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DOMESDAY AND FEUDAL
STATISTICS.

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Prbsbntation pDPT

DOMESDAY AND
FEUDAL STATISTICS

WITH A CHAPTER ON

AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS

A. H. INMAN

Sunt gemina Somni porta quarum altera fertur
Corvea qvd veris facilis datur exitus umbris
Altera candenti perfecta nitens elephanto
Sed falsa ad caelum mittunt insomnia manes

Verg.

ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW. E.G.

1900.

[entered at stationers' hall.]

OF THE ORIGIN OF THE ENGLISH

By A. H. INMAN.

(Ill preparation)
Although early and external notices of the Angles,
Danes, Jutes, Northmen, and Saxons have not generally
been esteemed worthy of inclusion in the National col-
lection known as the Monumenta Historica Britannica,
there may possibly be some reason to suppose that such
are not entirely unconnected with the subject of Englis.h
History, and even that a not inconsiderable portion of
the present inhabitants of Great Britain have actually
derived from the races aforesaid.

The period of the Roman occupation is traversed at
large in the Corpus Historicuin of this country named
above, with a few incidental notices of some of the
Germanic races, still believed to have subsequently be-
come a material element therein : the earlier history of
these is by no means to be discovered by references
limited to the terms Britain or Briton, any more than
that of the Franks would have been by a like restriction
to the word Gaul.

So great is the obscurity of the period, that the mere
fact of a settlement of England by the English, has been
not unquestioned : exhaustive notices (desirable enough)
of the divers races from Germania in this island, would
necessitate very considerable research, nor are such in-
tended ; nevertheless, a small collection (for the more
part in English), chronologically and systematically
arranged, may serve, not only to confirm the ancient
evidences of the acquest of this country (and in illus-
tration of the character of the Saxons) but also — if
the subject be deemed of sufficient import — as a basis
for future investigations.

A HISTORY OF NORTHUMBRIA

By a. H. INMAN.

(In preparation)

PREFACE.

The Analysis of Domesday set forth in some six
Tables in this volume rests on the computations
of Sir H. Ellis, and Messrs. F. Maitland and C.
Pearson, the first of which is generally reliable,
and practically accords with that of an independent
authority (Sharon Turner).

Most essential service has recently been rendered
by Professor Maitland, whose calculations of cer-
tain factors have made advance in the knowledge
of our ancient Record practicable : it is not easy
to overestimate the debt due to the labour of this
author, but it must also be borne in mind that a
computation of Hides and Carucates is a matter of
much difficulty. The method used has been re-
marked in these pages in a note, but direct refer-
ence should be made to the computer's own
remarks in Domesday Book and Beyond; although
there are theories in that volume scarcely com-
patible with the witness of the "Survey," and

vi Preface.

other evidences, it is nevertheless full of interest,
and should be possessed by all who have an
interest in England's greatest record.

There is no reason to challenge the figures
obtained from the History of England during the
Middle and Early Ages^ and it is believed that the
Analysis of the several additions of the three
above-named writers, yield generally correct infor-
mation ; there are also in this volume independent
computations from Domesday and other sources,
which claim ■practical rather than minute accuracy.

With regard to the Statistics of Feudal Tenures,
it may be observed that the Baronial Charters of
1 1 66 are incomplete, that the deficiencies can to
some extent be supplied from the Pipe Roll of
1 167-8, and that further additions (given sepa-
rately), are available from other sources : these
returns are corroborated by those of the Pipe Roll
of 1253-4, and the Enrolled Accounts of the Ex-
chequer for the Inquisitions of 1346-7 (as com-
puted by a mediaeval and contemporary scribe), so
that the correctness of the general result is a mat-
ter scarcely to be affected by criticism, save of
the records themselves. This, of course, is to be
understood rather of the plain facts elicited, than
of any deductions from them containing elements

Preface. vii

of estimation ; the latter, to a certain extent, are
inevitable in the earliest (i 166-8) case, and the
method, acceptable or otherwise, is set forth, but
as a modus, necessitated by the defect of contem-
porary evidences.

A considerable amount of space is allotted to
tabular illustration, and, it is believed, that the
mere arithmetical results are free from conspicuous
errors, although no attempt has been made to
exactly determine long series of fractions ; nor can
pages, so largely concerned with mere figures,
attempt to compete in interest, for the general
reader, with theories, elaborated by verbal art, and
displayed in becoming detail.

A Statistical Index, before the text (the former
perhaps also of service in demonstrating any too
condensed details of latter), recapitulates and
classifies some of the more important data, but
rarely repeats those given only in the Tables,
a list of which (arranged) precedes it : both, of
course, are for convenience of reference, etc., and
the former, owing to necessary brevity, does not
always quite convey the sense, more precisely given
in the pages alluded to.

Some sort of apology may be esteemed neces-
sary in the presentation of pages mainly concerned

viii Preface.

with prosaic details ; the reply must be, that in
any acknowledged science, speculations^ and other
the usual impedimenta of extraordinary genius
should be put to the ordinary tests of observation
and experiment^ and that there are no (or scarcely
any) practical systems of knowledge, where so
many theories^ alike unproved and improbable, are
permitted to survive, thrive, and increase, as in
the accepted School of History. The practical
Sciences have formulated their systems, not with-
out labour, and by careful examinations and com-
parisons ; the modern historian, it is true, has
dismissed the wonders, signs, and portents of the
mediaeval world, but taking into consideration
the usages and relative opportunities of the difFer-
entr ages, he often displays so vast an inexperience
of the ordinary phenomena of the physical world,
as to convict himself of a credulity much less ex-
cusable than that of an antecessor^ whom it is his
frequent pleasure to decry.

It may be permitted to notice some of the
novelties in these pages : for example, it appears
that the number of Liberi Homines and Soche-
manni in Lincoln, and Norfolk (presumably also
Suffolk), have been greatly overestimated, the
figures in Domesday giving no direct clue as to

Preface. ix

the actual number of those classes ; again it seems
to amount to a matter of demonstration that the
Carucates of Norfolk (supposedly also Suffolk),
were usually neither Fiscal Units nor Teamlands.

A theory is current that the total "Service" of
the Military Fees of England was equivalent to
the number of Milites due from the feudal tenants
in exercitu ; such a doctrine has nothing a priori
in its favor, save facility of computation, nor has
it (so far as I am aware), any general support from
records, but very much the reverse.

There is, of course, no attempt here to develope
the History of the Feudal System in England ;
the publication of some recent volumes of the
Rolls Series allowed their editor the opportunity of
suggesting (and little more)^ at considerable length,
certain views, scarcely probable in themselves, and
which could not have been put forward at all, had
a few elementary data^ concerning the military
tenures of this country, been available for general
reference.

The view that one plough could, and did, //'//
annually I20 acres of arable land, has been long
established, and is, of course, completely at vari-
ance with any known practice of Agriculture in
this country ; as theories of this Art are usually

X Preface.

held with a tenacity justly proportioned to their
propounder's inexperience of the details of hus-
bandry, it is scarcely probable that the numerous
examples drawn from English records in these
pages, can possibly diminish the confidence of those
who allege historical evidences in support of what
passes for Scholarship — to any actually acquainted
with the practice of Agriculture, the appeal to
records, (which uphold such) is entirely super-
fluous.

The curiosities of Domesday can very well be
studied in Sir H, Ellis' General Introduction and
Index of Matters (Vol. Ill), nevertheless in writing
on our ancient Record, it has (contrary to the
practice of many of its exponents), been esteemed
necessary to traverse it, entry by entry, for certain
matters exemplified in this volume. This remark
applies but partially to Little Domesday^ whose
technical manorial details have been almost unpe-
rused (valuable as they may be for the three coun-
ties therein contained), nor is there the least pre-
tension towards exhausting — in any way — the
contents of that unrivalled witness of Anglo-Saxon
customs.

In conclusion, it should be stated that Mr. N.
J. Hone, of Surbiton, is responsible for the evi-

Preface. xi

dence from unprinted materials in Chapter II,
having made professional searches (to instructions,
in particular records), on divers matters ; refer-
ences to these are given in their place, so that
they can easily be tested for general accuracy ;
this the writer (who is responsible for the remain-
ing extracts, etc., from records and works of
authority) does not doubt.

Wardrew House,
Gilsland,

Oct. 22. 1900.

EPITOME

DOMESDAY STATISTICS.

CHAPTER I (pp. I -24).

Population and Counties, p. i. Main Statistical Table, p. 5.
Population 1086 and 1377, p. 5. Units of Assessment and
Measures, p. 5. Plough Team, p. 6. Comparative Values of
Implements and Oxen, p. 6. Ploughland, p. 7. Area no< tilled
by one plough, p. 7. Oxford Arithmetic, p. 8. College Farming,
p. 9. Valets and Valuits, p. 10. Villani, p. 10. Opera, p. 10.
Bordars and Cottars, p. 11. Illustrations of same from D. B.,
p. II. Servi, p. 12. Sokemen, p. 12. Popular estimate of
Libert Homines, and Sokemen (1086) not in accord with D. B.
evidence, p. 12. Liberi homines, p. 12. Radknights, p. 13.
Tenants in chief, p. 13. Coliberti and Buri, p. 13. Geburi
not Coliberti, p. 13 Geburi as Villani, p. 16. Other Classes,
p. 16. Porcarii siud Bovarii, p. 16. Remarks on Comparative
Table I, p. 17. Land to one team, p 17. Land of one team
in demesne, and in villeinage, p. 18. Oxen per plough in
Wales, t. Hen. II, p. 18. Teams of less than 8 oxen, p. 22.
Teams of 8 oxen, p. 22. Rotations, p. 23. Method of Tables,
p. 23. Population varies as Teams, p. 24. Slender results
from other unlike Factors, p. 24.

FEUDAL STATISTICS.

CHAPTER II (pp. 25— logd).

Anglo-Saxon Charters, p. 26. Norman Charters, p. 26.
Heptarchic Hides, p. 28. 120 statute acres arable not the
laud of one family, p. 29. Owners of land T.R.E. and
T.R.W., p. 30. Modern theories of ancient landownership

xiv Domesday and Feudal Statistics

impracticable, ^.■^i. Places, Manors, Vills, and Parishes io86-
i377i P- 31' The Hide and Hidage, p. 32. Carucage, p. 33.
Mediaeval Taxes, p. 33. Danegeld, etc., p. 34. Sheriffs Aid,
p. 34. Occasional stability of Hides, p. 35. Examples of
continuity of Hidage, p. 36. Variations of Areal Hides, p. 37.
Domesday " Measures," p. 38. Cornish " Acres," p. 38.
Intermixture of D. B. " Measures," p. 39. Fiscal Hides in
Woods and Marshes, p. 40. Yorkshire Manors, p. 41. Scope
of the Fiscal Hide, p. 41. Knights' Fees, p. 42. Bishop of
Durham's case. Service, and Retainers, p. 42. Average Fee,
p. 43. Variations very considerable, p. 44. Examples, p. 44.
Baronial Charters, 1 166, p. 46. Dominicum, p. ^^6. Retrospec-
tive references of early enfeoffments, p. 47. Their authority,
p. 48. Nigel d'Aubignie and Roger de Moubrai, p. 49. Aids
of 14 Hen. II and 38 Hen. Ill contrasted, p. 51, Aid to
marry King Edward's daughter, p. 52. Contemporary total-
ling of Knights' Fees, /. Ed. Ill, p. 53. Moubrai Fee, p. 53.
Method of computing Knight's Fees of t. Hen. II, p. 53.
Explanation of 5 Column Table, t. Hen. II, p. 54. Composi-
tion of known " service," p. 55. Composition of unknown
" service," p. 55. Remarks on above, p. 55. Total capital
tenants by Knight Service t. Hen. II, p. 56. Render the
usual basis of subsequent returns, p. 56. Exceptional cases,
p. 57. Render, and "Service," p. 57. New Feoffment, p. 58.
Excess of old feoffment on Church Fees not usually paid,
p. 58. Aid to marry, 19 Hen. Ill, and Gascony Scutage, 1242,
p. 59. Testa de Nevill, p. 59. Northumberland Inquisitions,
26 Hen. Ill, p. 60. Evidence of Testa de Nevill, p. 60.
Extent of alleged exactions of new feoffment, p. 61. Evi-
dence of Pipe Roll, 74 Hen. II, p. 62. Summary of Church
Fees, 1 168, p. 62. Their unrecognised liabilities unpaid, and
their extensive demesnes, p. 63. Liberty of Ripon, p. 64.
Inadequacy of Column II, Table I, p. 64. Estimate of
"Service," 1168, p. 64. Estimate of acres in Church and
Lay Fees, p. 65. Estimate of Total Fees, p. 65. Average,
Hides, and Acres per Lay Fee, p. 65. Characteristic examples,
p. 66. Super dominicuni, p. 67. Statistics of Fees, p. 67.

Epitome. xv

Number of Capital Tenants, contrasted with D. B., p. 68.
Inquisitions, t. John, p. 68 Later Inquisitions, p. 68. In-
quisitions of 1346, p. 69. Returns of 4 Hen. IV, p. 69.
Change of method— as usually only demesne fees answered in
1403, p. 70. Returns of 6 Hen. VI, p. 71. No Assessments
on Knights' Fees t. Hen. VII, and Jac. I, p. 71. Further
evidence from the Testa de Nevill, p. 71. Fines, ne transfretant,
p. 74. Alleged development of the Fee from the Hide, p. 74.
Remarks on same, p. 75. Records refute this theory, p. 75.
Scutagium and Auxilium, p. 80. Early evidence defective,
p. 82. Military service, p. 83. How performed by Peterboro'
Abbey, p. 84. Prior of Coventry's case, p. 85. Escnage
tenants, p. 86. Disseisin, p. 87. Obligations of under tenants,
p. 88. Inadequacy of entries of Scutage in the Pipe Rolls,
t. Ed. I, p. 88. Double meaning of Service illustrated by the
Luterell case, p. 89. Examples from Madox, etc., p. 90. Pay-
ment of Scutage, p. 92. Examples from MSS , mostly un-
printed, p. 93. Decline of Scutage. and its extinction in the
17th century, p. 96. Popular theory of Service in exercitu,
p. 97. Unanimity of authorities thereanent, p. 97. Quotas
of Service, p. 97. Army of Calais {Brady), A.D. 1346, p. 98.
Service of more than 100 milites, p. 99 Popular theory of
Knight Service lacks support of Records, p. 99. Expenses of
Military Service, p. looi Bargains with hired Knights ;
actual case in 1284, between tenant and miles, p. lOO. Wages
of a Knight, t. Hen. II, p. 100. Flemish Conventions, Hen.
I-II, p. loofl. Period of Service, p. loi. Prestations, p. loi.
Army of Ireland, 7277, p. loi. 40 days, p. 102. Normandy
Inquisitions, p 102. Milites in D. B., p. 102. Auxilium
t. Hen. I, p. 103. Assize of Arms, i. Hen. II, p. 104. Alleged
decay of Archery, p. 104. Ftudum Militis in Normandy, nth
century, p. 104. Milites of Peterboro' Abbey, p. 105. Service
of Evesham Abbey in exercitu, p. 105. The predecessor of
Ranulf Flambard disseised for defect of service, etc., p. 105.
Diversity of services due, p. 106. Partial Analysis of Moreton
Escheat, p. 107. Evidence of the Roman de Ron, p. 107. Fees
held since the Acquest of England, p. 108. Early subinfeu-

xvi Domesday and Feudal Statistics

dations of lay tenants, p. io8. Subinfeudation, t. Wm. I,
p. 109. Duke Richard's military service, p. 109. A recent
American work on the Feudal System, p. 109. A magnum
opus on Ancient Britain, p. 109a. Extracts from, and design
of said work, p. 109a. Formation oi A. S. Chronicles, p.
109b. The Annals of Northumbria, p. 109c. Chroniclers, p.
logc. Introduction of Learning in the North, p. 109c. Royal
Genealogies, p. 109c. Gothic and Germanic, p. 109c. Goths,
Gutce, Gothones, Guthones, and Gothini, p. logd. Dani, Sueth-
ans, and Suethidi, not necessarily Gothic, p. logd. Angli and
Suevi ; their location, p. logd. Regnar Loabrog in English
History, a.d. 870 ; his speech understood, p. logd. Deficiency
of the Collection of the Mon. Hist. Brit., as to early evidences
of the English races, p. logd.

AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS.

CHAPTER III (pp. 1096-161).

Tacitus' Germania, p. loge. Angli and Suevi, p. logi.
Early notices of Scandinavia, p. logi. Scandinavian English,
p. logi. The Angli and Suiones of Suevia ; Dani, Dacians,
and Gutos, p. 109J. Brittia and the Varni in the 6th century,
p. logj. Traditional kinship of Angles, Danes, Jutes, North-
men, Saxons, and Suevi, p. logj. 120 fiscal Acres, p. no.
Walter de Henley's perpetual aration, p. in. Welsh evi-
dence, t. Hen. II, p. III. Contrast of Agriculture, 1086, 1696,
and 1897, P- ^12. Average yield of wheat per acre: neither
evidence, nor probability in placing it at 6 bushels, p. 116.
Agricultural data, 1086, p. 117. Consumption of beer, p. 117.
Consumption of bread stuffs, etc., p. 118. Population of 1696
treble that of 1086, p. 118. Terra dupliciter ad arandum, p.
119. Meadow, 1086, p. 119. Poll Tax Returns of 1377 and
i379> P- 120. The Black Death, p. 121. Ploughs and
Population, 1086, p. 121. Fallacy of figures in some coun-
ties, p. 122. Scheme of 1000 acres arable, 1086, p. 123-
Norfolk Carucates not Teamlands, nor Hides ad gheldum,
ut mainly areal estimates of arable land, p. 124. Proof

Epitome. xvii

of above statement, p. 125. Leuga, p. 126. Ripon Mile
Crosses, p. 126. Liberty of Ripon, p. 126. How estimated
in D. B., p. 127. Yorkshire Manors, p. 128. Examples there-
from, p. 129. 64 acres to i team in D. B., p. 130. Ely
Manors, p. 130. Middlesex Villeins and their holdings, 1086,
p. 131. Peterboro' Villeins and their teams, 1 125-8, p. 131.
Population varies as ploughs, p. 132. Collation of Peterboro'
Manors, 1 125-8, with D. B., p. 133. Eccentric views of
philosophers, p. 133. Examination of their methods, p. 134.
Utility of same, p. 135. Manor of Alwalton, nth, 12th, and
13th centuries, p. 135. Manor of Histon, 1086— 1278, p. 137.
Hundred Rolls, p. 138. Manor of Coatham, 1086— 1279,
p. 139. Genius of the Romantic School, p. 139. Fiscal Hides
do not always denote Arable Land, p. 139. Marshland Hides,
p. 140. Values of Arable, 1086, p. 140. Other Manorial
Examples, p. 141. Bedfordshire Carucates, p. 141. Proof
that demesne carucates were not usually tilled by one team,
p. 142. Ramsey Manors, p. 143. Assistance of Customary
tenants, p. 143. Lease of Hexham demesne, 1232, p. 144.
Lease of Le Blakelound, 1292, p. 144. Manor of Harewood,
47 Hen. Ill, p. 144. Rochester Carucates, p. 145. Propor-
tion of Teams in demesne, 1086, p. 145. Estimate of Eng-
land, 1086, in the Village Community^ p. 146. In some
respects unreliable, p. 146. 8 oxen the standard Plough Team
of Domesday, p. 146. Bordars often have plough oxen in
D. B., p. 147. Method of 9 Counties Table, p. 147. Illustra-
tions of Villani, p. 148. Yorkshire Agriculture from the 1297
Subsidy Rolls, p. 149. Manor of Wilburton, p. 150. Its de-
tails refute college theories of Agriculture, p. 151. Great in-
crease of ploughs in villeinage, p. 152. Rochester Manors,
1086, and c. Ed. I, p. 152. Plough services due therefrom, at
latter period, p. 152. Agricultural details of the 12th and 13th
centuries, p. 153. Demesne ploughmen's diverse duties, p. 155.
Impracticability of current views of mediaeval Agriculture,
p. 156. Manor of Cuxham, p. 157. Manor of Cotum, p. 157.
Manor of Quaringdon, p. 158. Manor of Adulfsnasa, p. 158.
Rainfall, p. 158. Mediaeval agricultural measures, p. 158.

xviii Domesday and Feudal Statistics

FORTY-THREE TABLES
CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED.

Dates

Re/.
Nos.

Heptarchy.

A

1065

B

1065 to \
20 Ed. Ill j

C

1086

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

1086—1125

O i

Subject Matter.

Partial Hidage of Heptarchic

England,

Claro Wapentake, Yorks; Status
of some A.S. landowners,

ClaroWapentake, Yorks; Values
1065 and 1085; Service 31
Ed. I, and 20 Ed. Ill,

Domesday Book ; recorded Num-
ber, and Percentage of more
important Classes, ...

Domesday Book; County Con-
stitution Table,

Domesday Book ; Main Statis-
tical Table,

Domesday Book ; Table of
"Measures,"...

Domesday Book ; Comparative
Table I,

Domesday Book; Comparative
Table II,

Domesday Book; Comparative
Table III

Domesday Book ; Arable of
England (F. Sabohm),

Domesday Book; Proportion of
Lords' and Tenants' Teams
(9 counties), ...

Estimate of Constitution, and
Population of Estate, with
1000 acres Arable, ...

Domesday Book ; Teams and
Teamlands of Yorkshire
Manors of given dimensions
(Leiigce),

Domesday Book ; collated with
Inquest of some Peterboro'
Manors,

Pages.

28
30

45

2
3

4

5

14-15

19

20—21

146

145
123

129
133

Epitome.

XIX

Forty-Three Tables Chronologically Arranged — contd.

Dates.

Re/.
Nos.

Subject Matter.

Pages.

1086 to [

P

Domesday Book ; Carucates in

Fees of Earl Richmond and

Hen. II 1

Baron Perci ; also " Ser-

/

vice,"

44

1086 -J 279

Q

Domesday Book and Hundred

Rolls; Manor of Histon, ...

137-8

)

R

Domesday Book; Demesne and

1086 to .

Villeinage Teams in some

c. Ed. I

Rochester Manors ; also

1290—1320,

152

1086-Ed. 2

S

Domesday Book ; Hidage of
Ramsey Abbey Manors col-

lated with returns of Ed. II,

36

1086—1897

T

Domesday Book ; Teamlands
and Crops (27 counties) esti-

mated against 1897,

114

1125-8

U

Constitution of some Peterboro'
Manors, and Acres tilled in
same, per Villein Team (5

oxen),

132

Hen. I to ]
Hen. VI \

V

Records of Knight Service, ...

77

1166-8

w

Analysis of Ecclesiastical Fees,

62

»»

X

Summary of " Service,"

64

M

Y

„ „ Total Fees,

65

»l

Z

Analysis of 51 cases of known

"Service,"

55

11

AA

Analysis of 76 cases of unknown

" Service,"

55

»»

BB

Analysis of New Feoflfment, ...

61

II

CC

General Examples Tabulated,...

66

II

DD

Exceptional Cases,

57

II

EE

Fees due, not charged,

61

XX

Domesday and Feudal Statistics

Forty-Three Tables Chronologically Arranged —confrf.

Dates.

Ref.
Nos

Subject Matter.

Pages.

1166-1346

FF

Knight Service ; 5 Tables t.
Hen. II, John, Hen. Ill,

Ed. I, and Ed. Ill

50

Hen. II to }

GG

Tabular Illustrations of Feudal

Ed. Ill f

Service, from Madox, etc

90 — 92

John to ]

HH

Tabular Illustrations of Abbot

Ed. Ill i

of Peterboro's Service,

84-85

Hen. Ill to]
Hen. VI \

II

Carucates and Fees— examples

of ...

77-78

1242

JJ

Examples of Fines for Army of

Gascony,

74

29 Hen. Ill]
to Ric. II \

KK

Tabular Illustrations of Feudal

Service, mainly from un-

printed MSS ,

93—96

1251—1279

LL

Ramsey Manors — correspond-
ence of Demesne Ploughs,

with Demesne Carucates, ...

142

t. Hen. Ill

MM

Table of Perpetual Aration, ...

III

1278-9

NN

Agricultural Analysis of Manor

of Alwalton,

136

t. Ed. I

OO

Bedfordshire Demesne Caru-
cates—average acreage of

(Hundred Rolls),

141

1379

PP

Claro Wapentake, Yorks ; com-
position of Population per
1000, over 16 years of age

{Poll Tax),

120

1696—1897

QQ

Agricultural Statistics of Eng-

land and Wales,

II3-II4

Epitome.

XXI

THE ABOVE FORTY-THREE
TABLES ARRANGED BY SUBJECT MATTER.

Subject.

Agriculture
Domesday
Feudal Service .
Measures, and \
*^ Measures" )
Population
PrcB-Domesday .
Yorkshire

Reference Numbers.

B, K to O, Q, R, T, U, LL to OO, QQ

AtoT

V to Z, AA to KK .

A, G, N, S, II, LL, OO

A, D, E, M, PP
AtoC

B, C, N, PP

Total

En-
tries.

15
20

16

5
3
4

70

STATISTICAL INDEX OF TEXT, ARRANGED
CHRONOLOGICALLY AND BY SUBJECTS,
BUT NOT INCLUDING DETAILS OF ABOVE
FORTY-THREE TABLES— 194 REFERENCES

AGRICULTURE {Nos. 1—30).

Date.

Ref.
Nos.

Matter.

Statiitici.

Pages

A.S.

I

Gebur has of plough oxen ...

2

10

A. S.; etc.

2

Ploughs

I, 2, 4, and
8 oxen

22

inhcent.

3

Plough ox; Cost of

2/6

7

1124

4

Seed Wheat for i acre

2 seedlips

149

M

5

„ Barley „ „

3

149

Jt

6

„ Oats „ „

4

149

xxii Domesday and Feudal Statistics

STATISTICAL INDEX OF TEXT— con^^.
Agriculture (Nos. 1 — 30) — contd.

Date.

Ref.

Nos.

Matter.

statistics.

Pages

1125-8

7

Average acres tilled by villein
team (including work on
demesne), Peterboro' Man-

ors

64

132

12th & 13th
cent.

8

Villeins, Bordars, Cottars;
Holdings of

3 acres to
I virgate

10

12th to 13th
cent.

9

Each virgate in villeinage
averages at least

4 plough
oxen

153.
154

t. Hen. II

ID

Welsh Ploughs

usually 4
oxen

18

1221

II

Northants — part of; No. of
teams in (see No, 71)

26i3i

33

1222

12

720 arable demesne acres,
explanation of why only

3 teams

158

1235-1261

13

Carucarii often hold in vil-
leinage

3—5 acres

155

t. Hen. Ill

H

Yield of wheat, per sown
acre

10 to 12
bushels

116

)>

15

Allowance of corn of farm
servant per 12 weeks

I quarter

118

t. Ed. I

i6

Areal Hide in Hundred
Rolls

120 acres,
etc.

32

1279

17

548 demesne acres, tilled by

8 or
8 + teams

143

1333-5

18

Yield of grain per sown acre

10 to 12
bushels

116

Epitome.

XXlll

STATISTICAL INDEX OF TEXT— cowfd.
Agriculture (Nos. 1 — 30)—contd.

Date.

Rtf.
Nos.

Matter.

Statistics.

Pages

14th cent.

19

Cost of plough implement

I/-

6

»>

20

II II II ox

15/-

6

t. Elizabeth

2r

Ploughland; Acres in

60

119

1696

22

Arable acres in rotation :
England and Wales

10,000,000

"3

>»

23

Of total arable ; sown acres

f or f +

"5i
116

)«

24

Pasture and meadow: Eng-
land and Wales

10,000,000
acres

113

>•

25

Yield of Grain : England
and Wales

90,000,000
bufhels

"5

>»

26

Yield of Grain per sown acre

13 to 14
bushels

"5'
118

>>

27

Grain food of man per head
from

^acre

118

M

28

Barley malted in England
and Wales

2ii million
bushels

117

. )>

29

Beer per head raised from

J acre

117

l>

30

Beer daily per head

See also: Nos. 471057; 6410
80; 166 to 178; and 180.

ij pints

"7

xxiv Domesday and Feudal Statistics

STATISTICAL INDEX OF TRXT—contd.
DOMESDAY {Nos.31—80).

Date.

Ref

Nos.

Matter.

statistics.

Pages

C. 1065

31

Libert Homines, Sokemen,
Homines, Fratres, Thanes,
Burgesses, and Radknights
(Ellis)

6,000 to
7,000

30

>>

32

A.S. Landowners, excluding
Libert Homines, and Soke-

men

c. 13,000

30

1065-1086

a

Landowners A. S. to A. N.

3 : 2

30

1086

34

Recorded Population

283,242

2

35

„ „ extended
to all England

c. 300,000

117

36

Villeins, bordars, cottars
and coscez, servi ; of total
population

1

I

'

37

Total population (England)

1,800,000

5

38

„ capital tenants

c. 1,400

68

39

Tenants incapite, and Mesne
Lords

g,ooo to
10,000

30.
102

40

Church lands ; Value of (in
21 counties) to total

3

TT7

63

41

Hides in D. B. in 34 coun-
ties (as from Pro/. Maitland)

c. 67,000

35

42

Places — N umber of

15,000 to
18,000

31

43

Population per place

C. 100

31

44

Counties in iD. B

34

I

Epitome.

