serjeanty
A land tenure in which a tenant provided his liege with some kind of personal service, as opposed to nonpersonal service, such as paying tax (socage)
countable, historical, uncountable
The manor of Scrivelsby in England, has since the Middle Ages, been held by the Marmion family in grand serjeanty in exchange for their service as King's or Queen's Champion.
Where it comes from
From Middle English sergeauntie, serjaunte, from Old French serjantie, sergantie and Medieval Latin serjantia, sergantia. Compare sergeancy.
Adapted from the Wiktionary entry serjeanty (CC BY-SA 4.0).