BOCLAND

Bocland: translation

Bookland, land given by a king by the book, i.e. the gift was recorded in a *charter or land-boc. Two placenames record this as Buckland: one in Lincolnshire, another, Buckland Monachorum (= belonging to the monks) in Devon. A royal grant by the book created a ius perpetuum = perpetual right. Such land could be bequeathed and inherited. For this reason, charters were extremely valuable, being the only evidence of such a grant. (The charter recorded the grant; it was not the grant itself.) Many monasteries resorted to forgery in the *scriptorium at times of crisis when their charters could not be found. In *LHP, anyone proclaimed an *outlaw would forfeit such land, which reverted to the king.