Page:English Historical Review Volume 35.djvu/458

460 REVIEWS OF BOOKS July service of his own or the count's feudal tenants in times of danger. The castles themselves were kept in repair at the expense of all the inhabitants of the castelry, who paid for this purpose to the castellan an impost known as the halfard. In the castelry of Bruges this was assessed at a uniform rate of lis. on every hearth (' de quolibet igne ardente '). It was an unpopular tax ; in 1240 it is abolished by the count in the castelry of Bruges, and in 1242 the inhabitants of the QuatuorOfficia of Ghent are similarly exempted from it (pp. 19, 55). It seems probable, from a custom recorded in the case of Saint-Omer, that the castellans had the right of requisitioning live stock for the rations of their garrisons in time of war (p. 184) ; but the granary {spicarium), which appears to be a normal feature of the castle, was probably replenished from the comital demesnes in the castelry. Of these demesnes the castellan was normally the overseer, and M. Blom- maert suggests that in certain districts his agricultural duties were the largest part of his work (p. 232 n.). In time of war the castellan was expected to take the field at the head of his own garrison and of all the able- bodied men of the castelry who were liable to the heer-ban. In time of peace he was responsible for the policing of his jurisdiction, and more parti- cularly of the roads and waterways which passed through it ; and he was expected to proceed against those who were put to the ban with all the military force that might be needful (pp. 27.. 59-61, 104r-9, 141-2). By virtue of the power of the sword he had the duty of conducting executions (p. 152). At Douai and at Lille we find him responsible for the public prison (pp. 118, 151). The decline of the office in the thirteenth century was due to several causes. One was the growth of free communes and of other privileged bodies ; every new charter of privileges granted to a town or district meant a new inroad upon the castellan's sphere of action. Another was the jealousy with which the counts regarded so powerful a subordinate ; this led to the creation of co-ordinate func- tionaries. A third was the growth of feudal jurisdictions ; and a fourth the sale or grant by some castellans of valuable rights to kinsmen, dependants, and creditors (p. 181). H. W. C. Davis. The Tournament ; its Periods and Phases. By R. Coltman Clephan, F.S.A. (London : Methuen, 1919.) In this large and handsomely illustrated volume, Mr. Clephan has brought together a great amount of material relating to the origin and history of the tournament, and the character of the arms and armour employed. His narrative embraces the practice of the tournament in France, Italy, and Germany, as well aw in England. So much information comes of necessity from German sources, which are not readily accessible, that it is extremely valuable to have it all brought together and summarized in a convenient form with references to the sources on which the account given is based. The history of the tournament is traced from its origin down to the seventeenth century, and descriptions are given of all famous encounters, not omitting the revivals at the Eglinton Tournament in 1839, and at Brussels in 1905. A concluding chapter gives the history of trial by combat. Not the least valuable part of the book consists of the appen-