Bastard feudalism as well as recruiting local gentry into their affinities. By offering money instead of land, lords could afford to retain more followers. In return for becoming retainers, the gentry would expect to rely on their lord's influence in local and national politics. This practice was known as "maintenance". The retainer might wear his lord's livery badge or the grander form, a livery collar, which could be very useful in a courtroom. Under a weak king, such as Henry VI (reigned 1422–1461 and 1470–1471), the rivalries of magnates might spill over from the courtroom to armed confrontations, thereby perverting justice. Since
Gervase Clifton (died 1471) Radcliffe of Hunstanton, Norfolk. There was no children from Clifton's second marriage, and after his death his widow, Maud Stanhope, alleged that he had 'wasted and destroyed' more than £1000 worth of jewels, plate and household goods which she brought to the marriage as her dowry. She died 30 August 1497, and was buried in the Collegiate Church at Tattershall, Lincolnshire.; Gervase Clifton (died 1471) Sir Gervase Clifton (died 6 May 1471) of Clifton, Nottinghamshire and London was a 15th-century English knight and landowner. He was beheaded after the Battle of Tewkesbury. Gervase Clifton was the son of Sir Gervase