Another peculiarity of the Inquisitio is the care with which it records the names of sokemen on the Abbey estates when omitted in the I.
Three virgates the sokemen were not free to sell; the other three they might sell, but if they did, 'predictus abbas semper socham habuit'.
That Borough English existed in many free boroughs and among free sokemen is true, of course, and there it had nothing to do with servile status.
As to the sokemen we find indeed, that their right is contrasted with feoffment and at the same time considered as a kind of free tenancy, that it is defended by manorial writs, and at the same time well established in custom[876].
Many free sokemen were caught up in the subjugation by baron landlords and were reduced almost to the condition of the unfree villein.
Male heirs of sokemen who were under the age of fifteen were in the custody of their nearest kindred.
The sokemen were freemen who had their own land, chose their own lord, and attended their lord's court.
In the manors bearing English names the sokemen numbered two-fifths of the population, while in those manors with Danish names they formed three-fifths of the population.
But we would here speak chiefly of the lowly 'free men' and sokemen of the eastern counties.
But we may be fairly certain that the unnamed sokemen tilled their own soil, though perhaps they had help from a few cottagers.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "sokemen" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
