Hist. [OE. cot-sǽta (Somner), lit. ‘occupant of a cot,’ chiefly known in latinized form cotsētus and OF. cozet, coscet (pl. -ez) in Domesday and other early sources; f. COT sb.1 + -sǽta = OLG. -sâto, OHG. -sâʓo sitter, dweller.]
In OE. Law: A villein who occupied a cot or cottage with an attached plot of land, held by service of labor. (See note to COTTAR 1.)
c. 1086. Domesday Bk., Wiltshire (Du Cange). Rogerius Comes: Octo villani, & octo Coscez cum quinque carucis.
c. 1125. Laws of Hen. I., c. 30 (Spelman). Willani vero vel cotseti, vel ferdingi, vel qui sunt hujusmodi viles vel inopes personæ, non sunt inter legum judices numerandi.]
1809. Tomlins, Law Dict., Cotsets … the meanest sort of men, now termed cottagers.
[1875. Stubbs, Const. Hist., I. 427. The Domesday Survey … attests the existence of … nearly 7000 cotarii and cotseti, whose names seem to denote the possession of land or houses held by service of labour or rent paid in produce. Ibid., 431. The exclusion of the villani, cotseti, and ferdingi … from the judicial duties of the shiremoot.]
1883. Seebohm, Vill. Commun. (ed. 2), 73. [citing Liber Niger of Peterb. Abbey, 1125] In Kateringes … there were 8 cotsetes, each holding 5 acres…. The 8 cotsetes work one day a week, and twice a year make malt.
b. Comb. Cotsetland = COTLAND.
Liber Ramesiensis, § 265 (Du Cange). Dedit prædictus Abbas prædicto Hugoni … unam Cotsethlandam cum libero servitio.
