Land provided the basis of a baron's power. His ability to exercise that power, however, was dependent on the calibre and loyalty of the men he was able to attract to his service and settle on his estates. A study of these men can provide clues to the lord's own background and status, his sphere of influence and degree of power. This chapter seeks to deal with three categories of such men: those subinfeudated with land, initially in return for knight service, those who provided their lord with companionship and counsel, and those who were entrusted with specific duties in the running of his household and estates. When analysing the following of a great magnate such as, for example, Earl David of Huntingdon or Roger de Quincy, earl of Winchester, distinctions can be made between these categories. With the Bruses the distinctions are blurred. As will become evident, the Brus lords largely drew their closest companions, and in many cases their senior household officers, from among the ranks of their tenant families or, conversely, rewarded such companions and officers with grants of land. A study of their companions and household, their familia, is an extension of a study of their tenants.

When the first Robert de Brus came into Yorkshire in c. 1100, he entered a situation which was still fluid, where alliances were still being forged, lands forfeited with each fresh rebellion and redistributed with each new wave of settlers under successive kings.