d be distinguished from
the lesser tenants in chief; else what certainty could there be in an
expression so general and indefinite? And this is likely to have
proceeded from the pride with which the ancient and wealthy barons of
the realm would regard those newly created by grants of escheated
honours, or those decayed in estate, who yet were by their tenures on an
equality with themselves. They procured therefore two innovations in
their condition; first that these inferior barons should be summoned
generally by the sheriff, instead of receiving their particular writs,
which made an honorary distinction; and next, that they should pay
relief, not, as for an entire barony, one hundred marks; but at the rate
of five pounds for each knight's fee which they held of the crown. This
changed their tenure to one by mere knight-service, and their
denomination to tenants in chief. It was not difficult, afterwards, for
the greater barons to exclude any from coming to parliament as such
without particular writs directed to them, for which purpose some law
was probably enacted in the reign of Henry III. If indeed we could place
reliance on a nameless author whom Camden has quoted, this limitation of
the peerage to such as were expressly summoned depended upon a statute
made soon after the battle of Evesham. But no one has ever been able to
discover Camden's authority, and the change was, probably, of a much
earlier date.[9]

[Sidenote: of Madox,]

[Sidenote: and observations on both.]

Such is the theory of Selden, which, if it rested less upon conjectural
alterations in the law, would undoubtedly solve some material
difficulties that occur in the opposite view of the subject. According
to Madox, tenure by knight-service in chief was always distinct from
that by barony. It is not easy, however, to point out the characteristic
differences of the two; nor has that eminent antiquary, in his large
work, the Baronia Anglica, laid down any definition, or attempted to
explain the real nature of a barony. The distinction could not consist
in the number of knight's fees; for the barony of Hwayton consisted of
only three; while John de Baliol held thirty fees by mere
knight-service.[10] Nor does it seem to have consisted in the privilege
or service of attending parliament, since all tenants in chief were
usually summoned. But whatever may have been the line between these
modes of tenure, there seems complete proof of their separation long