3i4 THE ROAD TO FREEDOM
unsuccessful. It is not possible to give any precise figures, but a
general impression after looking over a great many of these cases
leads me to believe that the lord was the victor roughly three
times out of four. It is clear that many lords took great care in
getting their evidence together and were able to present a very
strong case to the court. Vinogradoff says (with perhaps some
exaggeration) that "villeins born had their pedigrees as well as
the most noble among the peers. They were drawn up to prevent
any fraudulent assertion as to freedom, and to guide the lord if
he wanted to use the native's kin in prosecution of an action de
nativo habendo"? Howuseful such a document would be, can be
seen from what has already been said, and from such a case as
that reported in I3I2.2 In this case William of Cressy claimed
William, son of Siward, as his serf. Further he produced no less
than six of his kin against him, all of whom acknowledged them-
selves to be serfs. To meet this formidable array, the attorney of
the defendant pleaded that for various reasons they ought not to
be admitted. The case illustrates so well the intricacy and possi-
bilities of a medieval action of this kind that I give the rest in
full from the record.
And the aforesaid William, son of Siward, cometh and doth deny
the right of William of Cressy and all naifty... and he saith that he is
a free man and of free estate. For he saith that the aforesaid Harry,
Richard, William, Nigel, Gregory and Robert, whom William bringeth
into his proof to show that he, William, son of Siward, must answerto
this writ ought not to be admitted in such proof. And as to Richard,
son of Robert that is brother of the aforesaid Siward, of whom the
aforesaid Roger, father of the claimant, was seized, he doth answer
and say that he ought not to be admitted into the claimant's proof,
because Robert, his father, is alive and not present; and while his
father is alive, not being present, he himself cannot make answer. And
as to William, son of William, son of Hugh, brother of the aforesaid
Siward, whom he produceth in proof, he ought not to be admitted,
1 Villainage, 143; and see Appendix xfor one such elaborate pedigree. Com-
pare also V.C.H. Lincs> n, 300, where such a pedigree is successfully sustained
in court by the lord, and The Times, Jan. 23, 1933, where Miss H. M. Cam
is quoted as saying that " she had been surprised at the precision with which
family trees were produced and cited in the lowest levels of society in the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Not only a serf but his Lord could trace the
serfs descent and collateral relationship back for 4 generations."
* The editor of the Year Book thinks, however, that it was really heard
temp. Ed. L