May 1118), wife of King Henry I , financed the construction of two stone bridges and a causeway over
715-545: The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Lindsey (roughly located within the modern county of Lincolnshire ). It is said Ethelburga (a Christian) chose to become a nun to avoid having to marry King Edwin of Northumbria , who was a pagan. However, this seems doubtful, and there may have been confusion between Ethelburga and Æthelburh (Ethelburga) of Kent , who did marry King Edwin in 625. Either way, Ethelburga's brother Erkenwald founded Barking Abbey specifically for her. The abbey
770-747: The Crown. Some of the Domesday Book tenants may have been serjeants before the Norman Conquest , in the time of King Edward the Confessor . For instance, a certain Siward Accipitrarius (from Latin accipiter , "hawk" ), presumably hawker to Edward the Confessor, held from the king an estate worth £7 in Somerset and did so in an area appropriate to his occupation, close to a water habitat. J. H. Round ascribed
825-510: The English in 1306, was confined here from March 1313 to March 1314. Elizabeth de Clare was briefly imprisoned in Barking Abbey in 1322, as part of a campaign to force her to surrender some of her Welsh estates to Hugh Despenser the younger . Whilst imprisoned some of her "valuable possessions" were extorted but they were later recovered. In 1377 a larger portion of the abbey's lands near to
880-578: The Middle Ages, however, the North Gate was demolished around 1885. Today, only the Curfew Tower and the abbey's footprints and footings remain. The majority of the remains are buried: those remains visible were built in the 20th century to show the abbey's layout, although the original walls of the abbey church stand several feet high in portions. A modern ward of the present borough is named Abbey after
935-493: The Thames". In 1381 Elizabeth Chaucer became a nun at the abbey. Elizabeth was the daughter of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer and Philippa De Roet . When Elizabeth joined the abbey John of Gaunt , a royal prince, paid £51 8s 2d (equivalent to £48,000 in 2023) "for expenses and gifts" for the occasion. Geoffery Chaucer was in the service of the king's court and John of Gaunt much of his life. Katherine Swynford, who eventually became
990-465: The abbess was Æfgiva. King William the Conqueror confirmed Æfgiva's control of the abbey with a royal charter issued in either November or December 1066. William granted her "my peace and love, and all my rights within and without the burgh as fully as any abbess in that monastery of St.Mary had them in the time of King Edward" . At the time, King William was staying at Barking Abbey whilst he constructed
1045-746: The abbey in 693, although his body was taken to Chertsey Abbey for burial. Saint Wulfhilda (Wlfhildis) became abbess of Barking Abbey during the 10th century. Wulfhilda had grown up at Wilton Abbey , Wiltshire. King Edgar the Peaceful fell in love with Wulfhilda at Wilton, but she was committed to pursuing a religious life and spurned his advances, presents and offers of marriage. Eventually Edgar tried to entrap Wulfhilda; getting her aunt, Abbess Wenflaeda of Wherwell to fake an illness and summon Wulfhilda, with Edgar instead waiting when Wulfhilda arrived. On arriving, she "found his fervour so alarming that she fled, leaving her sleeve in his hand, and escaping through
1100-907: The abbey was demolished and much of its wealth was sold off. At the time of the dissolution the abbey also controlled the manors of Barking , Abbes Hall , Bulphan , Caldecotes in Abbess Roding , Cokermouth in Dagenham , Down Hall , Great Warley , Hanley Hall , Hawkesbury in Fobbing , Highall in Tollesbury , Hockley , Ingatestone , Leaden Roding Mucking , Tollesbury , Wangey Hall , Westbury in Barking , Wigborough and Wood Barns ; all in Essex . Demolition started in June 1540 and took around 18 months to complete, with only
1155-406: The abbey's building materials were reused: some of the lead was used to repair Greenwich Palace 's roof, and some of the stone used to construct King Henry VIII 's new Manor at Dartford . In 1551 King Edward VI granted the abbey site and demesne land to Edward Clinton, 9th Baron Clinton (later 1st Earl of Lincoln). After that, the site was used as a quarry and a farm. The remains survived
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#17328442079641210-409: The abbey's north gate and Curfew Tower were left standing. Records from 1540 show £744 was raised from selling the abbey's lead; £122 13s from the sale of the abbey's eleven bells (12,912 lb of "bellmetal"); and £182 2s 10d from the sale of "goods, grain and cattle". The abbey was also in possession of various jewels and valuables; including 3,586 ounces of silver. Following its demolition some of
