Someone who held his lands or tenements by virtue of doing some special service to the king in person.
“The ‘grand sergeanty’ of the King of England comprised a dignitary whose office it was to hold the king’s head when he crossed the Channel and was suffering with sea-sickness. A certain John Baker held this office in 1442, and after his death it passed to his two daughters.”
J. Huizinga, The Waning of the Middle Ages (1924).
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