XXV

STATISTICAL INDEX OF TEXT— co«/d.
Domesday {Nos. 31 — 80) — contd.

Date.

Ref.
Nos.

Matter.

statistics.

Fages

1086

45

Milites (Ellis)

137

102

46

„ (actually found)

700 +

103

47

Villeins — their holdings ...

nil, 7 acres
to 2 Hides

10

48

„ some at Han well and
West Bedfont

2 fiscal
Hides

10,

131

49

Villeins — average holdings,
Middlesex

I fiscal
virgate

10

50

Villeins — Cambridge, in Ely
Manors

lo^ acres

10

51

Villeins— average holdings,
England (estimated)

30 to 21
acres

II

52

Villeins —plough oxen

nil to 3i

teams to 3

villeins

148

53

Villeins — average plough
oxen not less than

2

13'
122

54

Bordars— holdings

nil to 2
bovates

II

55

„ plough oxen

nil to 8
oxen

II

56

Coscez, ,, „ ...

nil to 4
oxen

II

57

Cottars, ,, „

nil to 6

cottars per

team

(8 oxen).

II

xxvi Domesday and Feudal Statistics

STATISTICAL INDEX OF TEXT— com<^.
Domesday {Nos. 31 — 80) — conti.

Date.

Ref.

Nos.

Matter.

statistics.

Pages

1086

58

Coliberti and Bwn {Ellis) ...

920

16

J)

59

,, ,, ,, of which
found

891

16

>,

60

Coliberti and Buri on roya/
Manors, in 48 entries

552

16

>»

61

Coliberti and Bwri on church
Manors, in 32 entries

311

16

,)

62

Coliberti and Bwri on lay
Manors, in 6 entries

28

16

>)

63

Coliberti and Buri ; the above
891 in but

86 entries

16

>»

64

Proportion of demesne to
total Teams {9 counties) ...

3
To

i45>

147

»,

65

Estimate of demesne to total
Arable

2

147

ji

66

Land tilled by one team ...

64 acres

130

1)

67

Teamlands (demesne and
villeinage combined), Ely
Manors, Norfolk

52 to 53
acres

125,

126

>>

68

Teamlands (demesne and
villeinage combined), Ely
Manors, Suffolk

52 to 53
acres

125,

126

>»

69

Number of oxen per team by
Domesday scheme

8 oxen

6,
146,
147

»»

70

Ploughs, all England, esti-
mated

84,130
(8 oxen)

117.
121

Epitome.

xxvii

STATISTICAL INDEX OF TKXT—contd.
Domesday {Nos. 31 — 80)—contd.

1086

Wm. I to
Ed. I or
Ed. II.

Ref.
Nos.

71
72

73

74
75
76

77
78

79
80

Ploughs in CO. Northants {see
No. II)

Examples oione to sevenoxen,
I team, and nine to ten oxen
in D. B., but not of

Ploughs (8 oxen each, D. B.)
in the 34 recorded coun
ties

Ploughs (8 oxen each, D. B.)
in 30 counties

1000 acres arable supports
of recorded population

1000 acres arable tilled by

I acre arable, average rent
value

Some Rochester Manors ;
Teams, latter to former
period

Some Rochester Manors ;
demesne Teams, latter to
former period

Some Rochester Manors;
villeinage Teams, latter to
former period

See also : Nos. 1 to 2 ; 82 ; 84

1087; 162 to 165; 181 to

184; and 192.

Statistics.

2,422

(8 oxen)

8 oxen

c. 78,000
70,606

47 +

. 16 teams

(8 oxen

each)

2d.

9:4

Pages

33

146,
147

121,
122,
146

4.
117

123,
134

123

140

152

152

152

xxviii Domesday and Feudal Statistics

STATISTICAL INDEX OF TEXT- co«W.
FEUDAL SERVICE {lios. 81—161).

Date.

Ref.
Nos.

Matter.

statistics.

Pages

996-1026

8l

Military service (cited by jf.
F. Baldwin)

militia
statutum

109

t. Wm. I

82

Possible reference to escuage
or its antecessor, before

A.D. 1086

81

II

83

Dean of Evreux, bent with
age (1066-89), holds of
paternal inheritance

I knight's
fee

104

1086

84

Total capital tenants by
knight service {ut de
corowfl), probably ...

300—

68

1086-1166

85

Knights' Fees, in the D. B.
Hides of Prof. Maitland

c. 50,000

79

1086— 1
12 Car. II \

86

Value of Knight's Fee

£2 to ;;^200

p. a.

45

t. Wm. I

87

John holds Teusham of the
Abbot of Ely, as

2 knight's
fees

109

1088

88

The Bishop of Durham has
(not necessarily all feudal
tenants) as retainers

100 milites

42

1103

89

Earl Flanders' service to the
King of France ...

10 knights

107

1109

90

Aid to marry the daughter
of Hen. I

3/- per
Hide

83

Hen. I— II

91

Flemish Knights for Eng-
land

500 and
1000

1 00a

II

92

Horses />ey Knight

3

1 00a

1107-8

93

Bigot Roger {ob. 1107 or
770S)hadfeftin

115 fees

108,
109

Epitome.

XXIX

STATISTICAL INDEX OF T'EXT-centd
Feudal Service {Nos. 81 — 16J) — contd.

Date.

Re/.
Nos.

Matier.

statistics.

Peges

t. Hen. I

94

BayeuxFees

120 fees

102

«>

95

„ Service, for 40 days

40 knights

102

Hen. I— II

96

Wages of miles

4d. (?), and
8d. to i/-

lOOa

1163

97

Earl Flanders' service to the
King of France

20 knights

107

11 Hen. I

98

Earl Richard leads in exer-
citu

20 knights
and 40

servientes

99

1166-1168

99

Number of tenants in capite,
ut de corona, by Knight
service

c. 300

51

100

Of c. 300 tenants, 11 hold of
fees as on p. 51

i

51

lOI

Of c. 300 tenants, 34 hold of
fees as on p. 51

*

51

102

c. 206 tenants hold

2 fees +

52

103

c- 94 M M

2 fees & 2 —

52

104

c. 125 „ „

5 m —

67

105

C. 155 M »

10 „ —

67

106

c. 145 .. ».

10 „ and
10 +

67

107

Church capital tenants

<^-39

67

loS

Lay „ „

c. 261

67

XXX

Domesday and Feudal Statistics

STATISTICAL INDEX OF TEXT— co»/d.
Feudal Service (Noi. 81 —161) — contd.

Date.

Ref.
Nos

109

Matter.

statistics.

Pages

1166-1168

Total Fees, England

7173+

65

[lO

Old feoffment, as given

4903 fees

65

III

iNew ,, ,, ,,

483 n

65

112

Returns by sheriff, as given

745 n

65

"3

Super dominicum, ,, „

315^ »

65

114

Deficiency, not returned,
estimated at

700 to 800

fees

54

115

Total " Service," England,
estimated

6676+

64

116

Estimate of Fees (Pearson) .

6400 1
II cases

53

117

Number of Fees, of "Ser-
vices " of more than 100
Knights

99

118

Average Lay Fee

5 to 6
D.B. Hides

43

119

Scope of Church Fee

12,000
acres

65

120

Church fees to total, as by
service

1 to 1

63

121

Scope of Lay Fee

2,500 acres

65

122

Charters— names in

c. 4000

103

123

„ names holding
less than i fee

c. 1600

103

Epitome.

XXXI

STATISTICAL INDEX OF TEXT— confrf.
Feudal Service {Nos. 81 — 161) — contd.

Date.

Ref.
Nos.

Matter.

Statistics.

Pages

1166-1168

124

36f fees of Simon de Beau-
champ (all of old feoff-
ment), held by

85 tenants

103

»»

135

Charters; " Service " stated

c. 146 cases

57

»f

126

Many Examples in Multi-
ples of

5 fees

67

n

127

A meaningless phrase — feu-
dal service of

1000 Hides

46

>>

128

Honor of Totnes consisted
of 49 + I9TT+T7' that is

75 fees

55

t. Hen. II

129

Normandy— no. of Fees ...

1500, or
1830

102

>»

130

„ — Service

581, or 652

102

>>

131

Bayeux— ,,

20 knights

102

))

132

Bayeux fees

c. 120

102

Hen. II— )
III )

133

Fees of Bishop of Durham .

10, 70 and
150

43

7 John to )
t. Hen. Ill

134

Variations of Fees as to
Hides and Carucates {see
Nos. 136, 150)

2i to 159

carucates

per fee

43.
44

1211

135

Army of Ireland, greatest
number of knights of feu-
dal tenant

10

III

1242

136

Hides per fee, a case of (see
Nos. 134, 150)

32

75

xxxii Domesday and Feudal Statistics

STATISTICAL INDEX OF TEXT— co»<i.
Feudal Service (Nos. 81 — 161) — contd.

Date.

Re/.
Nos.

Matter.

Stattstics.

Pagri

38 Hen. Ill

137

Number of capital tenants
{ut de corona), by Knight
Service (auxilium)

c. 450

51

>>

138

Fees omitted in above record

775 +

51

38 Hen. Ill

139

Total fees {render)

6734 +

51

))

140

Number of Fees, of " Ser-
vices " of more than 100
knights

9 cases

99

>

141

Of 5959 fees (returned) with c.
439 tenants in capite (ut de
corona) of all the fees, 9
feudatories hold

1

51

19

142

Of 5959 fees (returned) with c.
439 tenants in capite (ut de
corona) of all the fees, 29
feudatories hold

i

51

>»

143

Re above, 204 tenants hold

2 fees -}-

51

)»

144
145

M )> 235 )» >>

The Luterell fee {see N as. 148,
151), assessed to an aux-
ilium at

2 fees and
2 fees —

12^ fees

51

89,
90

t. Hen. Ill

146

Estimated number of Ban-
nerets and Bachelors

1000 to
1500

99

Hen. III—l
Ed. II 1

147

Period of service in exercitu .

40 days

102

5 Ed. I

148

The Luterell fee, discharged
by service in exercitu {see
also Nos. 145, 151) of ...

2 Knights

88

Epitome.

XXXlll

STATISTICAL INDEX OF T^XT—contd.
Feudal Service {Nos. 81 — 161) — contd.

Date.

Ref.
Nos.

MatUr.

Statistics.

Pages

1284

149

Pact with a miles for quit-
tance of service of i fee
(recognised in exercitu), in
the Welsh war, for

£20

100

t. Ed. I

150

Hides per fee, a case of {see
Nos. 134, 136)

2

78

10 Ed. I

151

The Luterellfee {seeNos. 145,
148), in default of service
in exercitu, and presumably
no fine having been taken,
pays Scutage, 35 years
after said army, on

12^ fees

95

t. Ed. I

152

The Bishop of Durham has
in the Scotch war (not
necessarily as his service,
i.e. 10)

26 Ban-
nerets, 140
Knights

42

1300

153

The same has at Caer-
laverock

160 men at
arms

42

4 Ed. II

154

Expenses of i miles for the
Scotch war

60
marcs -\-

100

1346

155

Fees found at this date (36
counties)

c. 6000

69

20 Ed. Ill

156

Fees in Cornwall

i65i

70

II

157

English Earls, Bannerets,
and Knights, at Calais ..•

c. 1063

98

11

158

English Esquires, at Calais

c. 3000

98

xxxiv Domesday and Feudal Statistics

STATISTICAL INDEX OF TEXT— C(9«W.
Feudal Service (Nqs. 81—161) — contd.

Date.

4 Hen. IV

1630-2

Ref.

Nos.

159

i6o

Matter

Returns at £i per fee of
tenants " in capite," by
Knight Service (30 coun-
ties), and of capital soca-
gers (;f 20 land as for i fee)

Cornwall Fees held " in
capite" {i.e. demesne)

Knighthood Money {i.e. dis-
traint, t. Car. I)

See also : Nos. 33 ; 38 to 40 ;
45 to 46; 176; 179; and 193
to 194.

Statistics. Pages

£^07S

i fee

£100,000
or

/■173.537
9s. 6d.

70
70

97

]/ MEASURES AND "MEASURES" {Nos. 162-180).

Date.

Ref.
Nos.

Matter.

statistics.

Pages

1086

162

Hide, Scope of

c. 400 acres

'41

>)

163

I fiscal sulung perhaps

160 fiscal
acres

39

>5

164

I „ jugum „

40 fiscal
acres

39.
153

.„

165

Cornish fiscal Acre

c. 10 nor-
mal fiscal
acres

38

1125-1128

166

Old measure of presumably
seed for i acre

I acher-
setum

161

Epitome.

XXXV

STATISTICAL INDEX OF T^XT—contd.
Measures and "Measures" {Nos. 162—180)—contd.

Date.

Hen. II—

John

14 John

c. 1240

t. Hen. Ill

Hen. Ill to
Htn. VII

t. Ed. I

1279

t. Ed. I

R,f.
Nos.

167

168
i6g

170
171
172

173

174
175

176
177

Matter.

A quarter (sometimes of 8
bushels), as compared
with quarter in No.i73,not
more than

This smaller quarter ap-
proximates to

The King's carthorses have
I bushel each (old, small
measure), of which the
quarter sells at ...

I Hide=4 Virgates=

A farm horse has of oats
(query in Measure as in
No. 173)

I Quarter = 8 bushels of
64 lbs. (old Troy) each,
each lb. made up of

Bedfordshire — demesne
carucates, — average of .

5^ Hides Arable + 5 Hides
of Meadow, Pasture, and
Marsh -|- {query)=^

Allowance of a destrier in
oats

Allowance of a cart-horse in
oats

statistics.

I horse
load

lod. to 1/
48 acres
256 acres

-1- bushel

7680 wheat
grains

91^ acres

1 1 rateable
Hides

^ bushel
^ bushel

Pages

160
160

37
38

160

158

141

140
160
160

xxxvi Domesday and Feudal Statistics

STATISTICAL INDEX OF TEXT— co«W,
Measures and "Measures" Nos. 162—180—contd.

Date.

Ref.

Nos.

178

Matter.

Statistics.

Pages

t. Ed. I

Kentish iugum

40 acres

153

1560

179

Weight (rider and total
armour) carried by a cer-
tain destrier

361 lbs.
modern
avoird.

160

1900

180

I lb. avoirdupois of well dried
wheat grains

See also — Nos. 4 to 6; 15 to
16; 21; 41; 47 to 51 ; 54;
67 to 6g; 72; 85; 00; 119;
121; 126 to 127; 134; 136;
150; 182 to 183; and 192.