1265-527: The branches of the River Lea in Stratford-by-Bow . As Barking Abbey was the closest to the bridges, the queen gave the abbey the responsibility for maintaining the bridges and donated lands as an endowment to finance those future repairs. After the foundation of Stratford Langthorne Abbey in 1135 (which was closer to the bridges), the Abbess of Barking transferred the responsibility to Stratford. This started
1320-607: The burden of wardship and marriage. In Littleton 's Tenures (15th century), this distinction appears as well defined, but the development was one of legal theory. By the reign of King Edward I (1272–1307), tenure by serjeanty was well on the retreat, as Kimball (1936) observes: Once it began to give way, serjeanty disintegrated more quickly and easily than the other tenures as the feudal conception of society lost its hold ... Its miscellaneous services had ... many fates. A large number soon became obsolete; others were commuted to money payments or changed to knight's service;
1375-483: The chapel was redecorated and the windows repaired. In 2005/06 the tower was extensively repaired at the cost of £130,000. The staircase roof, and the covering of the main roof were replaced, and the tower's masonry was re-pointed, with the irreparably damaged stone replaced. Inside the chapel was again redecorated. The tower is Grade-II* Listed, and is featured on the coat of arms of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham . In 2007, two small stones from remains of
1430-471: The children of Owen Tudor and Catherine of Valois ; herself the widow of King Henry V and Henry VI's mother. The Tudors were raised and educated at Barking under the care of Abbess Katherine. An allowance of £52 12s (equivalent to £46,300 in 2023) was paid for their maintenance. Edmund went on to father King Henry VII , who seized the throne at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. The abbey's water supply
1485-518: The development of serjeanties in England to Norman influence, though he did not dismiss earlier roots. The Anglo-Saxon historian James Campbell has suggested that serjeanties such as the messenger services recorded in the 13th century may represent "semi-fossilised remnants of important parts of the Anglo-Saxon governmental system". The germ of the later distinction between "grand" (French: grand , "large") and "petty" (French petit , "small") serjeanty
1540-466: The drains". Wulfhilda pursued her ambition and became a nun. King Edgar then created her Abbess of Barking and donated "considerable estates" to Barking Abbey. Wulfhilda herself donated 20 villages to the abbey and established another monastery at Horton in Kent. King Edgar's eventual queen, Ælfthryth became jealous of Wulfhilda, and following her husband's death deposed her as Abbess of Barking. Wulfhilda
1595-486: The first holder of such heritable grand sergeanties was clearly a man well liked and respected by the appointing monarch, and suitable to the role, the character of the tenant's heir in the duty, often involving close personal proximity, might be less pleasing to future monarchs. Today, those with duties pertaining to the coronation are required to make their case to perform them at the Court of Claims . The meaning of serjeant as
1650-488: The flood, the land had still not been reclaimed, despite the abbey having spent over £2,000 (equivalent to £1.78 million in 2023) in attempts to save it. Around 720 acres of land had been lost; 600 of which was in Dagenham Marsh. Various attempts were made to try to help the abbey. In 1380 the king released the abbey from certain charges. In 1384 they were given permission to " impress " (force) labourers to help improve
1705-470: The gaol in Winchester Castle . It is probable, however, that many supposed tenures by serjeanty were not really such, although so described in returns, in inquisitions post mortem , and other records. The simplest legal test of the tenure was that serjeants, though liable to the feudal exactions of wardship , etc., were not liable to scutage ; they made in place of this exaction special composition with
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1760-654: The honorific value of at least some of the services. The historian Mary Bateson stated as follows concerning serjeanties: (They) were neither always military nor always agricultural, but might approach very closely the service of knights or the service of farmers ... The serjeanty of holding the king's head when he made a rough passage across the Channel, of pulling a rope when his vessel landed, of counting his chessmen on Christmas Day, of bringing fuel to his castle, of doing his carpentry, of finding his pot-herbs, of forging his irons for his ploughs, of tending his garden, of nursing
1815-501: The hounds gored and injured in the hunt, of serving as veterinary to his sick falcons, such and many others might be the ceremonial or menial services due from a given serjeanty. The varieties of serjeanty were later increased by lawyers, who for the sake of convenience categorised under this head such duties as escort service to the Abbess of Barking , or of military service on the Welsh border by
