Book of the Warlord is great, thank you guys! Here is a question about it, however...

Does everyone have the right to collect Primer Seisin and Relief, or is it only restricted to kings and barons? If a PK vavasour (sworn to a Count) has vassals of his own, then who possesses the aforementioned rights after a vassal's death – the PK or the Count? Or can the king come prancing in and claim everything for himself?

Book of the Warlord is great, thank you guys! Here is a question about it, however...
Does everyone have the right to collect Primer Seisin and Relief, or is it only restricted to kings and barons?

Only the king, in fact


If a PK vavasour (sworn to a Count) has vassals of his own, then who possesses the aforementioned rights after a vassal's death – the PK or the Count?

The king


Or can the king come prancing in and claim everything for himself?

Well, my King Arthur never prances :)
And he doesn't claim it
It is his
He just lends it out to the nobles

Thanks for the answer :) My Arthur does not prance either, but Uther might at least swagger...

So, let's see if I understood correctly. The king receives EVERY holding in his realm when the owner dies, even those subinfeudated to other lords, such as Count Salisbury? My confusion arose from the following phrase in page 27: "If a knight has been subinfeudated as vavasours by a lord other than the king, the lord recovers the land upon the death of his vassal."

So, every link in the "feudal chain" must pay relief for the manor? Using the example presented in my first post:

King (receives Relief from Count Roderick) -> Count Roderick (receives Relief from PK) -> PK (Receives Relief from his vassal) -> PK's new vassal knight (Receives his ancestral manor and is heavily in debt)

Assuming the same chain of command:
King - Count (say £1500 holding) - PK Lord (say £100) - Vassal Knight (say £10).

1. Vassal Knight dies, no heir.
- The Manor is seized by the King by Primer Seisin for a year, and then escheats to the PK Lord, who thus becomes 'the Heir' in this case and will have to pay relief to the King for it.

2. Vassal Knight dies, there is an Heir.
- The Manor is seized by the King by Primer Seisin for a year, and then the Heir has to pay relief to the King for it.

Similarly for all the other steps (Count/PK Lord dying with/without heirs):
Primer Seisin and Relief are kingly prerogatives, escheating goes to the liege lord of the deceased vassal.

Thank you for the clarification, Morien.

The part about homage swearing becomes problematic from the PK lord's point of view, then. If - as described in BOTW - the payment of Relief is accompanied by an oath of homage, doesn't the king become the new heir's liege lord, rather than the PK lord? Or is the oath of homage sworn only if the new heir is in direct vassalage to the king?

If the former is true, then I can already hear the anguished howls of my PKs...

I think it is best if you read that whole chapter detailing the interaction between the King and his barons. It is the Book of the Warlord, after all, not the Book of the Vavasour. :)

So, IMHO, the Royal Perqs are written from the viewpoint what happens when a King's vassal dies. If someone else's vassal dies, the King still collects Primer Seisin and Relief, but the oath of homage (or fealty, it could be fealty if the Heir is already sworn or will be sworn to a bigger noble) is given to the appropriate liegelord.

So, let's see if I understood correctly. The king receives EVERY holding in his realm when the owner dies, even those subinfeudated to other lords, such as Count Salisbury?

Yes


My confusion arose from the following phrase in page 27: "If a knight has been subinfeudated as vavasours by a lord other than the king, the lord recovers the land upon the death of his vassal."

That is still true. It ought to say "death of his vassal without heirs."


So, every link in the "feudal chain" must pay relief for the manor?

No


Using the example presented in my first post:
King (receives Relief from Count Roderick) -> Count Roderick (receives Relief from PK) -> PK (Receives Relief from his vassal) -> PK's new vassal knight (Receives his ancestral manor and is heavily in debt)

No, that is not right
PK's vassal dies
King's escheator takes over the holding to assess value
when done, the vassal pays relief to the king
then swears homage to the PK, and takes seisen of the holding

This is based on the idea that
1. all land belongs to the king. He distributes some of it to deserving noblemen
2. the original, first holder of the land did something for his liege lord to deserve it
3. everyone after the original holder has not done anything to deserve the land, so instead they pay relief to the king

His heir