7000

159

POPULATION (Nos. 181—188).

Date.

Ref.
Nos.

Matter.

statistics.

Pages

Heptarchy.

181

Population of England

c. 1,500,000

to

2,000,000

29

1)

182

Part of England; land of...

250,000
families

29

t. Bede

183

Isle of Wight; land of ...

1,200
families

29

1086

184

„ ,, recorded
population

1,124

29

1347

185

England and Wales ; popu-
lation

c. 4,000,000

5.

121

Epitome.

xxxvii

STATISTICAL INDEX OF TKXT—contd.
Population (Nos. I87—788)—contd.

Date.

Rcf.

Nds.

Matter.

statistics.

Pages

1377

i86

England and Wales ; popu-
lation

0. 2,700,000

5.

121

1688

187

Houses in England and
Wales

1 ,300,000

"5

1696

188

Population in England and
Wales

5,500,000
to

See also : Nos. 31 to 39 ; 43 ;
45 to 46 ; 58 to 63 ; 75 ; 84 ;
99 ; 107 to 108; 122 to 123;
137; 141 to 144; 146; 157 to
158; 161 ; and 190.

7,000,000

"5

PLACES AND PARISHES-ENGLAND {Nus. 189-190).

Date.

Ref.
Nos.

Matter.

statistics.

Pages

1371

»»

189
190

Parishes in England (less
Cheshire)

Population per parish

See also : Nos. 42 to 44.

8,600
c. 300

31
31

PR^-DOMESDAY.
See Nos. i to : ; 31 to 33 ; 81 to 83 ; and 181 to 183.

xxxviii Domesday and Feudal Statistics

STATISTICAL INDEX OF TEXT— <:o»W.
SOCAGE (Wo. /P7).

Date.

Rcf.

Nos.

Matter.

statistics.

Pages

4 Hen. IV

igi

Cornwall ; Socage in capita .
See also No. 159.

nil

70

YORKSHIRE {Nos. 192—194).

Date.

1086onwards

20 Ed. Ill
4 Hen. IV

Rej.
Nos.

192

193

194

Matter.

Liberty of Ripon ; acres in .

Fees, W. R., Yorks

„ „ „ held in

capite {i.e. demesne)

I See also : Nos. 88 ; 133 ; 145 ;
I 148; and 151 to 153.

Statistics.

C. 40,000
c. 150
c. 12

Pages

63.
127

69
69

Epitome.

XXXIX

SUMMARY OF INDEX AND TABLES.
(But not including detailed statistics in latter).

STATISTICAL INDEX.

Agriculture

Domesday

Feudal Service

Measures and " Measures "

Population

Places and Parishes
Prae- Domesday

Socage

Yorkshire

Totals

Under

Direct

other

Table

Total

Entries.

Heads.

Entries
15

Entries.

30

42

87

50

16

20

86

81

ID

16

107

19

29

7

55

8

35

5

48

2

3

—

5

II

• 3

14

I

I

—

2

3

7

4

14

194

154

70

418

TABLES FROM THOMAS RUDBORNE'S

WINCHESTER HISTORY,

Under the year 7083, but presumably written in the reign of
Henry the Stxth.'j

3 grains of barley, dry and round make i inch (pollex).

12 inches

3 feet

5i yards
20 (sic) *i by 4 perches

1 foot ipes).
I yard (ulna).
I perch (pertica).
I acre (acra).

*t The author may of course have used older materials, but Section II
seems inconsistent with a date earlier than Hen III {vide p. 159), and
the Escuage Tables could scarcely apply prior to Ed. I (the amount
being fixed, vide etiam p. 96) ; all the items however [saving that one
noted (*2) as not understood], appear proper to the 15th cent.

*i. This is an obvious error, presumably of the pen.

xl Domesday and Feudal Statistics

TABLES FROM THOMAS RUDBORNE'S
WINCHESTER HISTORY— com<^.

I penny {denarius) [called Stardyng,
round without clipping, will weigh
32 grains of wheat, in the midst
of the ear (spica) ] weighs 32 wheat grains.

20 pence weigh i ounce.

12 ounces, according to the English
currency (cursus) ,, i lb., i.e., 20/-

8 lbs. of wheat make i gallon (lagena).

8 gallons [make a bushel (modius),
according to the measure (mensura)
of London] „ i London measure.

8 bushels (modii) ,, i quarter

250 lbs. of sterlings ^''^ (sic) „ i bushel (bussellus).

4 virgates (virgce) *3 make i Hide being 64 acres of land.

5 Hides make i Knight's Fee ,, 320 ,, ,, ,,

Each Knight's Fee will give for Scutage 40/-

> )i ■J »> >> t.e.,

{ 160 acres of land ,, ,, ,, ,, 20/-

j „ ^ Knight's Fee, i.e.,
i 106^ {sic) acres of
i land „ „ „ „ 12/- (sic).

I J Hides, i.e., 24*^ {sic)

acres of land ... ,, ,, ,, ,, 10/-

i Knight's Fee, i.e., 64

acres of land ... „ „ „ „ 8/-

Jjy Knight's Fee, i.e., 33

{sic) acres of land ,, ,, „ ,, 4/-

Jy Knight's Fee, i.e., 20

acres ot land ... ,, ,, ,, ., 24^. | {sic).

*2. The explanation of this entry is unknown to the writer.

*i. Suppose a clerical error for virgata.

*4. A slip of the pen, or printer, for four score.

CHAPTER I

DOMESDAY STATISTICS

" Caeterum tota vita ita fortunatus fuit, vt extern &
remotas gentes, nihil magis, quam nomcn eius timerent.
Prouinciales adeo nutu suo substrauerat, vt sine ulla contra-
dictionc primus ccnsum omnium capitum agerct, omnium
prjedioru rcdditus in tota Anglia notitiae suse per scriptiim
adiiccret, omnes liberos homines cuiuscunq; essent, suas
fidclitati sacramento adigeret."

[Willielmi Malmcsburiensis,
cura H. Sauile.]

DOMESDAY BOOK gives much informa- Pop'^i^'io"
tion which can be displayed in statistical counties,
tables — to wit, as to population, plough-
teams, ploughlands, hidage, past and present values:
it should be borne in mind that thirty- four coun-
ties are enumerated ; of the remaining six, Mon-
mouth was then in Wales, Northumberland and
Durham are not found: in the Yorkshire " Survey "
Cumberland and Westmoreland are slightly noticed,
and most of North Lancashire, the remainder of
that county being found under Cheshire. For fuller
information as to the recorded population, reference
can be made to Ellis' " Introduction to Domesday
Book "(1833), from which the underwritten figures
are taken: in the thirty-four counties (as then

I

Domesday and Feudal Statistics

ViUans

108,456

Bordars

82,624

Servi

25,156

Sokemen

23,090

Liberi Homines

12,384

Burgesses

7,968

Mesne Lords

7,871

Cottars

6,819

Tenants-in-chief

1,400

Homines

1,287

constituted) is a total of 283,242 recorded folk,
of which, in rough percentages :

%

... 38

29

9

4
3
3

2

T

making a sum of 277,055, or some 98 % of the
whole, the most prominent of the remainder
being 995 presbyters, 920 coliberti, 749 bovariiy
565 radknights, 467 female servants, 427 por-
carii^ 354 Frenchmen, 207 of the establishment
of Bury St. Edmund's Monastery, 178 paupers,
159 censarii, 137 milites, iif Welshmen, 11 1
fishermen, and 108 salt-workers. It should be
noticed that almost four-fifths of the population are
comprised under villans, bordars, cottars, and servi,
and in the following table (p. 3) it will be seen
that in more than three-fourths of the thirty-four
counties, nine-tenths of the population are com-
posed of villans, bordars, cottars, servi, sokemen,
and liberi homines.

The county constitution table is intended to
show features peculiar to districts: in each shire
the whole of the recorded population is accounted
for, save from 5 % to o %, and all classes are noted
which amount to or exceed i % in all of the thirty-
four counties.

Domesday Statistics

COUNTY CONSTITUTION TABLE.

0

u

1

sc

s

i

=8 S

c
>

i

•a

c
n

e

a

.0

1

c
5

1

2

0
H

1.
II

c

1
g

V

•S

0

a

n

c

"i
0

.a

J, •

OS

i

:= t

S w

0 JS

d, g

V

b.

1

3

Frenchmen.
Welsh.
Mon. St. Edmur
At Tutbury Mar

A.

H

—

—

—

—

—

England ...

38"

3U

9

12

9'

Beds

47

30

12

24

9'4

84

..

Berks

4H

4oi

124

94il

44

Bucks ...

53i

24*

'54

"4

934

5*

..

Cambs ...

36J

4ii

lOi

4

924

Si

Cheshire ...

34

27

8

2

71

7

74

24

ii

6' '.'.

ij!! '.'.'.'.

Cornwall...

32

434

214

964

2

..

Derby ...

6oi

231

*

44

89

34

4*

ii

'.'.'i\

Devon

46J

28i

'9

934

24

14

ii'*

Dorset ...

Zi\

42f

16

92

44

2

Essex

25i

50

II

54

9'4

3f

3i

Gloucester

43i

21*

244

4

90

34

14

'i^-

ii

Hants ...

37

38

ibl

9'4

4

2f

I

Hereford...

39?

26J

'3

"4

794

6

2

4

ii"'

" ii

Herts

37

39^

"4

I

88J

5

2f

'

I

Hunts ...

66i

i6i

J

84

4

10

14

Kent

54

28i

V4

4924

If

54

Leicester...

39i

20

6

28i;93g

3f

I

- Lines

3oi

16

454i92
TTi9i4

2

54

. . . •

^^.^iddlesex

50J

351

5

4

2

'4

.. ..

^ Norfolk ...

m

37

3*

3ii9'§
T2F934

1*

5*

Northanfs

461 241

9%

4

I

Notts

451 19J

4

26j^;924

3i

3

Oxon

52*28

'44

I

94t

4l

!

Rutland ..

842 12I

n
5

98 1

'4

. . ' . .

Salop

35i

23i

17

1

76 1

4

74

n

34^^

::ii::::

Somerset

38*

374

154

91

34

34

' * 1

14

Staffs

S4i

2H

6»

"*

90

54

14

1

;; \\ '.'.'i\

_ Suffolk ...

'31

30J

44

4'i

90 1

3t

3f

..!..

., .. I ..

Surrey

54

27*

II

92«

3l

4

Sussex ...

56J

314

4

92

54

24

Warwick . .

531

27

'3

"4

93?

34

* 1

Wilts

30^44

'5

89

44

3

1
■ * 1 * '

24

Worcester

32t

383

'4J

'tHt

86i

34

ii

34

14

1.
1

^'24

York.s

e^

27f

54

9'4

4

'i

If

98H

994
984i
96H
984
100

99*
984
991*5
981*5

994

95

98*

99*

99*

98f

99*

9^t

99*

98t

99f*
99*
100

¥h

99*

98*

98

99*

99i

97A

98*

97i

981

4 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

MAIN STATISTICAL TABLE.

to?
3?^

Beds
Berks
Bucks
- ; Cambs
^ Cheshire
Cornwall
Derby*
Devon
Dorset
Essex

<Jloucester
t'Hants
tHereford
I Herts
Hunts
Kent
Leicester
iLincs

• 3^^ "rMiddlesex
» 5T^ I Norfolk

• Otci (SNorthaits
-^-i^ Notts*

' I If-b \ Oxon

— -j Rutland

•( Salop

"Somerset

■ "I Staffs

Suffolk

» Z3? j Surrey
• ?»7 Sussex

OZS

Warwick
.Wilts
iWorceiter
'Yorks .

(H)

29».4Q4
462,224

47^.094
UQ.74fl
657,068
868,208
6<;8,876

6321223

987,028

795.734

1,037,764

s ^7.^61

jo^l6jL

2.:!4,2l8

595,344
527,124

1,^93.547
181. ^oi

1,308,440

64i.qQ2

J3q.7&a
48^.64

1,043,485
749,601

9S2,709
485.128'

VL 933.269

^7^452
S80.2
iSoT?

27,506,622
acres.

3,875
6,324
5,420
5-204
2,349
5,438
3,041

17434
7,807

16,060
8,366

10,373
5,3^8
4.927
2,914

12,205
6,772

25,305
2,302

27,087
8,441
5,686

6,775
862

5,080
13,764

3,178
20,491

4,383
10,410

6,574

10,150

4,625

8,055

283,242

Hidage,'

1065-86.

1,193
2,473
2,074
1,233
512

155
679
1,119
2,321
2,650
2,388
2,588

1,324
1,050

747

1,224

[? 2,500]

4,188

868

[? 2,422]*

1,356

567

2,412

37
1,245

2,951
499

1,830
3,474
1,338
4,050
1,189
10,095

34
counties,

circa
*67,ooo

Dane-
geld,
circa

I Plough-

I teams,

1086.

1,106, 1,367
2,056 1,796
2,047! 1,952

1,148 1,443

2271 1,187

*112l| 862

1,040! 5,542
2,4}<2| 1,762
2,3641 3,920

1,94" I 3,768
1,848; 2,614

938J 2,479 I-
1,101} 1,406

7'3i 967

1,058' 3,102

1,000! 1,817

2,660' 4,712

856 545

4,853

2,422

1,991
2,467

[239]
1,755
3,804

951

3,301
1,195

*II2I

2,498

116

1,179

2,775
451

2,3501

1,7981 1,142
2,170! 3,091
1,280, 2,003
3,896 2,997
1,013 1,889
1,655 [2,959]_

30' 30
coun- coun-
ties, I ties,
47,628170,606

* The Hides are avowedly overestimated (©. £. and Beyond^
p. 409), including dormant ones and duplicates (D. B. sometimes
states a total, and then repeats same Hides in particulars), to distinguish
which both reading and counting are often necessary : the writer holds
that the Norfolk carucates have no reference to Hidage (see note,
p. 12) ; Yorks, Suffolk, and Rutland are omitted in the Danegeld total,
but Derby and Notts together equate 1,121 Hides (here carucates).

vol,

3,32

A$^ t'iUin'bCrV

Domesday Statistics

The main statistical table is a compilation, the Main
acreage being from the census of 1891 (ancient ?abiT'*^
counties), the population from Ellis, the valets
and valuits from pp. 665-669 of Pearson's
" English History," and the rest from Professor
Maitland's " Domesday Book and Beyond," with
small additions.

