halywercfolk

H4A1L1Y4W4E1R1C3F4O1L1K5

noun

In Old English law, tenants who held land by the service of repairing or defending a church or monument, whereby they were exempted from feudal and military services.

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Meanings

nounhalywercfolk (uncountable)
  1. uncountablelawIn Old English law, tenants who held land by the service of repairing or defending a church or monument, whereby they were exempted from feudal and military services.

    For such persons within the bishopric of Durham as held their lands by the service of defending the corpse of St Cuthbert were called Halywercfolk, and claimed the privilege of not being forced to go out of the bishopric either by the King or Bishop.

    1874, Thomas Blount, William Carew Hazlitt, Tenures of Land & Customs of Manors, page 429

Origin

Learned borrowing from Old English hāliġ (“holy”) + weorc (“work”) + folc (“folk”).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

halywercfolk. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/halywercfolk

MLA

“halywercfolk.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/halywercfolk. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “halywercfolk,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/halywercfolk.

Source: halywercfolk on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.