KNIGHT’S FEES. When England was subdivided by the Conqueror among his vassals, the feudal custom of supplying the crown with a certain number of knights was imposed upon them. The number of knights that had to be furnished was specified in the infeoffment. These knights, in their turn, held lands from the immediate tenants of the crown, which were owned by homage, fealty, and a great variety of tenures, as well as by direct payments in money. Some tenures were merely nominal, such as a grain of cummin, or a red rose; others were of more or less value, such as a pair of white gloves, a tun of wine, a gold spur, or a silver salver; and others by such service as holding the lord’s stirrup, keeping a pack of hounds, etc., etc. See Blount’s “Ancient Tenures.” The lands of these knights were termed “Fees,” and composed the barony of a crown vassal. A knight’s fee was supposed to be so much land as would suffice to maintain him, and to enable him to present himself and his retainers ready equipped for the field in times of emergency. Hence a “Knight’s Fee,” as applied to land, represents no definite quantity, but a variable amount, generally between one and five hundred acres of cultivable land. The term is also sometimes used for the rent paid to the lord for the fee. It is easy, then, to see that it became essential to the Crown, both for monetary and judicial purposes, as well national as local, to know from time to time the exact position of their vassals and sub-vassals. Hence, Inquisitions were held up and down the country before local sworn juries, and the barons made returns of that which they held, and which was held under them. These returns are among the earliest of our national records; and though brief, are invaluable, from their absolute authenticity, to the genealogist and local historian. The chief documents of this class are the _Black Book of the Exchequer, temp._ Henry II., the original of which is in the P. R. O., but three manuscript copies are in the B. M., C., and B. respectively, and it was published (but imperfectly, and not from the original) by Hearn, in two vols., 8vo., last century; the _Scutage_ and the _Marshall Rolls, temp._, Edw. I. & II., P. R. O.; various lists of Tenants in Capite in our different public libraries; and, most important, the _Testa de Neville_. The last-mentioned of these documents consists of two ancient volumes compiled _temp._ Edw. II., now in the P. R. O. They consist of Inquisitions, taken _temp._ Henry III. and Edw. I., respecting the Fees held immediately or otherwise of the King, throughout the whole of England, excepting the counties of Cambridge, Cheshire, Durham, Lancashire, and Monmouthshire. These records were officially printed in one vol., folio, in 1807; there are many errors in the spelling of place-names, but these can for the most part be readily detected by any one having local knowledge. Another folio volume, printed in 1802, is