1870-479: The intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Serjeant&oldid=1111017508 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Disambiguation pages with surname-holder lists Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Serjeanty Under feudalism in France and England during
1925-419: The lands of which had been partly alienated, which were thereby converted into socage tenures (i.e. paying money rents), or in some cases, tenures by knight-service. Gradually the gulf widened, and "petty" serjeanties, consisting of renders, together with serjeanties held of mesne lords , sank into socage , while "grand" serjeanties, the holders of which performed their service in person, became alone liable to
1980-476: The men of Archenfield . Serjeants ( servientes ) already appear as a distinct class in the Domesday Book of 1086, though not in all cases differentiated from the barons, who held by knight-service. A few mediaeval tenures by serjeanty can be definitely traced as far back as Domesday in the case of three Hampshire serjeanties: those of acting as king's marshal, of finding an archer for his service, and of keeping
2035-459: The most important nunneries in the country". Originally established in the 7th century, from the late 10th century the abbey followed the Rule of St. Benedict . The abbey had a large endowment and sizeable income but suffered severely after 1377, when the River Thames flooded around 720 acres (290 ha) of the abbey's land, which was unable to be reclaimed. However, at the time of the dissolution, it
2090-488: The other abbesses in England. She was also one of four abbesses who, "holding of the king by barony" were required to perform military service. The abbess had to perform these duties during the reigns of both King Henry III and King Edward I . In the Taxation Rolls of 1291, the abbey was recorded as having an income of £300 13s 1¼d (equivalent to £314,000 in 2023). Elizabeth de Burgh Queen of Scots, captured by
2145-616: The performance of certain duties at coronations, the discharge of which as a right has always been coveted, and the earliest record of which is that of the coronation of Queen Eleanor of Provence in 1236. The most conspicuous are those of King's Champion , appurtenant to the manor of Scrivelsby , long held by the Dymoke family, and of supporting the king's right arm, appurtenant to the manor of Worksop . Although today any surviving remnants of grand sergeanty are regarded as roles of high honour, it should be remembered that originally grand sergeanty
2200-478: The rendering of a quantity of basic food such as a goose) scarcely distinguishable from those of the rent-paying tenant or socager . The legal historians Frederick Pollock and Frederic William Maitland (1895) described it as being a free "servantship" in the sense that the serjeant, whatever his task, was essentially a menial servant. However the feudal historian John Horace Round objected that their definition does not cover military serjeanties and glosses over
2255-585: The ruin. The ruins sit within a public open space known as Abbey Green . The Curfew Tower, also known as the Fire Bell Gate, was one of the abbey's three gateways and is the only part of the abbey not in ruins. The original tower was built in 1370, however the current tower was built around 1460. Above the gateway is "The Chapel of the Holy Rood", named for the 12th-century stone rood displayed within it. The building has been repaired several times. In 1955/56
Serjeant - Misplaced Pages Continue
2310-424: The same source, though developing an entirely different meaning. Serjeanty originated in the assignation of an estate in land on condition of the performance of a certain duty other than knight-service, usually the discharge of duties in the household of the king or a noble. It ranged from non-standard service in the king's army (distinguished only by equipment from that of the knight), to petty renders (for example
2365-502: The sister of Mary of Bethany and Lazarus in the Gospels of Luke and John . In c. 1156 , Osbert of Clare wrote a letter to Adelzia, who was abbess at the time, requesting that the Barking Abbey nuns pray for him; Katie Ann-Marie Bugyis states that it demonstrates his "confidence in the promptness and solicitude" of their prayers. At the time of the Norman conquest of England ,
2420-501: The situation on Dagenham Marsh. The abbey was granted "various liberties in Becontree hundred " in 1392 and 1462, and exempted from payment of " tenths " for ten years from 1409. It seems the land was never reclaimed, as during the reign of King Henry VII (1485–1509) the flooded lands were "exempted from the statute", thus "extending the jurisdiction of the Mayor of London as the conservator of
