Trinoda necessitas

Trinoda necessitas ("three-knotted obligation" ^[1] in Latin) is a term used to refer to a "threefold tax" in Anglo-Saxon times. Subjects of an Anglo-Saxon king were required to yield three services: bridge-bote (repairing bridges and roads), burgh-bote (building and maintaining fortifications), and fyrd-bote (serving in the militia, known as the fyrd). Rulers very rarely exempted subjects from the trinoda necessitas, because these services were the lifeblood of an Anglo-Saxon kingdom.^[2][3] After the Norman Conquest, exemptions from the trinoda necessitas became more common.^[4]

The term "trinoda necessitas" was rarely used in Anglo-Saxon times: its only known use is in a grant of land near Pagham, Sussex from King Cædwalla of Wessex to Saint Wilfred.^[5] The Wilfred grant used the term trimoda (Latin for "triple"); trinoda (Latin for "triple-knotted") was an error introduced by John Selden in 1610.^[5][6]

Instead of the term "trinoda necessitas", it was common for Anglo-Saxon land grants to spell out the three obligations individually. For example, the land grant of Æthelberht of Kent to a thegn in 858 was free of obligation, except explicitly for military service, bridge repair, and fortification.^[4]

See also

• History of English land law

References

1. Souter, Alexander (1968). Oxford Latin Dictionary. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-198-64224-5.
2. Lapidge, Michael; John Blair; Simon Keynes; Donald Scragg (15 November 2000). The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 456–457. ISBN 0-631-22492-0.
3. Stenton, Frank M. (20 September 2001). Anglo-Saxon England: Reissue with a new cover (3 ed.). Oxford University Press, USA. p. 289. ISBN 0-19-280139-2.
4. Hollister, C. Warren (1962). Anglo-Saxon Military Institutions on the Eve of the Norman Conquest. Oxford University Press. p. 60.
5. Stevenson, W.H. (October 1914). "Trinoda Necessitas". The English Historical Review. 29 (66).
6. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Trinoda Necessitas" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 286–287.