FEUDALISM, especially as it developed in England after the Norman Conquest, was the main system of bonds between monarch and subject. In theory, the primary aspect of this relationship – the exchange of a variety of services in return for land or other forms of reward – was both firmly structured and, to a degree at least, symbiotic. However, from an early stage a secondary characteristic of this relationship, the production of so-called ‘feudal incidents’ through births, marriages, criminal transgressions and deaths of royal tenantsin- chief – namely rights of wardship and marriage, forfeitures, escheats, and reliefs – became an integral part of the monarch's ability to show favour to his subjects. Though apparently lacking in importance in Normandy before the Conquest, by William Rufus's reign royal treatment of these rights had become an issue between the English monarch and his subjects. Rufus was accused of ‘wasting’ wardships and forcing individuals to marry down, and though Henry I promised in his coronation charter not to do the same, in the end he followed his brother's example. Henry I's reign, moreover, and those of Henry II and his sons, also saw the growing use of feudal incidents as royal patronage, along with an increased efficiency in their administration. In particular, the development of both the chancery and the exchequer made it much easier for royal officers to know, enforce and exploit the king's rights over his vassals. Though in the next century there were a number of clauses in Magna Carta attempting to deal with the king's abuse of feudal rights, Henry III's majority saw a continued increase in their exploitation, especially for the sake of the king's foreign favourites.