The ancient estate of the Jarls lay scattered through every Island and township of Orkney and Zetland, and consisted, 1st, of LANDS SET or _leased_ to tenants on a three years’ tack, with a GERSOM or _fine_ at each renewal, and an annual LANDSKYLLD, _landmail_ or _rent_, in addition to the King’s Skatt, the Bishop’s Teind and other burdens, local and general; 2nd, of the BORDLANDS or _Mensal farms_, with their Böl and its enclosures, the occasional quarters of the Jarl in his progresses of pastime or State Service, and on that account exempt from Skatt, even when leased to husbandmen on the usual terms in other respects; and, 3rd, of certain QUOYS and other lands added by Odallers to their holdings, but not by odal-ræd, and therefore paying no Skatt, but Landskylld and other burdens of tenant lands. The Earldom also included CONQUEST or _acquired lands_, consisting, 1st, of lands added by the later Earls by purchase or excambion; and, 2nd, of lands which they had seized as _ultimi hæredes_, or confiscated for crime or Skatfall. The tenants or tacksmen of the “auld” Earldom were a sort of Rentallers with a prescriptive claim of renewal by law or custom, on payment of the stated Gersom; but those of the Conquest lands were in the far less favourable condition of removable tenants, with terms and burdens at the landlord’s mercy. A small fee was expected by the Earl’s bailiff, at each renewal or assedation, called for the Mainland LAND-SETTER, and for the smaller islands EYSETTER-KAUP, and every tenant was bound to _fure_ or ferry the Earl and his family, to bring peats to his Castles of Birsay or Orphir, and perform other prædial services when required. The payments were mostly made in kind, altering in form according to the convenience, residence or non-residence of the donatary, but weighed and measured by fixed and native standards. These LANDS, MALES, GERSOMS and SERVICES, constituted the _jus comitatus_ which Earl William (1471) conveyed to the Crown of Scotland. From the time of WILLIAM, by Romish consecration PRIMUS EPISCOPUS ORCADUM (1136), the Bishops had a seat in the great Council of Freemen. Whether this were at first their right as actual or presumed Odal-born Freemen, a concession to their sacred office, or a priestly assumption, their presence in the Thing was often salutary, sometimes to the Jarl, sometimes to the Odaller, either as Councillors for the wisdom of the serpent, or as peacemakers for the gentleness of the dove.