Family Lessons 149: Socage

Richard Gibson, my 11x great-grandather, died at Over Kellet in north Lancashire back in 1635. He 'held' (ie tenanted) one 'messuage', which is defined as ‘a dwelling house with the adjacent buildings and lands used in connection with the household’. Curiously, the King (Charles I) was his landlord and the terms were ‘socage’. This was a rental agreement which meant that the tenant paid in cash a fixed amount rather than giving additional feudal duties such as knight-service, which meant he had to fight for the landowner or provide so many men to defend his castles. By 1635, this old feudal arrangement was long dying out, and landlords, like today, preferred hard cash. The house is likely this one, re-built by his son, George, from whom I also descend.

Within eight years of Richard’s death, Charles I would indeed be summoning his subjects to fight for him as he raised his standard against the Parliament in 1642. I suspect that his son, George, was required (or possibly volunteered) to fight for one side or another. Being the king’s tenant could have swung him either way, if religious views had not already done so. I should dearly love to know if he fought, and where and when, but the records, alas, do not exist.

Each one of us is a tenant of the King, by which I refer to Jesus Christ, not Charles Stuart or Charles Mountbatten-Windsor. Furthermore, He requires us to make a stand for Him and ‘fight’ from time to time. This is not physical violence or vandalism of property, but the arresting of evil and the denouncing of vain, worldly philosophies and false religion. Our earthly tenancies are knight-service, not mere socage. Let us not merely retreat to our dugouts in the hills or holy huddles in our churches, for the trumpets are sounding and war is already at the gate.

Beat your ploughshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Joel 3:10