As to population, some of the boroughs of ['°g'^"^*^'^°"
1086 (notably London and Winchester) are 1377-
omitted in D. B. (Domesday Book), and pre-
sumably a considerable proportion of the in-
habitants of West Yorkshire, and all in North
Lancashire : however, the same persons are some-
times mentioned more than once, and females
occur notably as ancillas. In the present state
of our knowledge, 2,000,000 total population
would be an extreme figure for the forty counties
of modern England for 1086 : it is probable, from
the poll-tax returns of 1377, that at that date
the population might well lie between 2^ and 3
millions, and prior to the Black Death (1348-49)
4,000,000 and upwards, whereas 1,800,000 might
be a reasonable postulate from D. B. for 1086.

The hides in the table include the carucates Units of
of the Danish districts and the sulungs of Kent, ment!"
and are estimated for the thirty-four recorded
counties ; for 1065-1086 they must be regarded
as units of assessment, not in any obvious con-
nection with area or value, and the underwritten
equations seem to prevail in D. B. :

I hide = 4 virgates = 120 fiscal acres.

I carucatc = 8 bovates = 120 „

I sulung = 4 juga* =120 „

* Sec, note p. 39.

Domesday and Feudal Statistics

Plough-
team.

Compara-
tive values
of imple-
ments and
oxen.

The above terms were also used as mediasval
areal measures, and when normal the same equa-
tions held ; the variations are well known, e.g.^
1 carucate might contain 64 acres (8 per bovate),
or I hide, 5 virgates of 28 acres each, and so forth,
so that it is necessary to know the mensuration in
use at a given date in any particular manor when
dealing with actual quantities (and yet at the same
date in the same manor one equation might not be
sufficient for all the lands in it — e.g., Ramsey
Chartulary).

The plough-team is often (if not always) in
D. B. at the rate of eight oxen per plough, but
there seem to have been actual ploughs of one,
two, and four oxen, etc. : the enumeration of
ploughs by the rate of eight oxen, of course,
predicates no similar uniformity in practice. To
record actual husbandry would have been difficult,
but toassume a like numberof oxen per ploughapro-
ceeding eminently rational for statistical purposes :
it has been argued that the ploughs (as recorded)
varied, which does not greatly flatter the wisdom ot
the compilers of our national record, and seems to
be inconsistent with evidence like the following :

Fo. 304^. — Bilton : 13 villans with 2 ploughs, and 5 oxen.

Fo. 312/7. — Borell : 2 villans with 6 oxen.

Fo. 314/7. — Naburn : 3 oxen ploughing there.

Fo. 319/7. — Stainton : 2 villans and 3 bordars ploughing
with 2 oxen.

Fo. 323/J. — Dringoe : I villan with 2 oxen.

Fo. 325/7. — Newsholme : Ralph has now ^ plough and
1 villan with 2 oxen.

Fo. 328/7. — Aluengi : i villan and 2 oxen.*

* In the fourteenth century a plough might be valued at
IS., and a single ox at about 15s.; if this comparison even

Domesday Statistics

that is to say, if D. B. counts a plough of two or four
oxen as one whole plough on its system of record,
the authors of this theory are burdened with the
explanation of expressions as above.

The ploughland leaves some room for estima- ,^^°j^^"
tion, but Professor Maitland's figures show that it
usually varies not widely from the teams ; in
some cases, as in the wasted Yorkshire manors,
his surmise that the potential were the actual
ploughlands of King Edward's day seems natural,
but it does not meet an entry like the following
from that county (fo. 299^) : *' land to 42 ploughs,
7^ there now, and formerly 46 teams." Again, he
quotes as an instance of inexplicable divergence
the Rutlandshire entries (fo. 293/^ and 294^, and
"Domesday Book and Beyond," p. 471) of 48
ploughlands and 127 teams ; but in the first place
he seems to have omitted to note the teamlands
were 14 plus 48, and in the second that the villen-
age teams were probably those of small burgesses
wealthy enough to have oxen in excess of the re-
quirements of co-operative agriculture (a similar
entry occurs on fo. 316;^, Tateshalle), and rather
comparable to farmers of the present day with
arable from i to 30 acres and a pair of horses.

Having just noted the fact of actual normal ^j^^^^"'
hides of 1 20 acres, and roughly allowed a plough- one
team to a ploughland, the inference may seem to^°"^ '
follow that a plough tilled 1 20 acres arable ; but

approximately holds for the eleventh century, when the ox
is taken at zs. 6d., it seems inconceivable that the return of
teams should be made from the actual implements in use
rather than from the oxen.

8 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

that is exactly what is not suggested, and which,
I believe, can be demonstrated did not occur.
Should any practical agriculturist honour my
pages by his perusal, he must bear in mind
there are who believe that not 120 acres, but
even 180, of arable were tilled in one year by
one plough ; certain it is he will be as little
able to credit such unheard of practices in his
art as the real existence of the dragons etc.,
of our monastic chroniclers. Whilst those ab-
stracted from terrestrial affairs may conceive such
astounding husbandry, he can never have been so
fortunate as to have seen or heard of it (saving
steam-ploughing) in any ordinary tillage routine
of this country, nor will he allow the speculations
of scholars the colour of superior knowledge. For
what of credence would be given to the mathe-
matician who persistently found a product of five
from the addition of two and two, or to the
classical instructor who rendered tenet and valet
as tenuit and valuit ; just so when writers on
matters rural inform their readers of the non-
existence of the mediaeval harrow, or gravely
repeat that in ploughing an acre three miles
(two leucas) are traversed, or that from ^ to
all T acre could be ploughed before mid-day.*

* But the profundity of the erudite mind is best discovered
in a statement of the Regius Professor of Modern History at
Oxford Oxford (p. 123, "Social England," vol. i.), where for every
arithmetic, perch of" 16J feet," for a furrow of "eleven inches broad,"
the "plow" is made to traverse the distance in "4 or 4^"
rounds : with such a furrow of course 22 inches would be
done per round, making just 9 journeys to and fro. It is to
be hoped that the promoters of the Agricultural Education

Domesday Statistics

The first may possibly be an instance of college Coiuge
farmings as it occurs in Professor Rogers' " History ^^'""'"s-
of Agriculture," and is repeated in that singular
unbending of University erudition to popular
requirements (*' Social England ") by the writer
on "Agriculture'': though no one should be so
exacting as to seek particular knowledge of so
base an art from scribes of scholarly attainments, ><
it may be pointed out that the Bayeux Tapestry
and Loutrell Psalter {c. 1346) give undeniable
pictorial representations of harrowing ; again, D. B.
(fo. 163 and 166) notes the practice — also the
Burton Chartulary (///^), and, indeed, almost
every custumal of any length, works which his-
torical writers might well condescend to.

The second is quoted on p. 58 (Taylor's
"Analysis of Glos'ter Domesday Book," 1889) —
now, if the ploughing of an acre is too hard
a problem in arithmetic to design on paper, any
ploughman could testify he goes about 10 miles
per acre — i.e., with a furrow of 8 inches 12 miles,
with a 12-inch one 8 miles, or 8 to 5^ leucse.

The last occurs on p. 377, note 4 ("Domesday
Book and Beyond "), where the author corrects
Miss Lamond's rendering of a noune^ from 3 p.m.
to 12 mid-day — the technical point I cannot
pretend to discuss, but on p. 415 (vol. i., Ramsey

Extension System from our fountains of learning may com-
mence at home, by giving those pioneers who are to enlighten
the supposed darkness of the rural mind, such an elementar)'
knowledge of arithmetic, as to place them on somewhat more
even terms with the average carucarius in matters of simple
addition, division, etc.

lo Domesday and Feudal Statistics

Cart.), it may be observed, " apud dinariam" occurs
in point of time before " ad nonam."

Reserving the discussion of how much land
may or may not be assigned to a plough for the

Valets 2ind scqucl, let it be noted that the valets and valuits

aimts. ^£ 1086 and 1065 seem to represent the yearly

profits of manors from whatever cause arising, and

viiiani. that the term villani is used to distinguish the
whole class of villans, bordars, etc., holding by
base tenure from the liber i homines, and that
tenants in villenage were free, except as against
their lord. The Villan* proper would seem to
have held from 7 acres (Wiceford, fo. 192^,
D. B., 17 villans each of 7 acres) to 2 hides
(Hanwell and West Bedfont D. B., co. Middle-
sex), with rights of pasturage ; let it be observed
that these may be assessed rather than areal
quantities, and that, in the case of villans of i and
2 hides (if areal), these were not all arable land,
and may have been partly held at a rent. Seebohm
(p. 102, " English Village Community ") allows the
average villan 20 to 21 acres in 1086, but considers
the A.S. gebur of 30 acres and 2 oxen, to answer
to the normal villan of the same amount : accord-
ing to the Middlesex Domesday an average villan
is rated at i virgate ; in the I. E. (Cantab.) at
10^ acres ; the later custumals give examples of
holdings of 3, 5, 7 J, 10, 15, 20 acres, and virgates
for the classes embraced by the D. B. villans,
bordars and cottars, and precise definition of each

* Villans usually owe week work and precations, sokemen the
Opera. latter ; in 1 32 1 {Hist. Pet.) free tenants as opposed to socagers
appear to owe no works of any kind ; see note, pp. 147-9.

Domesday Statistics 1 1

grade is difficult. The estimate of 20-1 acres of
workland for an average villan seems at any rate
ample ; possibly the Middlesex villans assessed in
quantities exceeding ^ hide may answer to the
thirteenth-century class who held both at work
and at rent, bearing in mind that Yorkshire, /
Middlesex, and Surrey were, in proportion to their)
teams, the counties most highly rated to gheld. '

The bordar* occurs in each county, the cottar* ^d*^**^^
in but 18, nevertheless these terms are sometimes Cottars,
interchangeable ; the whole class may be broadly
assessed up to 10 acres, and where both occur
together, the former considered the larger tenant.
The bordar frequently had an ox or oxen, (some-
times also the cottar as distinct from the bordar);
and custumals demonstrate that owners of 3 to 5
acres might have an ox or more, and subsequently
I shall show that the holder of a virgate in the
thirteenth century may often be rated at 4 oxen.
The disappearance of the name (as a name) bordar
is to be noted ; also the presence of the class in
towns, and the use of the terms ^ villans and

* Bordars occur as paying rent, D. B. 52/7, from 20 masurae, Illustra-
14s. ; 167^, 38 with 7| pis., pay 8s. ; 264^, I renders 2s. ;*'onsof
as to amount of land from nothing up to 2 bovates (by l man), Domesday,
see 353-^; and 84^, 2 held j freely, and now hold; 139^,
46 hold 8 ac. each ; 190^, nine each 5 ac. — together 2 pis. ;
and the following 20 references (a selection only) from as
many counties demonstrate they often had separate plough oxen,
\\a, I'jb, 5 2 -J, job, Sii, 94^7, iiya, 120a (13 to I pi., lowest
in list), 160^, 177^, 180^7(1 bordar I pi., highest found),
205^, 215^, 222/7, 241/^, 250^, 259^, 274(^,285^, 331-^; on
i86<7, 12 tvork one day per week : Coscez and Cottars some-
times also had pis., thus Coscez yib, two, i pi. ; 72/7, four,
^ pi. ; 72^, 6 and 1 cottar, ^ pi. ; 74^, four, l| pis. ; 74^,
eight, I pi. ; Cottars, 97^, six, I pi.

12 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

Servi.

Sokemen.

\ bordars, giving ground to suppose that occa-
sionally full villans and bordars may be fractionally
composed: in such a case (fo. 324^2, D. B.) as
30 villans and 3 ploughs it is equally hard to
imagine more than 30 men, less than 24 oxen, or
as much as 900 acres of land (Z.^., the " so-called"
normal villan of 30 acres X 30).

The servi were a class personally unfree, notable
in S.W. England : in that name they soon dis-
appeared, becoming presumably free labourers and
cottars.

The sokemen* make a particular figure in E.
England, and were under a lord with varying
liberties as regarded their land — sometimes they
had one lord for soke and another for commenda-
tion, and though not rarely performing base services
may be referred to the class of liberi homines as
opposed to tenants in villenage: at least on one
occasion the I. C. Cant, enumerates as villans the
sokemen* of D. B. (Wilberton, co, Cambs). In
the absence of precise figures Seebohm's estimate
of 22-3 acres as an average holding is noted ; in the
custumals the smaller freemen seem often of less
importance than holders of virgates in villenage.

The liberi homines* as a sub-class are inconsider-

* The population assigned to these classes is probably
Popular quite unreliable, and members thereof must appear more than
estimate of ^^j^^-g jj^ ^^ record ; the lillani may be roughly rated at
homines, 3 per team (8 oxen) : taking the 9067 freemen and sokemen
and (Ellis) of 'Norfolk they can only be assessed at a like no. of

dUojrdant ^^^™^ ^^ ^^ 4731 villans, on the supposition that neither the
with lords nor other of the community had plough oxen. If the

Domesday. 7723 villans of Lines, are taken at above rate, there will be
but \\ oxen each left for 11,504 sokemen (4712 teams in the

Domesday Statistics 13

able out of Norfolk and Suffolk; Seebohm assesses z:»^tfr/
their holdings at 42 acres ; sokemen and liberi ''^^"'^•
homines may occasionally have been interchange-
able terms, at the same time noting that the latter
is used also for the whole class of superior tenantry,
viz., tenants in chief, mesne lords, liberi homines,
and presumably radknights and drenghs as dis-
tinguishing them from tenants in villenage.

The radknights, comprising the radchenistri and j^^i-
radmanni, were as peculiar to the W. Midlands as
the sokemen and liberi homines to the E. shires;
they amount to 2 % of the recorded population,
and may possibly be regarded as the antecessors of
tenants by serjeantry.

The tenants in chief (about -| % of the popula- ^^"^ "'^ '"
tion) held their lands directly of the King [sine
medio) and the mesne lords (some 2i % of popula-
tion) held of the former, or of other vassals holding
of the King's tenants.

For the rest, it must suffice that the coliberti* ^^J'^J^^
seem to have equated the buri,* and to have ranked

CO.) on the same theory ; as the lords and others could
scarcely have owned less than J of the teams in either county
it seems clear that freemen and sokemen are indeterminable
both as to numbers and extent of holding. The application
of the 4 ox per plough theory as in D. B. (Seebohm) is
strikingly refuted here : the evidence for the rest of England
(excepting Lines., Norf., and SufF.) demonstrates the average
villan could not have had less than 2 oxen,

* Prof. Maitland (p. 37, **D. B. and Beyond") endeavours These do
to equate this class with the A.S. geburi, in order to appreciate "o^ *^?"*.',
xkizvillani; whilst admiring his sympathetic leanings to the^j^"^^-^" '
latter, such are scarcely the results of studies in Domesday
Book. The geburs occur in the Laws of Ine ; as servile
tenants of Tiddenham (loth cent.), and in a like condition

H

Domesday and Feudal Statistics

COMPARATIVE TABLE

Population by Teams
(30 Counties).

