Honour of Annaly - Feudal Principality & Seignory Est. 1172

Blackstone’s “Commentaries on the Laws of England” (1768) applies to the Honour and Feudal Principality of Annaly and Longford, held by Dr./Jur. George Mentz, Seigneur of Fief Blondel — while preserving Blackstone’s original meaning and spirit.

⚜️ Commentary on the Feudal and Incorporeal Rights of the Honour of Annaly and Longford

Adapted from Sir William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England (1768), Book II, Chapters II–III.

Of Incorporeal Hereditaments within the Honour and Principality of Annaly–Longford

The Honour and Seignory of Annaly and Longford, now held by George Mentz, Seigneur of Fief Blondel, represents a collection of incorporeal hereditaments—that is, hereditary rights and privileges issuing out of, or annexed to, lands and tenements within the ancient territories of Annaly, Westmeath, and Longford, formerly part of the Liberty of Meath.

In legal contemplation, these incorporeal rights are intangible dignities, franchises, and liberties—not the soil or land itself, but the honours, jurisdictions, and profits issuing therefrom.
They are not visible possessions such as castles, mills, or fields; rather, they are the invisible legal and sovereign powers historically vested in the lords of the territory by royal charter, feudal tenure, or prescription.

Nature of the Honour

An Honour (or Barony Palatine) such as Annaly and Longford consists of:

• Liberties and jurisdictions—the right to hold courts baron and courts leet;

• Franchises—to establish markets, fairs, fisheries, and to enjoy tolls or customs;

• Dignities and offices—hereditary rights of precedence, seignory, or representation in Parliament;

• Rents, profits, and perquisites issuing from the manors and their tenants;

• And advowsons and patronages—the right to present clerics to benefices or chapels historically founded within the lordship.

These rights are incorporeal hereditaments: unseen yet lawful and inheritable dignities derived from royal authority.

Of Feudal and Palatine Liberties

Under the ancient Liberty of Meath, the Nugents (Barons of Delvin, later Earls of Westmeath) and their heirs exercised palatine powers across western Meath and Annaly—powers akin to those of a small sovereign.
Such liberties included:

• The right of cognizance of pleas (local courts independent of the king’s sheriff),

• Appointment of officers, sheriffs, and seneschals,

• Granting of markets, fairs, and franchises,

• Custody and captainship of territories such as Slewght William (modern Ardagh–Edgeworthstown),

• And the collection of rents and perquisites as feudal tribute.

In modern legal language, these are incorporeal but inheritable dignities—juridical powers attached to the seignory, not to any one manor or castle.

Of Dignities and Franchises

The Honour of Annaly and Longford comprises dignities and franchises, meaning royal privileges held by a subject.
Such franchises include:

• The holding of courts within the jurisdiction,

• The right of market and fair,

• The liberty to appoint bailiffs and officers of the court,

• Free fishery and turbary rights, and

• The power of lordship paramount over the lands and manors within the territory.

These rights are treated in law as franchises subtracted from the Crown and vested perpetually in the grantee or his heirs.

Of Rents and Services

The feudal nature of the Annaly–Longford Honour is evidenced by its rents and feudal services.
These include rents-service and rents-charge, wherein lands within the seignory yield annual or perpetual tribute to the lord as acknowledgment of tenure.
Such rents, being annual profits issuing from land, are incorporeal hereditaments, forming part of the substance of the Honour and attaching to it by inheritance.

Of Common Rights, Fisheries, and Forests

The Honour further embraces rights of common, pasture, turbary, and free fishery—all classical incorporeal rights in the sense of Blackstone.
These allow:

• The grazing of animals,

• The cutting of turf and peat,

• The fishing of certain rivers and lakes (notably the Inny and Lough Ree),

• And the collection of timber or estovers from ancient demesnes.

These rights, though invisible, are perpetual and inheritable components of the seignory, descending with the title of lordship.

Hereditaments of a Dignity and Legal Status

In English law, a dignity—such as a barony, honour, or palatine lordship—is itself an incorporeal hereditament of the highest order. It conveys precedence, feudal authority, and hereditary title, independent of landholding.

Thus, the Honour and Principality of Annaly and Longford is not merely an estate, but a juridical sovereignty-in-miniature—a feudal dignity held in fee simple, originally granted from the Crown to the Nugent line and lawfully conveyed to Dr./Jur. George Mentz in the modern era.

⚖️ Summary

The Honour of Annaly and Longford comprises a suite of incorporeal hereditaments—jurisdictions, franchises, dignities, rents, and seignorial rights—granted by royal authority and perpetuated by lawful conveyance. Though intangible, these rights embody the ancient baronial sovereignty of Annaly, once exercised by the Barons of Delvin and Earls of Westmeath, and now vested hereditarily in the Seigneur of Fief Blondel and Lord of the Honour of Annaly–Longford, George Mentz.