The Mont Landrin Manor

At the end of the 17th century the manor at Mont Landrin in Frichemesnil was owned by Gilles henry Maignard de Bernières, marquis of Bernières and honorary president of the Normandy parliament before it was sold in  1724, to Joseph Alexandre Pavyot, chevalier and lord of Hauteville, and councillor in the Normandy parliament.

To capture the specific legal and historical nuances of this text—especially given the context of Norman feudal law—I’ve translated this into formal, sophisticated British English suitable for a historical or academic publication.

This transaction, comprising a 'feofment in fee-farm' and a 'perpetual ground rent,' bound Pavyot to hold the fief directly from the King by 'fealty and homage.' This holding was of significant standing, classified as a quart de fief de haubert (a quarter knight’s fee)—the highest order of feudal tenure, traditionally associated with full military service. At that time, the seat of the fief extended across the parish of Frichemesnil.

The Hamlet: A Sanctuary from Modern Turmoil

Beyond the walls of its manor, the hamlet of Mont-Landrin has long been celebrated as a place of profound peace and bucolic retreat. Spalikowski marvelled at the site, portraying it as a 'Thebaid' (a place of solitude and meditation):

"Mont Landrin, shunned by tourists, chroniclers and artists is perhaps, however, the Acropolis of Clères, without a Parthenon, nevertheless. Yet its forehead, crowned with woods, makes it very agreeable because it invites the solitary walker to come wander beneath the peaks of its oaks, beech and birches, despite the steep initial climb of its bare slope, which makes horses balk and motor cars rebel. 

From the summit, the view takes in the whole village of Clères, marked by the parish church spire, where its destinies  have played out. On summer evenings the picture is coloured in violet hues which make us think of a Pyreneen valley where all rumours and murmurs are silenced, even the noise of trains only intermittently breaks the silence that runs between the station and the other side of the hill.

In winter the snow festoons with its ermine decorations the fields, housesand trees.

Here is absolute rest, despite the meeting of hunters in a little house on the edge of the wood where several hovels still stand, hovels that our grandchildren will never see. On the other side of the hamlet  a large end of 16th century half-timbered farm with its Louis 13th dovecote form the rare monuments of the past."