Celtic Scotland : $b A history of ancient Alban. Volume 3 (of 3), Land and peopleSkene, W. F. (William Forbes)
History
Celtic Scotland : $b A history of ancient Alban. Volume 3 (of 3), Land and people
Skene, W. F. (William Forbes)
Celts -- Scotland; Civilization, Celtic; Scotland -- Antiquities, Celtic; Scotland -- History -- To 1603
We see from the above description that their connection with their lord
was of two kinds—first, by occupying under him servile land; and second,
by placing themselves under him as personal bondmen; and of the former
class, they were either natives by descent or strangers who had taken
land from him, and the latter became native serfs after four
generations. Here we recognise at once the _Sencleithe_ or old adherents
of the Irish law, and the _Bond Fuidhir_, who became _Sencleithe_ after
four generations. The latter class of personal serfs are the _Mogha_ of
the Irish and the _Caeth_ of the Welsh Laws. The Celtic names by which
these two classes were known in feudal times have also been preserved to
us. Thus, in the Chartulary of Scone, King William the Lion grants a
mandate directing that if the abbot of Scone or his sergands shall find
in the lands or in the power of others any of the _Cumlawes_ and
_Cumherbes_ pertaining to his lands, he may reclaim them;[262] and in
the Chartulary of Dunfermline, the foundation charter by King David the
First grants that all his serfs and all his _Cumerlache_ from the time
of King Edgar shall be restored to the Church wherever they may be
found, and the scribe interprets the word _Cumer lache_ by _fugitivi_ on
the margin; and in a mandate by the same king to the same effect the
title is ‘Of the _fugitivi_ which are called _Cumerlache_.’[263] In the
last syllable of the name _Cumherbes_ or _Cumarherbe_ we can recognise
the Irish word _Orba_, applied to that part of the tribe territory which
had become the private property of the chiefs; and this name was no
doubt applied to that class of serfs whose bondage was derived from
their possessing servile land. They were the _ascripti glebae_ of feudal
times. The term _Cumlawe_ or _Cumarlawe_ is simply a translation of the
Latin term _manutenencia_, which characterised the third kind of bondage
above described, and whose tie to their master being a personal one, led
to their frequently escaping from hard usage and being reclaimed as
fugitives.[264] Thus among the laws of King William the Lion we find one
declaring that any one who detains a native fugitive man (_nativi
fugitivi_) after he has been demanded by his true lord or his bailie,
shall restore the said native-man with all his chattels, and shall
render to his lord the double of the loss he has sustained.[265]
[Sidenote: Measures of land.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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