- Demesne
- The part of the lord's manorial lands reserved for his own use and not allocated to his serfs or freeholder tenants. Serfs worked in the demesne for a specified numbers of days per week. The demesne could either be scattered among the serfs' land, or be a separate area, the latter being more common for meadow and orchard lands. In Devonshire, the lord's land was usually kept separate from the peasants' land. (Pronounced "de-main.") See also Inland, Outland, and Sokeland.♦ Lands exploited directly by the manorial lord (as distinct from lands rented to tenants).(Bennett, Judith M. Women in the Medieval English Countryside, 234)♦ Land devoted to the lord's profit, whether a manor, or a portion of land within a manor, worked by peasants as part of their obligations.(Wood, Michael. Domesday: A Search for the Roots of England, 213)♦ Lands and rights retained for direct exploitation by lord or king rather than being granted out to others.(Frame, Robin. Colonial Ireland, 1169-1369, 144)♦ That land retained in the landlord's hand and cultivated by himself or leased out, as opposed to tenant land held by hereditary peasant tenants.(Waugh, Scott. England in the Reign of Edward III, 238)♦ The Dialogus de Scaccario defines demesne lands as "those which are tilled at the cost or by labour of the owner, and those held from him by villeins". Such lands were said to be "in demesne" (in dominico). The demesne did not include estates which belonged to the lord but which had been let by him as fiefs to vassals in return for services (such lands being said to be in servitio).(Warren, W.L. Henry II, 633)
Medieval glossary. 2014.
