heriot

American  

[her-ee-uht] / ˈhɛr i ət /

noun

English Law.

1. a feudal service or tribute, originally of borrowed military equipment and later of a chattel, due to the lord on the death of a tenant.

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heriot British  

/ ˈhɛrɪət /

noun

1. (in medieval England) a death duty paid by villeins and free tenants to their lord, often consisting of the dead man's best beast or chattel

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Etymology

Origin of heriot

before 900; Middle English heriot, heriet, Old English heregeate, heregeatu, heregeatwa war gear, equivalent to here army + geate, etc., equipment; cognate with Old Norse gǫtvar (plural)

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

heriot

Of their articles he approved of two only, that demanding the right to choose their pastors and that denouncing the heriot or death-duty.

From The Age of the Reformation by Preserved Smith

The second burden on the villeins was the tax on change of property by death or transfer; the heriot and fine on alienation.

From Pictures of German Life in the XVIIIth and XIXth Centuries, Vol. I. by Gustav Freytag

The value of this heriot fixed by Canute's laws, Sec.

From The History of England, Volume I by David Hume

But the fine paid on the inheritance of their land was less definitely restricted in amount, and heriot was more universally and more regularly collected.

From An Introduction to the Industrial and Social History of England by Edward Potts Cheyney

When Dick understood what heriot meant he would not do it.

From Notwithstanding by Mary Cholmondeley