FRANKALMOIGNE (Lat. libera eleemoyna, free alms) was a gift of lands to those who were consecrated to the service of God. By the ancient common law of England, a man could not alien lands which came to him by descent without consent of his heir, but he might give a part to God in free alms It was an old Saxon tenure, and con tinued under the Norman revolution, through the great respect that was shown to religion and religious men. This is the tenure by which almost all the ancient monasteries and religious houses held their lands, and by which the parochial clergy and very many eccle siastical foundations hold them at this day. The statute of 12 Car. II. c. 24, which abol ished the old tenures, specially reserved tenure in Frankalmoigne. The condition on which lands in F. were held was, that masses and divine services should be said for the grantor and his heirs, but no particular service was specified. At the reformation, the nature of the services was changed, but the tenure was suffered to continue. A tenant in F. did no fealty to his overlord, and in the event of failure to perform the service, the latter was not entitled to distrain, but might complain to the ordinary or visitor. In
this respect, this tenure differed from tenure by divine service, i.e., where lands were given on condition of performing a specified service, as saying a mass on a particular day, or distributing certain alms. In this case, the tenant was bound to render fealty, and the lord was entitled to distrain on failure to perform the service. But lands held in F. were subject to the trinoda necessitas, of repairing highways, building castles, and repelling invasions. F. was a tenure, to be held of the grantor and his heirs; all lands, therefore, now held in F., unless created by the crown, must have been granted before the reign of Edward I., for by Quia emptores, 18 Edw. I., all grants by subjects to be held of the grantor and his heirs are ineffectual. In Scotland. lands conveyed to the church in vuramn eleemosynam were said to be mortified. See 31ORTIFICATION.