en that a
man held tenures from two different lords. This was not in itself
inadmissible, and he had only, in accepting the latter fief, to make a
reservation of his fidelity to an earlier lord. He could then discharge
his duty to one by a substitute, and might even render service to one
against the other. It was only forbidden personally to fight a feudal
lord. John of Ibelin says:

'In such case the vassal shall appear before his lord, and shall
say to him, in the presence of his men: 'Sire, I am your man, but
with reservation of my duty to N. N. This N. N. now comes in arms
against you, and I regret that I cannot help you, because my lord
is on the other side, and I cannot bear arms against him, _where
his body is_; I must, therefore, report myself as _personally_
serving neither you nor him. I desire my people to serve you
against him who would rob you, and who now leads the contest
against you.''

Women to whom a fief or the guardianship of one should fall, could not
of course render military service; but in place of this, they were
obliged to marry--a punishment by most perhaps not deemed severe, except
for the fact that they could not freely choose their own husbands.

John of Ibelin says that 'if a fief fall to a girl of twelve years or
more (if younger, she is to be held under a guardian, according to law),
the feudal lord can summon her to take a husband.' This may be done by
the lord in person, or by his authorized attorney, who thus addresses
the lady: 'My lady, I offer you, in the name of my lord (name given),
three knights (names all given), and call upon you in his name, within
the time of (time specified), to take one of the three whoso names have
been given you.' This may not, after all, be a great hardship, for the
ladies of our time and land are not sure of three candidates to choose
from. These three must of course have been of the lady's own rank, and
have given their own consent to the presentation of their
names--otherwise it would be no offer.

'If the lady thus warned shall not, within the prescribed time,
either choose one of the three candidates, or assign for not doing
so a reason acceptable to the court,'--for instance, that she was
more than sixty years old would be a valid reason, since if she had
a husband living, he would not be required to serve after that
age,--'she shall lose the fief for one year, after wh