Source: Index Library xxx
Title: Abstracts of Inquisitiones post Mortem for Gloucestershire, returned into the Court of Chancery during the Plantagenet Period. Part IV. 20 Henry III. to 29 Edward I. 1236-1300. Edited by Sidney J. Madge, 1903, London, 224
Date:25 April 1300
Place: Gloucester

 

Henry le Droys

Inquisition made at Gloucester before the Sheriff of Gloucester on Monday in the feast of St. Mark the Evangelist, 28 Edw I. [1300], by William Damoyseale, William de Wydicoumbe, Gilbert le Keu, Robert Kyngcot, Walter le Pope, Robert le Eyr de Parton, Richard de Brythampton, Stephen de la Plokke, John Ingram, John atte Wynyerde, William le Fremon de Eli...... and Walter Aylwy , to inquire whether one messuage and one carucate of land in Brokworth which Henry le Droys , who was outlawed for felony, as it is said, held were in the hand of the King for 1 year and 1 day or not, &c., who say that

The said messuage and land were not in the hand of the King for 1 year and 1 day because the said Henry was first outlawed on the Monday in the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle last past¹.

The said premises are held of the Abbot and Convent of St. Peters in Gloucester in chief without mean, and the Sheriff holds the same as the waste of the King, and he is bound to answer to the King therefor, but he has not yet a year and a day fully as is aforesaid.
Chan. Inq. p. m., 28 Edw. I, No. 113.

¹ 21 December 1299

In feudal England, escheat (pronounced eesheet) referred to the situation where the tenant of a fief died without an heir or committed a felony. The fief reverted to the King's ownership for one year and one day, by right of primer seisin, after which it reverted to the original lord who had granted it. From the time of Henry III, the monarchy took particular interest in escheat as a source of revenue.
From the 12th century onward, the Crown appointed escheators to manage escheats and report to the Exchequer, with one escheator per county established by the middle of the 14th century. Upon learning the death of a tenant, the escheator would hold an "inquisition post mortem" to learn if the king had any rights to the land. These were often preceded by a "writ of diem clausit extremum" issued by the king to seize the lands and hold the I.P.M. If there was any doubt, the escheator would seize the land and refer the case to Westminster where it would be settled, ensuring that not one day's revenue would be lost. This would be a source of concern with land owners when there were delays from Westminster.
Source: Wikipedia