Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Wherever you see a symbol like this:
That’s a License. The Medieval legal system loves their privileges, charters, licenses and regulations; granting specifically what everybody can and can’t do.
Licenses are either granted (marked by filling it in) or not, and this is at the discretion of the character who granted the estate. You may win more1 (or have some taken from you), but only in renegotiating the grant.
You do not have to follow the license—you may choose to flaunt the law. Granters of privileges typically have more men at arms and access to the legal levers of power than grantees do, though, which is how they maintain these regulations. If they’re weak or distracted, it may be possible to act now and get forgiveness later, but are you sure you want to gamble on that?
Estate Licenses
| License Text | Meaning if granted |
|---|---|
| ”and to their descendents” | When the current holder dies, it’s expected that this estate will be passed to their heir. Even without this, a liege may decide to keep it in the family for convenience, but might use the leverage to not do so to punish or break up a powerbase, or to squeeze more concessions. |
| ”by pleasure” | This estate can be revoked at will, instead of being assumed to be held until death or some specific revocation reason. You typically don’t want this checked. |
| ”by lease until” | This estate has been given for a specific period of time, after which it’s expected to be handed back (the date should be added in the ribbon). It may be re-granted then, but often this allows a kind of temporary management. |
| ”license to assart” | For a wood or forest, the right to clear more lands for agriculture. Great for rich estates looking to expand their farming potential, but if you give everyone this right you soon won’t have the woodlands at all - so lords can be picky. |
| ”license to hunt” | The right to hunt beasts like deer in the wood. |
| ”…and to empark” | The right to enclose parts of the wood (usually with a moat) to keep deer in, for hunting purposes. This makes for easier, more consistent, more productive hunting… for the people who have parks. |
| ”…and warren” | A license for hunting and keeping the smaller animals of the forest - hare, squirrel, birds, etc. |
| ”right of high justice” | The iuse gladii (“right of the sword”) or infangthief and outfangthief, having the right to execute summary justice for certain crimes done and caught in your estate, without having to wait on your lord’s courts. |
| ”held since time immemorial” | Marks allodial estates. These estates have no Servitium Debitum because they weren’t originally granted (and thus the granter can’t require a payment in return), but came from before the granter had power in the area. |
| (subinfeudation) “permitted” | The holder has the right to subinfeudate - i.e. to break the estate into parcels that they then can grant to other holders. This complicates matters for the overlord, but is useful for a large estate holder to reward followers and delegate their work. |
| ”license to crenellate” | The holder has the right to strongly fortify their manor. |
Footnotes
-
Typically you want more, but some are actually better for you if they’re not selected. In either way, you can be gifted a more favorable grant, but your liege is likely to want something for any concessions they’re giving. ↩