All holders of "a Knight's fee," or part of one, holding by _free_ service, hereditarily, and by charter, constituted the _communitas_ of the realm (we are to hear of the _communitas_ later), and were free, noble, or gentle,--men of coat armour.

The "ignoble," "not noble," men with no charter from the Crown, or Earl, Thane, or Church, were, if lease-holders, though not "noble," still "free." Beneath them were the "unfree" _nativi_, sold or given with the soil.
The old Celtic landholders were not expropriated, as a rule, except where Celtic risings, in Galloway and Moray, were put down, and the lands were left in the King's hands.

Often, when we find territorial surnames of families, "_de_" "of" this place or that,--the lords are really of Celtic blood with Celtic names; disguised under territorial titles; and finally disused.

But in Galloway and Ayrshire the ruling Celtic name, Kennedy, remains Celtic, while the true Highlands of the west and northwest retained their native magnates.

Thus the Anglicisation, except in very rebellious regions, was gradual.