GRAND SERGEANTY (magna serjeantia, or magnum serritium, great service), was the most honorable of the ancient feudal tenures. According to Lyttleton, tenure by grand 'sergeanty is where a man holds his lands or tenements of our sovereign lord the king by such services as he ought to do in his proper person to the king, as to carry the banner of the king, or his lance, or to lead his army, or to be his marshal, or to carry his sword before him at his coronation, or his carver, or his butler, or to be one of his chamber lains of the receipt of his exchequer, or to do other like services. This tenure must have been held of the king. Where lands were held of a subject, on condition of per formance of services identical with those which were rendered to the king, the tenure was not grand sergeanty, but knight's service. Thus, lands on the Scottish border held of the king by cornage—i.e., on condition of winding a horn to give notice when the Scots had crossed the border—were held in grand sergeanty; but lands held of a subject for the same service were held in knight's service. Tenants holding by grand sergeanty were free from escuage, which usually appertained to knight's service, and in general could only he called upon to perform their services infra quatuor nutria, within the kingdom. 'rime services in grand sergeanty were to be performed by the tenant in person, where he was able to do so. The office of attendance on the sovereign's person was esteemed so honorable. that no one below the dignity of a knight could per fprm it. Hence, where lands held by grand sergeanty were in the possession of a citi Zen, lie was permitted to perform hiSservice by deputy. This tenure by grand sergeanty was by 12 Charles II. c. 21, in common with other military tenures, reduced to common socage (q v.); except so far as regards the honorary services, which continue to be observed
to this day. Thus, the duke of Wellington holds of the crown his estate of Strathtield saye on condition of presenting to the sovereign a flag bearing the national colors on each succeeding anniversary of the battle of Waterloo. The manor of Woodstock, with the demesne, in which is. situated Blenheim park, is held by the duke of Marl borough by grand sergeanty, on condition of presenting to the cinema and her heirs, at the castle of Windsor, a standard of France, on Aug. 13, yearly, being the anniversary of the day on which the battle of Hochstadt was fought near the village of Blenheim, on the banks of the Danube. The tenure of grand sergeantry was observed throughout the continent of Europe. "The freeborn Franks," says Mr. Hallam, Middle Ages, "saw nothing menial in the titles of cupbearer, steward,- marshal, or master of the horse, which are still borne by tho noblest famine, iu every country in Europe, and by sove reign princes in the empire. The count of Anjou, under Louis VI., claimed the office of great seneschel of France—i.e., to carry dishes to the king's table on state-days. Thus, the feudal notions of grand sergeanty prepared the way for the restoration of supremacy, as the military tenures had impaired it." In Scotland, grand sergeanty was not known as a separate tenure—that is to say, lands held on condition of honorary services rendered to the sovereign were not attended with any privileges other than those attaching to lands held in a similar manner of a subject superior. In that country a tenure by honorary service was known as a BLA.Ncir HOLDING.