144 SERVILE BURDENS
weapons—in strict theory remained the property of the lord, and
it was but right that he should resume possession on his man's
death. In the course of time, however, the conditions which had
obtained earlier were seriously modified: a great number of free-
men had managed to shake off this obligation, and were no
longer either equipped by their lord, or liable to pay a heriot on
their death. The serf, however, was not so fortunate. While he
was liable to give military service only on infrequent occasions
and in a very limited way, in theory he was still held to receive
his hergeat\ and, therefore, on his death, was forced to pay a
heriot which generally took the form of his best beast or chattel.1
As Pollock and Maitland say:
In this case the term '* heriot" m\ist in the eyes of the etymologist
be inappropriate. We may guess that in the heriot of the later middle
ages no less than four ancient elements have met: (i) the warrior who
has received arms from his lord should on his death return them;
(2) the peasant who has received the stock on his farm from his lord
should return it, and if his representatives are allowed to keep it, they
must recognisse the lord's right to the whole by yielding up one article,
and that the best; (3) all the chattels of a serf belong in strictness of
law to his lord, and the lord takes the best of them to manifest his
right; (4) in the infancy of testamentary power it has been prudent, if
not necessary, that the would-be testator, however high his rank,
should purchase from the king or some other lord that favour and
warranty without which his bequests will hardly " stand ". But at any
rate in the course of time the heriot is separated from the relief/2
Side by side with this claim went one made by the Church
called a mortuary. This was exacted by reason of the convenient
theory that during his lifetime a man would be unlikely to pay in
full all his tithes and other charges due to the Church, and there-
fore it was necessary for the Church to make a final claim in
exacting a mortuary. This was taken after the lord had first
chosen the best beast or chattel as his heriot, and the Church had
second choice.3 Canon Law endeavoured to define what had
1 See e.g. Glouc* Cart, in, 43, 46, 59, 87, 173, 204, 211; Sussex Rec. Soc.
xxi, 90,98, 102, 110. In the Wore. Priory Reg. 102 we find the vtrgater has to
give three heriots: a horse, its harness, and two oxen. The military has com-
pletely given place to the agricultural claim.
2 Hist. Eng. Law, i, 317.
8 See this fully set out, for example, in Oliver's Mon. Bxon. 2546 (Otterton),
where it is declared to be an obligation on free or serf. See also Glouc. Cart.
m, 130, 170, 172.