■ Norfolk

- 5-5

Lines ...

- 53

Cornwall

••• 4'S

Dorset...

... 44

Middlesex

... 42

r E-sex . .

... 40

- RenT"...

••• 3"9

Hants ...

- 39

Surrey...

... 3-8

- Leicester.

•• 37

Somerset

• • 3-6

Cambs

.. 36

Derby ...

•■ 3"S

Berks ...

•• 3'S

Herts ...

•• 3"5

Nonhants

•• 3'4

Staffs :..
Sussex ...

•• 33
- 33

5^ '...

•• 3"3

Warwick

•• 32

Devon ...

•• 3145

Hunts ...

• • 3'o

Notts ...

.. 2-8

Beds ...

.. 2-8

SalQiL...
Bucks ...

.. 2-8
.. 278

Oxon ...

.. 274

Worcester

■• 2'4

■ — — — •

Gloucester

.. 22

Hereford/

.. 21

255

200

.150

so

25

25

SO

ISO

180

Population = 251,485
Teams = 70,606
Mean = 3*56
New mean = 445
(Mean X 125)

Entries.
% line
100 in 255
93i ,, 180
861 ,, 150
73J ,, 100
43i ., 50
30 » 25

Population by Teams
(21 Counties.)

230

Lines

S"370

Cornwall
Dorset...

4-58
4 '4

Middlesex 4^2
Hants ... 3-96

Surrey... 3 '8

Somerset
Cambs...
Derby ...
Berks ...
Herts ...

3-6
3-6
3 "5

3 '5
3-5

Nonhants 3-4

Wills:..
Staffe'...
Warwick
Devon . . .

3-38
3*342
32
3145

Hunts
Notts
Beds
Bucks ,
O.xon ,

30
2-8

2-8

278

2746

130

25

SO

PopuIation=i55,5i2
Teams=43,932
Mean=3'54
New mean=442i
(Mean X 125)

Entries.

% line

100 in 230

95 „ 130
855 ,, 100
54 J ,, 50
28i „ 25

Hides by Gheld
(30 Counties).

Cornwall
Norfolk

Dorset . .
Herts ..

Bucks ...
Middlesex
Surrey ...
Oxon ...
Warwick
Wilts ...
Hunts ...
Salop . . .
Somerset

Beds ...
Cambs ...
Devon ...
Derby ...
Northants
Notts ...
Staffs ...
Essex ...
Kent ...
Worcester

Gloucester
Berks ...

Hereford
Hants ...
Lines ...
Sussex ...

Leicester

I"OI

I 01
I "02
I 03
104
I "04
105
1-05
I '06

I -08
108
I 08
I 13
113
I 13
I 'IS

I"I2

I -16
I 17

I "22
I 23

1-41

I "43

1-6

16

[2-5]

180

50

25

{.

200

5SO

Hides, 54,000
Gheld, 47,628 florins
Mean = i'i34
Comparative or new

mean— 453i

(obtained by

400XI-I34)

Entries.
% line

100 in 550
96§ ,, 200
76I ,, 100
70 „ 50
33i .1 23

Domesday Statistics

15

NO. I.

Valets by Valuits
(20 Counties).

Leicester
Warwick

.. I -50
■■ 1-425

Northants

.. 1-31

Kent

.. 1-30

Essex
O.Kon

.. I -17
.. i-i6

Devon
Surrey
Dorset
Bucks

.. 1T06
.. 107
.. 104

I*02

Berks

Gloucester

HunU

.. I •002

• • "99
.. -96

Sussex

Worcester

Cornwall

•• '94

:: -111

Herts
Beds
Derby

.. -81
•• "74
•• 73

Middlesex

•628

200

150

100

50
25

25

50

150

200

Valets=4t,is9 li.
Valuits = 38,652 li.
Mean — i '0647
New mean = 447
{i.e., mean X 420)

Entries.
% line
100 in 200
85 .) ISO
65 „ 100
45 .. 50
20 „ 25

Teamlands by Teams
(21 Counties.)

Somerset ..
Dorset

. I 27
. 1-30

Devon

. 143

Staffs

• I "47

Cornwall ..

. 2-0

205

5°

25

50

20s
300

Teamlands=S2,354
Teams=43,932
Mean=fi92
New mean=44i
(Mean X 370)

Entries.
% line
zoo in 300
95 II 205
Ii ,, too
7'i .. SO
474 .. 25

~J^\

Population by Teamlands
(21 Counties).

Lines

5"o

Notts

4*4

— I 300
230

Derby
Surrey
Hants

396

37

3643

Middlesex ,
Dorset

346
3'39

Cambs

Berks

Wilts

Northants

Herts

Warwick

3-10
30
29
2-88
2 87
2 84

Somerset
Hunts
Oxon
Beds

2-83
2 '602

25
248

Bucks

2*41

150

100

75

50

Staffs

Cornwall

Devon

22
22
21

25

7S

130

Teamlands=s2,354
PopuIation = i55,5i2
Mean =2 '97
New mean=445j
(Mean X 150)

Entries.
% ._ line
100 in 300
95 II 230
90 „ 150
62 ,, 100
33* 1. so
33* .1 25

1 6 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

Other
■classes.

between the villans and servi ; that the ancillae
(most frequent in the W. Midlands) are regarded
as female slaves ; that the burgesses as a class are
incompletely returned, that the censarii were a
small class of free rent-paying tenants, and that the
porcarii* and bovarii* may be considered both as
servile herds, and free farmers of swine and oxen.

Turning to the relationship to one another of
the figures in the Main Statistical Table, it is

(pedigrees) in co. Herts (Earlc's Land Charters), the coliberti
and buri being not (I believe) found in either place : Ellis
adds these 2 (latter) classes at 920, and references to 891
may be found in D. B. 38^ and b, 39^ and b, 41/7, 44^, 57^^,
58^7, 64^, 65(7, 66/7 and b, Gja and b, 68/7, jia, y^a, y/b, S6a
and b, Sja and b, ()oa, gia, g6b, loia, 103^, 120a, 149/7,
154/7, 163/7 and b, 164/7 and b, 165/7, 166/7, 174*^, 179^, 181^,
182/7 and b, 239^^, 254/7, 260a, in 86 entries only (and to 19
coliberts of 1065 on 38/7 and 163/7) ; of these 552 occur on
royal manors in 48 entries, 311 on church ones in 32, and but
28 on 6 lay estates. The A.S. Rectitudines (loth or nth
cent.) describe the gebur as on a thane's manor, and there
•Geburias seems small room to doubt his correspondence with the villein
of D. B. (see note, pp. 147-9) ; the above shows that the coliberti
(tho' numerous) were not a widely spread class, and scarcely
to be found on lay estates. They seem to have as many or
more oxen than the villans [38/7, 163/7 {bis), 164^] ; on fo.
38^ six hold I Hide ; they sometimes pay rent or produce
[38/7 and b, ^ga, 165/7, 174^ (^^-f)? ^79^ (^^•^)]> ^^^ on the
Estates of Westminster Abbey (174^), 6 coliberti sow 12 ac,
and render lis. 2d., whereas 8 villans and 10 bordars sow
4 ac, and 10 vill, and 10 bord., 6 ac. ; altogether their
position as a class is of much uncertainty — they do not occur
where Censarii are found, save in Dorset (Ellis).

* The porcarii seem to have been the higher class and
sometimes pay a rent in pigs ; the bovarii often appear to
replace the serz'i on the demesnes of Cheshire and Salop
Manors, where they were presumably unfree ploughmen ;
a liber bovarius occurs on 183/7.

villani.

JPorcarii

and

Bovarii.

Domesday Statistics 17

obvious that 28 separate divisions might be con- ^^™^''*^^
structed ; of which 1 5 are set forth in the three parative
following comparative accounts ; no extreme mathe-
matical accuracy being postulated in a matter where
rough correctness is all that at present can be
looked for. In the first table it will be noted that
the comparison of like items gives satisfactory
results ; thus the hides of 1065 seem distinctly
the antecessors of those which furnished the ghelds
of the middle of the twelfth century, and the
valuits of 1065 differ not widely from the valets
of 1086, bearing in mind the absence of Yorks in
the former class, and of most of the carucated
counties in the latter. In these (Derby, Leicester,
Lines, Norfolk, Notts, Rutland, Suffolk, Yorks,
and part of Cheshire) greater changes occurred
than in hidated England, which the tables do not
adequately set forth ; nor are the wasted Yorkshire
manors to be discovered in the comparison ot
Teamlands with Teams, the incompleteness of
which table gives it a better appearance than it
otherwise would have. In a country ploughed up
to the maximum an excess of teams over teamlands
would be expected, for the reason instanced above;
according to the witness of D. B. the majority of
counties had surplus arable.* It seems that no
definite amount of land was in view by the expres-
sion of land to one team, which would indicate ^"feam.
different quantities respectively on the demesne
and villenage ; the distinction is often made, and
the difference should not be overlooked, for on the
land of the lord the land of one plough would
include the assistance of the tenant, and on the

* That is more teams, could have been used with advantage.

2

I 8 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

land of the villein the assistance rendered by the
plough there was land to, must be subtracted in an
areal estimate. Putting aside the probability that
the tenant in villeinage worked his own land
usually with less than 8 oxen, and taking D. B.'s
Difference view of a fiill team, suppose the demesne plough
landTSf could till X acres per ann., and that the team of
demesne, ^-^g ^ign (8 oxen) could work ^ + (^ acrcs (where
villeinage. X = a ■\- b)\ then x + a would be the land of one
plough on the demesne; and [a + b) — a on the
arable set to the villeins. This I believe was in
the minds of the men of the hundreds when they
state there could be so many more ploughs on the
demesne and villeinage respectively; the matter
would not stand exactly as above in actual practice
where the occurrence of smaller ploughs of the
men, would disturb the balance. Clearly a plough
of 4 oxen* would do far more than half the tillage
of one of 8, and one of 2 beasts more than a
quarter of it (smaller and lighter implements are
predicated) ; however, when in the returns, mention
is made of land to 2, 3, 4 or more oxen, an
artificial and roughly proportional comparison may
be all that was in view, rather than details of
practice, e.g.^ land to 2 oxen may mean about half
the amount of land to 4 oxen, though the varying
quantities of demesne and villeinage would further
complicate each case. No frequenter of the
towing-path would ever be likely to suppose

Oxen per * Probably common enough on villein lands ; cf. Gerald de
plough in Barri it. Hen. II.) who states that the Welsh yoke 4 oxen in
/. Hen. II. ^ plough more often than two : Wm. de Malmesbury (/.
Hen. I.), writing of Wm. II., and Anselm, states, Vt aratrum
sane tee ecclesi^e, quod in Anglia duo boves validi i^ pari fortitudine
ad bonum certantes, id est, rex et archiepiscopus Cantuariensis
debeant trahere nunc ore vetula cum tauro indomito iugata.

Domesday Statistics

19

COMPARATIVE TABLE NO.

7^

Acres by Population
(30 Counties).

Norfolk ..

Essex

Lines

Oxon

■ • 71

Berks ...

... 73

Northants

... 75

Somerset

- 75

Beds

... 78

Middlesex

... 78

Leicester

... 78

Kent ...

... 79

Hunts ...

... 80

Dorset ...

... 80

Herts ...

... 82

Wilts ...

... 86

Bucks ...

... 87

Warwick

... 88

Sussex ...

... 89

Notts

... 94

Gloucester

• •• 95

Devon ...

.■• 95

Hunts ...

... 100

Hereford

... 100

Worcester

... 103

Cambs ...

... 105

Surrey ...

... 105

Cornwall

... 159

Salop ...

... 169

Derby ...

... ai6

Staffs

... 23s

50

100
200

415
64s
740

Acres = 2t,9i8,53i
Population = 951,485
Mean=87"i5 acres
New mean=4352
(Mean X 5)

y

Acres by Teams
(30 Counties).

Oxon

Gloucester
Hereford
Beds ...

Entries.
% line
100 in 740
96| >• 645
934 .1 415
86| „ aoo
76s ,, 100
46! „ 50
13$ .. as

Hunts ...
Bucks ...
Ei^sex
Worcester
Berks ...
Northants
Norfolk
Notts ...
Somerset

Warwick
Herts ...
Leicester

Wilts
Devon
Sussex
Kent

Middlesex

Dorset

Lines

Cambs

Hants
Surrey

Salop

Cornwall

Derby

Staffis

196
211
216
218

241
243
251
254
257
264
270
271
274

288
289
291

293
300
301
314

331

358
359
380

397
403

489

762
788

200
.170

50

25

200
300
600

655
670

Entries.

7, line

Acres=r2i,9i8,53i

100 in 670

Teams = 70,606

96 » 65s
93 i> 600

Mean=3ioj

New mean=434/n

00 ,,300
86 „ w»

(Meanxi)

66 ,, 100

36 „ so

13 M «5

Valuits by Hide.s
(20 Counties).

Kent ...

3 '23

Devon ...

2 -60

Cornwall
Herts ...

I 826
I -So

Essex ...

1-54

Beds ...

123

Hunts... i'20
Gloucester I'lg
Oxon ... i'i56
Dorset i"i2

Middlesex i"os
Northants 104

Sussex... I'D
Berks ... '96
Derby ... "93

Worcester '89

Bucks ... -86

Surrey... 77

Warwick 71

820
600
300

200

'\ TOO

L 50

25

so

Leicester •196

aoc
400

Valuits= 38,652 li.
Hides = 33,240
Mean = I "163
New mean = 453i
(Mean X 390)

Entries.
% line
100 in 820
95 ,, 600
90 ,, 400
85 >• .300
75 II aoo
50 „ 100
35 .. 50
20 „ as

2 2

20

Domesday and Feudal Statistics

COMPARATIVE TABLE

Teams by Hides
(30 Counties.)

Surrey ...

■6

Middlesex

•6

Berks ...

73

Leicester

•726

Wilts ...

■74

Dorset ...

•8

Susse.^c ...

■9

Bucks ...

■9

Hants ...

I'OIO

Oxon ...

1-023

Lines ...

I -I

Beds ...

IT

Derby ...

13

<Jambs ...

1*2

Herts ...

13

Hunts ...

13

Somerset

13

Salop ...

I '4

Essex ...

I '5

Warwick

I -5

Gloucester i "6 |

Worcester

1-6

Northants

1-8

Hereford

19

Staffs ...

19

Notfolk

2'0

Kent ...

2-5

Notts ...

37

Devon ...

S"o

300

Kent ...
Dorset ...
Middlesex
Berks ...
Surrey ...
Oxon ...

Teams by Valeis
(23 Counties).

