Dictionary

free bench en · NOUN

Etymology

From free + bench, after Anglo-Norman franc banc (“frank bank”).

Meanings

1. (historical, uncountable) A married woman's entitlement to the use of her husband's lands or property after he dies; or the land and property itself considered as such an entitlement.
   • Some widows in Brigstock also probably sold free bench lands, despite the customary restriction on such sales. 1987, Judith M Bennett, Women in the Medieval English Countryside, page 165:
   • In most manors, free-bench consists of one half of the husband's copyhold; although, in others, it consists of a third or fourth part, and in some few, of the whole copyhold. 1808, William Cruise, A Digest of the Laws of England Respecting Real Property, page 329:
   • The widow enjoyed the right of freebench, that is, of succession to a portion of her late husband's holding, ranging from a quarter to the whole, according to local manorial custom. 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 541:

Forms

Relateds

widow's bench · widow-bench