A territory and a bundle of legal relationships.
ATRIUM I · LAND AND FIEFS
The Norman system of fiefs
A simple guide to land, lordship, records and courts in Guernsey.
Start with one simple idea
A fief was not merely a title. It was a way of organising land, obligations, local records and justice. The Seigneur held the fief from a superior lord; tenants held individual properties within it.
The holder responsible for the fief and its court.
The person holding a property recorded within the fief.
The local court that dealt especially with land, dues and fief business.
The measures found in the records
40 perches= 1 vergée→20 vergées= 1 bouvée→12 bouvées= 1 caruée
What is a vergée?
A traditional Guernsey unit of area. It made land understandable parcel by parcel.
What is a bouvée?
A larger traditional unit equal in the fief records to twenty vergées. Anneville conveyances still describe the fief in bouvées.
What is a livre de perchage?
The working land-register of a fief: properties, holders, boundaries, rents and obligations, organised through the traditional measures.
Land law in everyday life
Conveyances identified the fief, the parcel and the rights attached to it.
Perchage books preserved the memory of who held what and where.
The fief court handled local business and disputes connected with land and dues.
Fief names, routes and property descriptions still make the Norman structure visible.
DOCUMENTS YOU CAN OPEN
Documents and evidence
The thumbnails come from the original documents. Select one to open the full PDF in a new tab.