•6

•66

72

75

75

•76

Essex . . .
Herts ...
Somerset
Sussex ...
Bucks ...
Hunts ...
Norfolk

■91

•91

I '07

ITO
ITO
IT2

Beds ... 1*3
Gloucester I '3
Northants i'3
Devon ... i'4
Warwick i "5

Staffs ... 1-8
Cornwall i '8
Worcester i 9
Derby ... i"9

Leicester 2 '5

Valets by Hides
(22 Countie.s).

200

Cornwall

427

Kent ...

4-208

Devon ...

287

loo

Essex ...
Norfolk

1-80
171

965
950

510

( 200
1 300

Cornwall 15-3

Staffs

I '47
1-41

Herts ...
Somerset
Northants i -358
Oxon ... 1-34
Gloucester i-i8
Hunts ... 1-15
Dorset ... 1*14

( 200
(300

400
610

Staffs ...
Warwick
Berks ...
Sussex ...
Beds ...
Bucks ...
Middlesex
Surrey ...
Worcester

300

445i
820

Cornwall 7 7

1,250

2,200

Teams :

70,606
Hides :

c. 54,000
Mean :

i'3i
New mean :

445i
(Mean
X340)

Entries.

% line

100 in 2,200
96I „ 1,250
93i ,, 820
90 „ 445J
75* II 200
43i I. i°°

Teams = 52,615
Valets = 49,99i|
Mean = 1-05
New mean = 441
(Mean X 420)

Entries.
% line
100 in 610
95§ >. 400
78^ ,, 200
30I „ 100

1-03
I 01

•96

■93
•91
-87
-86

•83
•82

Teamlands by Hides
(21 Counties).

Devon

71

2-8

Notts ... 2-21
Northants 2-16

Warwick
Somerset
Herts ...

Hunts ...
Cambs ...
Beds ...

Lines

Derby

Hants

Oxon

Bucks

Dorset

Wilts

Berks

Derby

-67

227

Middlesex
Surrey ...

Hides = 36,4i2
Valets = 49,255§
Mean = 1-352
New mean = 446
(Mean X 330)

Entries.
% line

100 in 965
95i ., 950
91 „ 510
86J ,, 227
8i| ,, 200
3if ,, 100

1-70
I 63
I 63

1-5

1-36

1-30

4,200
1,800

400

300

200

1-12
i-io
1-09
I -08
i-o

•8s
-84

76

-64!

300

Teamlands= 52,354
Hides=35,69i
Mean = 1-467
New mean = 440
( Mean X 300)

Entries.

%

100
95
90
85f
661
33J

line
in 4,200
,, 1,800
,, 400
.1 3°°
II 200
u i°o
>> 50

Domesday Statistics

21

Acres by Hides

V Population by Hides |

Teams by Danegeld

(34 Counties.)

250

(30 Counties).

220

(30 Counties).

250

Berks ... 187

Surrey ... 2 "39

Surrey ... "635

Oxon ... 199
Middlesex ... 208
Leicester ... 213

Wilts ... 2"5i

Middlesex "64
Dorset ... 71
Wilts ... -769

Berks ... 2-6

200

Wilts ... 217

Bucks ... 2"6

200

Bucks ... 231

200

Middlesex ... 27
Leicester ... 2*7

Berks ... -87
Bucks ... '95

Surrey ... 252

Sussex ... 3"o

Oxon ... -988

Beds 254

Oxon ... 3"i

100

Sussex ... 268

Beds ... 3-3

Beds ... 1*236

Dorset ... 272

Dorset ... 3*4

Cambs ... 1*257

Hunts ... 313

Gloucester ... 3*5

Herts ... 1*277
Hunts ... I "356
Somerset ... 1*371

Gloucester ... 336

100

Worcester ... 3*9

100

Somerset ... 354

Hants ... 4"o

Hants ... 1*414

Essex ... 369

Hunts ... 4'o

Sussex ... 1*424

Herts ... 385

Hereford ... 4'i

Norfolk ... 1*470

Yorks ... 385

Salop ... 4*1

Salop ... 1*489

Suffolk ... 395

Cambs ... 42

Warwick ... i*5S7

Hunts ... 401

Derby ... 4-5

Essex ... 1*658

Worcester ... 404

.Somerset ... 47

Lines ... 1*772

Lines ... 405

Herts ... 47

-— --- -

100

Hereford ... 407
Warwick ... 433

Warwick ... s'o

Leicester ... 1*817
Worcester i *864

100

Cambs ... 449

Lines ... 6'o

Gloucester i •941

Northants ... 471

Kssex ... 6 I

Northants 2*024

100

Northants ... 6-2

Staffs ... 2*108

Norfolk ... 543

(200
1300

Staffs ... 6-4

200

(200
1300

Kent ... lo'o

Derby) ...(2*545
Notts ) ... (2*54<;

Salop ... 692

Notts ... 10 -o

Kent ... 797

Norfolk ... 1 1 "a

610

Hereford ... 2*643

44S

500

Notts ... 953

Devon ... 15*6

Kent ... 2*932

Derby ... 961

1,040

460

Chester ... 1,278

Cornwall ... 35 "i

Cornwall ... 5*23

1,000

2,950

z,i40

Devon ... 1,490

Devon ... 5*329

Suffs ... x,493

1,160

-.

2,000

Rutland ... 2,629

3iOOO

Cornviall ... 5,601

5-750

E

itries.

I

Entries.

Ei

Itries.

%

line

%

line

%

line

Acres=27, 506,622

100

in 5,7So

Population =251 ,485

100

in 2,950

Teams=7o,6o6

100

in 1,160

HiJes=c. 67,000

88

,, 1,000

Hides=c. 54,000

96

I ,, 1,040
1 II 610

Danegeld =47,628

96:
93

If I1I40

Mean=4io

80

,, 500

Mean=4*657

93

Mean = 1*4824

„ 460

New mean=45i

73

1 >, 250

New mean=442i

83

i ,1 320

Mew mean = 444}

90

M 445

(MeanXfi)

60

It 300

(Mean X 95)

it

« II aoo

(Mean X 300)

80

II aso

38

II 100

33

i 11 J06

5!

II 300

II 100

22 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

that eight men rowing in a " best " boat would
be able to cover the Putney-Mortlake course
in half the time of a single sculler ; to a
lesser degree this applies to tillage. Cott. Jul. A
Teams of (eleventh century) gives a pictorial sketch of

less than y / o r

8 oxen. 2 ploughmen, I plough, 4 oxen ; the Utrecht
Psalter and Harl. 603 two of A.S. tillage, both
showing I man, i plough, 2 oxen ; Cott. Tib. B. V.
(eleventh century) 2 men, i plough, 4 oxen ; the
Bayeux Tapestry 2 men, i plough, i beast ; the
Royal MS. (thirteenth century) i man, i plough,
2 oxen ; the Chron. RoiF. and Loutrell Psalter
(both fourteenth century) respectively i man,
I plough, 2 oxen ; and 2 men, i plough, and
4 oxen : most of these are to be found in books,
viz., Larking's D. B. of Kent ; Utrecht Psalter ;
Bayeux Tapestry, and Green's Hist. Eng. (illus-
trated edition). Nevertheless it seems equally

Teams of certain that in England the normal demesne plough
consisted of the holder and driver, 8 oxen (or
8 animals partly oxen and partly horses), and
I implement ; not necessarily proving the absence
of a lighter plough worked by less oxen on the
land of the lord, for some occasions. The ploughs
of the tenantry seem usually to have consisted o\
8 oxen (as joined) when at work on the demesne ;
the above illustrations indicate this not to have
been the custom for working land in villenage,
and I know no MS, evidence to the contrary.

Notably in Cornwall, the teamlands vary much
from the teams, the correct explanation (alternate
husbandry''^) of which is noted by Professor Mait-

* D. B. ga, pasture whence they ploughed 9 ac. ; 8oi^, was
pasture, now sowable.

Domesday Statistics 23

land ; where portion of what is estimated as arable Rotations,
is in grass, plainly less aration is demanded than
on a 2 or 3 course shift. As a rule, (i) wheat,
(2) barley and oats, (3) bare fallow would seem to
have been the rotation ; or a shift of (i) wheat,
barley, oats, (2) bare fallow ; and though there is
no great amount of precise evidence, the com-
parison of Teamlands and Teams on the whole
support the above.

To bring the fifteen tables into fair comparison Method of
the following method has been used ; in each table ^^^^^^•
find a mean, and multiply same by a variable
figure to produce a new mean, in such a way that
the new means of each of the fifteen tables will be
nearly alike ; the new mean is then used for the
construction of the comparative lines, the results
from which are appended in percentages. Thus
taking population by teams in 30 counties (Com-
parative Table I.) the mean is 3*56 (Population by
Teams) ; the new mean is most conveniently taken
as between 440 and 450 ; and therefore the old
mean 3-56 is multiplied by 125, product being
445. To 445, additions and subtractions of 25,
50, 100, 150, 180, and 255 have been made ; the
results of which are now divided by the former
multiplier (125), enabling lines of 25, 50, etc., to
be drawn in the actual table as shown ; with the
needful variations this convention has been used in
all the fifteen tables, in order to discover their
relative superiority.

The first table plainly shows that to state that
William the Conqueror made the land to be
assessed on an entirely fresh set of units, or that he

24 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

so devastated the whole country that the value was
greatly reduced twenty years after his landing,
would not be supported by evidence, for the hides
and valuits of 1065 roughly answer to those of
circa 1150 and 1086 respectively in the com-
parisons as made ; setting aside the comparison of
like with like, the only table really satisfactory is
Population that of Population by Teams, where (as should be
Teams^^ expected) a clear relation is established.

Except in the first table (5 divisions), the com-
parisons are slender; the remaining 10 divisions
appear in Tables II. (3 divisions) and III.
(7 divisions); the tables having been grouped by
comparative results: Density (Table II.) gives the
best yield, and the supposed relationship (1085)
of Hides, Teams, Values, and Valuits (1065) is
Slender demonstrated to have but slight grounds of support,
from'other ^o^ plainly the results from these items will not
^like compare with the very artificial one of Acres by
Recorded Population. In a country like England,
both of 1085 and 1900, there can be no very near
kinship between the acres and population county
for county, as plainly the flat agricultural districts
will be more densely inhabited than the hills and
moors ; hence a fortiori as to the remaining
9 divisions which yield an inferior result. The
areas of counties in Maitland's D. B. and Beyond
are from the Agricultural Returns, 1895, and his
results from them used here, though the figures in
the Main Statistical Table in this book are from
the Census Table, 1891 — the difference is not
great.

CHAPTER II

FEUDAL STATISTICS

" Eodem anno rex Angliae pater transfretauit de Normannia
in Angliam, & apud Wodestockc fecit C aufrie/um RWum suum,
Comitem Brittannias, militem : qui statim post susceptionem
militaris officii, transfretauit de Anglia in Normannia, &
in confinibus Franciae & Normannias militaribus exercitiis
opcram pra;stans gaudebat se bonis militibus asquiparari <Sc
eo magis ac magis probitatis suae gloriam qusesiuit, quo fratres
suos, Henricum videlicet regem, & Richardum Comitem Pic-
tauias in armis militaribus plus florere cognouit. Et erat eis
mens vna, videlicet, plus casteris posse in armis : scientes,
quod ars bellandi, si non pracluditur, cum fuerit necessaria
non habetur. Nee potest athleta magnos spiritus ad certa-
men afFerre, qui nunquam suggilatus est. Ille qui sanguine
suum vidit ; cuius dentes crepuerunt sub pugno ; ille qui
supplantatus aduersarium toto tulit corpore, nee proiecit
animum proiectus ; qui quotiens cecidit, contumacior sur-
rexit, cum magna spe descedit ad pugnam. Multum enim
adiicit sibi virtus lacessita; fugitiua gloria est mens subiecta
terrori. Sine culpa vincitur oner is immensitate, qui ad portandam
sarcinam impar, tamen deuotus occurrit. Bene soluuntur sudoris
praemia, ubi sunt templa Victoria.^''

[A.D. 1178 ; Rogeri de Hoveden* Annalivm,
cura H, Sauile.]

* Rog. de Houeden — Justice Itinerant, a.d., 1189-90 ;
I Ric. /., Rot. Pip.

26 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

A.s. T N Saxonf charters from the 7th century on-

_|^ wards grants are made as the land of so many
manentes, cassati, tributarii, and the terms
mansae, mansiunculae, hida londe, sulungs occur as
well as ploughlands, yoklets, and acres, some
avowedly and others presumably by way of estima-
tion : plainly not all equating each other, tho' some
of them synonymous. Now it so happens that
sometimes the numerical estimate agrees with that
of Domesday ; for example before 988 Woldham
came to the Bishop of Rochester for 6 Sulungs
(Reg. RofF.) which estimate is repeated 1086
(D. B. s.v. Oldham) ; in 948 Edred restored to
the church at Winchester 100 mansae at Downton
and Ebbesburn (K. 421) which by Domesday was
100 Hides in the time of Cnut, and the same less
3 in 1065 (fo. G^a). Edgar in 972 (K'- 570)
granted to Pershore perpetual freedom in their
choice of abbot, in which deed upwards of 300
mansae in Glos'ter and Worcester are named, and
tho' in 1086 the Abbot had not actual possession,
he had rights over a similar number of Hides
(D. B.) ; in 725 Ine granted 12 manentes to
Glastonbury in Sowey (K* 74) which had 1 2 Hides
in 1086 ; in 984 Ethelred's charter to the nuns of
Shaftesbury names "twen tiwe hiwe at tissebiri,"
where a like number 1086 ; in 998 (Reg. RofF.)
are some 6 Sulungs at Bromley (with further estate
in Andrede's Wood) by measure, and in 1086, ten
teamlands and 6 Sulungs at the former place, and
should any dislike of the above by reason of their

(Norman \ f In Norman charters, the land of a plough [caruca), fre-

< Charters. ) quently ; no indication of a carucata ad gkeldum {Ord, Fit.) : the

term Saxon is loosely used for the people of England (from

whatever source deriving), before the advent of Duke William.

