Legal Definitions - servitium intrinsecum

Servitium Intrinsecum

In historical legal contexts, servitium intrinsecum refers to the regular, expected duties or services that a tenant was obligated to provide to their immediate lord as part of a feudal landholding arrangement. These were the standard, inherent obligations tied to the land, distinguishing them from any extraordinary or special requests.

Here are some examples to illustrate this concept:

• Imagine a medieval peasant farmer who held a small plot of land from a local baron. As part of their agreement, the farmer was required to spend a certain number of days each year working on the baron's personal estate, plowing fields, harvesting crops, or maintaining fences. This regular agricultural labor was the servitium intrinsecum owed by the farmer to the baron.

• Consider a knight who was granted a fief (land) by a powerful duke. In return for this land, the knight's servitium intrinsecum might have been to provide military service to the duke for 40 days each year, bringing a specified number of armed men or personally fighting in the duke's army when called upon. This was a standard, expected military obligation inherent to holding the fief.

• In a medieval town, a merchant might have held a property from the town's lord. Their servitium intrinsecum could have been the payment of a fixed annual sum of money or a certain quantity of goods (like grain or cloth) to the lord. This consistent, pre-agreed payment was the ordinary service due for the right to occupy and conduct business on that land.