2475-543: The tenure of a manor or other land. They are heritable in the same way as baronies by writ , so that they can pass to a daughter where there is no male heir, and be split between daughters as co-heiresses if there are several. Examples include: Abbess of Barking Barking Abbey is a former royal monastery located in Barking , in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham . It has been described as having been "one of
2530-501: The third wealthiest nunnery in England; behind Sion Abbey and Shaftesbury Abbey . One of the abbey's seals , which was used during the 13th century until its dissolution in 1539, elevates their patron saints as many conventual seals did at the time. The Virgin Mary holding the infant Christ, St. Paul , and St. Peter are depicted, as are its three abbess-saints, Æthelburh of Barking , Hildelith , and Wulfhilda of Barking . The abbey
2585-522: The wife of John of Gaunt, was Philippa Chaucer's sister. Elizabeth Chaucer's brother, Thomas Chaucer , served in John of Gaunt's home at an early age and rose through the ranks to become very successful. Thomas's daughter would go on to become Duchess of Suffolk. During Katherine de la Pole 's time as abbess, the young Edmund and Jasper Tudor were sent to be brought up in the abbess's custody by King Henry VI 's council. The boys were Henry VI's half brothers:
2640-410: Was a duty, not a right. Clearly even by the medieval era much grand sergeanty had become in practice merely a token of high honour given by a monarch, where the duty was patently absurd and entirely non-onerous, except for the requirement of the physical presence of the tenant concerned. The duty of supporting the king's right arm was still performed at the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902. Although
2695-458: Was created abbess of Barking in 1173, as reparation for the murder of her brother. The abbey has been described as "perhaps the longest lived...institutional centre of literary culture for women in British history". During the twelfth century, Clemence of Barking , a nun at the abbey and a rare female author in this period, wrote, among other works, an innovative life of St Catherine of Alexandria ,
2750-459: Was dissolved in 1539 as part of King Henry VIII 's Dissolution of the Monasteries . It was formally surrendered by the abbess, and the 30 nuns, in the abbey's chapter-house on 14 November 1539. The abbess and nuns were all granted annual pensions 12 days later. The abbess' was 200 marks a year. Many of these pensions were still being paid during the reign of Queen Mary I . After the dissolution,
2805-594: Was endowed by "the East Saxon Princes", who came from the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of the East Saxons/Kingdom of Essex , and initially dedicated to Saint Mary . However, Ethelburga served as the Abbey's first abbess , and it was later dedicated to both Saint Mary and Saint Ethelburga . Saint Hildelitha , a nun brought from abroad to teach Ethelburga, would become abbess after her death. Erkenwald himself would die at
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#17328442079642860-626: Was later restored by Edgar's and Ælfthryth's son, King Æthelred the Unready . Another version of the story says that Queen Ælfthryth , as overseer of the abbey, deposed the abbess Wulfida after complaints made by the nuns; and that it was the Queen, not her son, who reinstated her twenty years later. Saint Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury changed Barking Abbey to follow the Rule of St. Benedict . According to medieval scholar Katie Ann-Marie Bugyis, Barking Abbey may have been "especially devoted to Martha ",
2915-479: Was ransomed by John Rigby of Cranbrook Manor in 1462. The water conduit to the abbey had broken and John Rigby had it repaired. He then decided that the abbey should pay an annual fee for its water supply. Katherine de la Pole was annoyed at this and instigated work to find an alternative and independent supply from their own spring. The Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535 records the abbey's gross income as £1,084 6s 2¼d (equivalent to £836,000 in 2023), which made it
2970-418: Was still the third-wealthiest nunnery in England. The abbey existed for almost 900 years, until its closure in 1539, as part of King Henry VIII 's Dissolution of the Monasteries . It had many notable abbesses including several saints , former queens and the daughters of kings. The abbess of Barking held precedence over all other abbesses in England. The ruined remains of Barking Abbey now form part of
3025-454: Was used to nominate Alice de Belhus on the accession of King Edward II in 1307, Margaret Swinford (daughter of Katherine Swynford and later abbess) on the accession of King Richard II in 1377, Maud Kylet in 1404 (five years after the accession of King Henry IV ), and Goda Hapton in 1430 (eight years after the accession of King Henry VI ). The abbey's status granted it several rights and responsibilities. The abbess had precedence over all
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