[4] Also written Niding.  The English, as a rule, were more afraid of this name than of death itself.

86.  The Feudal System (see, too, the Constitutional Summary in the Appendix, p. iii, S5).

The essential principle of the feudal system was the holding of land on condition of military or other service.  It appears to have gradually grown up in England from grants made by the King.  In addition to the Eorls (earls)[1] or nobles by birth, there gradually grew up a class known as Thanes (companions or servants of the King), who in time outranked those who were noble by birth.  He would frequently have occasion to give rewards to the nobles and chief men for faithful service and for deeds of valor.  As nearly all his wealth consisted in land, he would naturally give that.  To this gift, however, he would attach a condition.  On making such a grant the King required the receiver to agree to furnish a certain number of fully equipped soldiers to fight for him.  These grants were originally made for life only, and on death of the recipient they returned to the Crown.

[1] The Saxons, or Early English, were divided into three classes:  Eorls (they must nut be confounded with the Danish jarls or earls), who were noble by birth; Ceorls (churls), or simple freemen; and slaves.  The slaves were either the absolute property of the master, or were bound to the soil and sold with it.  This latter class, under the Norman name of villeins, became numerous after the Norman Conquest in the eleventh century.  The chieftains of the first Saxon settlers were called either Ealdormen (aldermen) or Heretogas, the first being civil or magisterial, the latter military officers.  The Thanes were a later class, who, from serving the King or some powerful leader, became noble by military service.

Next, the nobles and other great landholders, following the example of the King, granted portions of their estates to tenants on similar conditions, and these again might grant portions to those below them in return for satisfactory military or other service.

In time it came to be an established principle, that every freeman below the rank of a noble must be attached to some superior whom he was bound to serve, and who, on the other hand, was his legal protector and responsible for his good behavior.  The man who refused to acknowledge his duty to serve a lord or superior was looked upon as an outlaw, and might be seized like a robber.  In that respect, therefore, he would be worse off than the slave, who had a master to whom he was accountable and who was accountable for him.

Eventually it became common for the small landholders, especially during the Danish invasions, to seek the protection of some neighboring lord who had a large band of followers at his command.  In such cases the freeman gave up his land and received it again on certain conditions.  The usual form was for him to kneel and, placing his hands within those of the lord, to swear an oath of homage, saing, “I BECOME YOUR MAN for the lands which I hold to you, and I will be faithful to you against all men, saving only the service which I owe to my lord the King.”  On his side the lord solemnly promised to defend his tenant or vassal in the possession of his property, for which he was to perform some service to the lord.