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Page 47
the Queen concerned. From Alinor's point of view she, if anyone, was the one put upon. Her property was well run. Until the last year of his life, her grandfather had visited each and every holding, no matter how small. When he grew too feeble, she had gone with Sir Andre. The lesser vassals and castellans respected and obeyed her chief vassal; they paid their dues promptly and in full. The serfs were not, for the most part, starved or ill treated; they did their shareif not willingly, at least they did not run away to the new, growing towns as the serfs of many other masters did.
Having given the matter some calm thought, Alinor had brought herself to accept the Queen's reasoning. It was all very well for her to protest that she was honest and would pay the King his due. Words, after all, were cheap. It was only reasonable to appoint a warden to be sure she was honest. But such an appointment was a prize to be fought over. Alinor knew that royal wardens were not paid. It was customary that a healthy slice of the estate revenues would go into the warden's purse rather than the King's coffers. Since it was dangerous to reduce the King's share by any visible amount, the extra sum was either squeezed out of the estates or taken from the ward's share.
In some cases, where there had been disseisin or war, where the vassals were trying to free themselves from their overlord, the warden's task was hard. He might have to expend much of his own resources to build an army to beat his ward's vassals into proper submission. In other cases where the land itself was ill managed and no one knew the true worth or who was responsible for what duty, a warden might find himself in serious trouble by over- or underestimating the revenue due the King or he might need to expend much time and labor before the land could be made to pay a fair rental. Then, of course, the warden's share was only a fair payment for his effort.
Alinor was angry because none of these things were

 
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