Feudal Statistics

27

scantiness and dates, reference to the paper on
the Prae-Domesday Hide of Glos'ter by the
editor of the Journal of the Bristol etc. Arch. Soc.
should give full satisfaction for that county. Not
that it is meant to say that all the land in Domes-
day, or any considerable portion thereof, can be
accounted for in A.S. Charters, but that in so hard
a comparison there are striking instances of simi-
larity ; not much do these deeds tell of actual
Husbandry, but Seebohm (p. 139 Eng. Vill.
Comm.) cites Abba's Will a.d. 835 (K. 235) in
support of the 120 acre theory, which said testator
bequeaths a i- Sulung with 4 oxen, 2 cows, and
50 sheep thereto, but as may be discovered from
Domesday Sulings were fiscal as well as areal units,
and should this half one mean 60 acres, at least 20
in grass would be wanted for the support of the
stock named. Again teamlands in A.S. deeds
were (at any rate some times) of estimate ; thus
A.D. 774 (K. 121) " et huius terras estimatio v.
aratorum" and a.d. 738 (K. 85) "id est decern
aratorum iuxta asstimationem prouincias eiusdem";
further a.d. 1016-1020 (K. 732) in Godwin's
marriage contract " on Biirwaramerse other half
100 acres and thereto 30 oxen, and 20 cows and
10 horses, and ten theowmen " and on fo. 12b
(D. B.) under Burwarmaresc, the lands is 12 pis.,
4 in demesne, and 44 villans with 5 bordars have
10 pis., which is not disagreeable {i.e. 4 dem. pis.)
to the above, and also Add. Ch. 19,796 in the
Abbot of Evesham's lease of a.d. 1017-1023, for
3 lives of 3 Hides to inware and other half to
outware, but i man, 6 oxen, 20 sheep, and 20
acres sown to corn are to revert to the Minster on
the termination of the agreement for Norton, which

28 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

plainly shows the Hide not necessarily entirely
arable, as is frequently supposed. In a grant of
A.D. 812 by Cenwulf King of the Mercians
(K. 1 99) occur " mediam partem unius mansiuncula;
id est an ioclet " and " hoc est terras particula
duarum manentium id est an sulung," suggesting

I mansiunculus = 2 yoklets
I sulung = 2 manentes

or perhaps that the mansiunculus and manens here
equate the yoklet and suling respectively. The
Burghal and County Hidages are set forth in
Prof. Maitland's D,B. and Beyond^ and the Tribal
Hidage therein named is here given, from Earle's
Land Charters which dates the Saxon writing as
of the loth or nth century.

keptarchic HIDAGE OF PART OF ENGLAND AT THE TIME OF THE
Jides. HEPTARCHY.

1. Myrcna landes . . 30,000 '

2. Wocen sastna . . 7,000 I

3. Westerna . . . . 7,000 '

4. Pecsaetna .. .. 1,200 i

5. Elmed saetna . . 600 ;

6. Lindes farona, with t

Haethfeldlande . . 7,000

7. Suth Gyrwa . . . . 600

8. North Gyrwa . . 600
g. East Wixna . . . . 300

10. West Wixna . . . . 600

11. Spalda .. .. 600

12. Wigesta .. .. 900

13. Herefinna .. .. 1,200

14. Sweordora . . . . 300

15. Gifla . . . . . . 300

16. Hicca . . . . . . 300 I

17. Wiht Gara . . . . 600

18. Nox Gaga . . . . 5,000

19. Oht Gaga . . . . 2,000

That is, 66,100 Hides 1

1 Why this early estimate is to be regarded as

mere exaggeration I am entirely at a loss to discern,

20.

Hwinca

7,000

21.

Ciltern saetna

4,000

22.

Hendrica

. 3.500

23-

Unecungga .

1,200

24.

Avo Saetna .

600

25-

Faerthinga .

300

26.

Bilraiga

600

27.

Widerigga .

600

28.

East willa .

600

29.

West willa .

600

30.

East engle .

. 30,000

31-

East Sexana

7,000

32.

Cant Warena

. 15,000

^2,-

Suth Sexena

7,000

34-

West Sexena

. 100,000

Two Hundred Thousand and
Two and Forty Thousand
Hides and Seven Hundred
Hides (242,700)

Feudal Statistics 29

for (for aught I can find) England might well
have had a population of ii-2 millions at the time
of the Heptarchy, which would be answerable to
the quantities in the table : for the ancient meaning
of the word Hide (see King Alfred's trans, of
Bede) would seem to be the land of one family,
hence a population of i^ millions or a little less
might correspond to 250,000 families (bearing in
mind that the table presumably falls far short of
the 40 modern English counties) ; for example
Bede names the Isle of Wight as the land of 1,200
families, and the recorded population of 1086 is
1,124 by Ellis' cast. True it is that in 1065 the
Hide is a fiscal unit, which is not to say that it at
no time had been closely allied with reality, nor,
because this artificial Hide of D. B. is computed at
120 fiscal acres, is it to be therefore imagined that
each head of a family in Heptarchic days had that
amount of arable. For I would suppose that never 120 statute
in the History of England could \ of the heads of amWe, not
families have been masters of so many ploughed '^^ land of

. , ... . , c / r & one family.

acres with suitable rights or wood, pasture and
meadow for the extremely simple reason that 5
men would be but a scanty allowance for the
working of such a tenement (by theory 2 men
would be ploughing the greater part of the year,
and if two 4 ox teams were used 4 of them). And
plain it seems to be that this vision of fraternal
harmony (at the rate of 120 acres of arable) would
necessitate an overwhelming majority of the popula-
tion in a dependent condition ; that is to say, as
labourers not necessarily servile, but under condi-
tions of subjection as employed persons. This of
course does not include such a supposed stipulation

30 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

as but 30 of the 120 acres annually under the
plough, as that would correctly be at the rate 1|^
arable acres, but comprehends that of a 2 course
shift, i.e.^ 120 acres ploughed, half in bare fallow.
As I understand the theory of the " free ceorls "*

* The government Domesday Indexes (Ellis) enable the
postulate that the A.S. "landowners" of 1065 were con-
siderably more numerous than the tenants in capite and mesne
lords {p, 000- 1 0,000) of 1086 ; but the method of the pras-
Domesday List of proprietors allows no exactitude of state-
ment ; under the heading of Liberi Homines, Thanes, Soke-
men, Homines, Fratres, Burgesses, and Radk nights, 6,000-^,000
are enumerated, and the remainder (personal names) might
well furnish the balance for a total 20,000. It may however
be observed that a principle of selection, not easy to discover,
has been applied to the Sokemen and Liberi Homines of 1065
(who account for some ^ of the above 6,000-7,000), and as in
1086 these are practically excluded (in the 9,000-10,000
total), it is better to omit them, leaving g,2yi mediate and
immediate tenants at that date, against approximately ij.ooo

AS %.
"landowners" in 1065, and a rough equation of ^^=-*

Certain it is that many of the A.S. landowners had incon-
siderable estates, as the following examples (all of the
Wapentake of Claro, Yorks), collated with the Indexes in
the Yorks Arch, and Top. Translation of Domesday, demon-
strate ; save where stated all were lords of seemingly whole
Manors, presumably had no other estate enumerated, and
were above the rank of the so-czW&d. free ceorls :

Hidage.

Land to

1065
Value.

Place.

Claman
Dolphin

Earne

Elflet. lord of J Manor
Esnebem

Ram

Suneman

Turgrim, lord of |
Manor

1 car.

i ..

2 ,,

i ..

7 bovates
V- car.
li ..

f ..

i plough
I plough

5S.

20S.
2s.6d.

I OS.

i6s.

lOS.

6s.

Arkendale

Aldfield

Neusone

Castley

Stollai

Usebume

Grafton

AluretoQ

There

Feudal Statistics

31

they were lords as above, which hypothesis is Modem
incompatible with the non-subjection of the majority Andent °^
of the rest of the population to said small owners, '^^^^- ,.
and hence contains in itself the elements of its own impracUc-
destruction ; tho' of course a nation of such pro- ^
prietors might exist as an aristocracy of yeomen,
and a democracy of farm-labourers in proper pro-
portions. But the postulate seems rather to be
that some half of the heads of families were peasant
proprietors with such relatively enormous holdings
as to be quite impracticable on the given conditions ;
whether or not this pleasing but unreal picture has
had its originals in the congested atmosphere of
our own fountains of learning, or was imported
already constructed from across the ocean is beyond
our power to discern, but so great an oddity is
there in the appearance thereof, as to deny any
kinship with the open air of the fields.

The Hide appears in the Heptarchic memo-
randum already cited, in the laws of Ine before
A.D. 694, in the endorsement of Nunna's grant
(K. 1000), in A.D. 725 at the end of Wiglaf's

There were some l^,000-l8,000 places in the counties Places,
recorded in D. B. 1086, and possibly Manors somewhat y.f.''^'^'.
corresponding, giving each of the former an average popula- Parishes,
tion of about 100 : in 13 15-16 the vills fall far short of this 1086-1377.
number, but no statistical results can be drawn from these
returns of 9 Ed. II., owing to deficiencies and lack of
uniformity ; thus, in Yorks there are about the same no.
of vills, as places in 20 Wm. I., but in certain counties the
former are less than the no. oi parishes recorded in 1371,
which in all England (save Cheshire) amounted to 8,600^
answering to an average of 300 folk, or rather less per
parish, as by the Poll Tax of 1377 ; in 16 Ed. II. (Pari.
Writs, vol. ii.) is a classification of vills, \ vills, hamlets, and
parts of vills.

32 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

The Hide grant (K. 237), in a.d. 836 in King Alfred's
^mdage translation of Bede, and has not disappeared in the
15th cent. (Memoranda L.T.R. Hil. 5 Hen. V.
Rot. 1 8) where is note of an allowance to the
Sheriff for Hidage,* which is named still later in
the Parliament Rolls of 20 and 23 Hen. VI., and
7-8 Ed. IV. From a period considerably before
the Conquest its main importance seems for purposes
of taxation, and presumably also for local rates,
which latter usage appears to be maintained as long
as the name persists ; allowing that in Custumals
and the Hundred Rolls etc. the Hide is further
used as an areal measure for 120 acres or other
quantity. The artificial nature of Hidage plainly
appears from the Domesday Tables, and in the
Pipe Roll passing for 31 Hen. I. are notes of fines
(pp. 123 and 125 printed vol.) that the Manors of
Burwardescota and Etton shall from that date rate
at a presumably lower hidage ; Kings Wm. I.,
Hen. I., and Hen. II. taxed the lands by hides
(21 Hen. II. Pipe Roll — i marc allowed for
carrying the summonses of Danegeld) and Ric. I.
appears to have done so in his 6th year, Somerset
yielding ^^293 i8s. 2d., Dorset ^^241 3s. 9d., and
Worcester j^ 9 9 12s., which at 2S. per Hide practi-
cally agree with the Domesday figures. In the
Testa de Nevill (p. 295) in an inquisition of King
John's, where ^ of a carucate pays i od. to Danegeld
in Denham, and 6 acres in the same place 3^d.
(the word here may refer to a rate), and carucage
was taken temp. John and Hen. III., which in
some cases may have been raised by the Hide

* Quittance from Hidage (as well as Danegeld) may be
noted in the Foundation Charter of Battle Abbey, 21 Wm. I.

Feudal Statistics 33

rather than the plough,* and in 1222 (St. Paul's
Domesday, Camd. Soc.) Hides are continually
defended against both King and SherifF, whilst the
jurors of Draitone name exactions made in common
by Hides, which supports the view that taxation

* W. H. Stevenson (writing in the E. H. R., vol. iv., Carucage.
p. 109) challenges the statement that Carucage was ever
levied on the plough-team itself (citing a.d. 1220) ; as the
Close Rolls for that year (4 Hen. III., 1220) contain writs
(Rot. CI. i. 437^ and b) to all the Sheriffs of England to levy
2s, on each plough, as it was joined on the morrow of the feast
of St. John the Baptist last past, it would seem to require
that extreme abstraction (so conspicuous a mark of the
ex cathedra writer), to explain the union o^ Hides or Carucates
on the morrow, etc. : the writ of course refers to the yoking
of oxen in the plough-teams, and not to some absolutely
meaningless junction of acre to acre at a particular date. The
above [E. H. R., vol, iv., p. 109] seems seriously enough
written, bpt merely shows the modern usages of the Schools,
whereby the critic can expound what he has either not
read, or is incompetent to understand : these writs (CI.
4 Hen. III.) show that in Northants (and perhaps in all
counties) the demesnes of all clerks and their rustics were
exempted, and that the ploughs of their Knights and free
tenants were not to be answered by the collectors in their
rolls ; Subsidy --^/jp (marked /. Hen. III. in the official slips,
and certainly of the time when Falkes de Breaute was in
power) is presumably the return for this county (the best
carucage known to the writer), stating the exemption of the pre-
lates and their rustics, together with omissions of 9 other fees,
honours, etc., and responding for 26lj\ ploughs (possibly from
^ of the shire), as against 2422 teams in the whole county in
1086 (D. B.), at which date were some IJS^ Hides. There
are other carucages in existence, but usually of little statistical
value, omitting mention of exemptions, and parts of the
counties otherwise collected ; in addition to this there would
be the usual mediasval tendency towards assessment rather Mediaeval
than enumeration {vide writ as above) : in 4 Hen. III., ^^^t'on.
Yorks, and Lines, pay ;^200 and £^0 (the equivalent of
2,000 and 400 ploughs) respectively — figures which can
scarcely deceive the most credulous.

3

34 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

of this nature at least had not passed out of mind
A Hen. III., whilst rating as already shown con-.
Danegeid, tinued much longer. Danegeld (exemption from)
is named in a Charter to Fountains of i Ric. I.
(Ex Rot. Chart. 5 Ed, II. per Inspex.) and also
in another^ of 11 Ric. I. (pp. 8 and 18 No. 67
Surtees Soc), and the following from Madox's
Formulare AngUcanum bear on the matter in hand
(p. 238) — concession by Wm. I. of 8 Hides free
from Geld ; (p. 176) Feoffment or Confirmation of
the Manor of Bromham by Wm. II. to Battle
Abbey, fi^ee from ghelds, scots, hidages, danegelds,
shires, hundreds, and armies; (p. 291) grant and
confirmation to Battle Abbey by Hen. I. free from
all gheld, scot, shires, hundreds, hidage, danegeld,
and expedition, and (p. 293) King Stephen quit-
claims from ghelds, danegelds, Justices' and Sheriffs'
Aid,t " et ab omni exercituum expeditione."

* In 1 25 1 Hen. III. {anno 36) granted lands in England, to
Alexander, King of Scotland, free of Danegeld and Hidage
(Rot. Pari., i. 115^).
Sheriffs' t This Aid is named in Rot. Pari. (12 Ed. IV., vi. 64)

^^^' A.D. 1472, the Commons praying discharge of it, amongst

certain old payments, when not able to be levied (citing an
unobserved ordinance of 5 Ric. II., that all Sheriffs should
account, and be discharged by their oaths) — Le Roy s'advisera.
The Commons state that these " grete Fermes and Sommes
under divers olde names axed " (giving details), " the said
Shirefes knovv^ nat wher ner howe to levye," and the pre-
ceding article (vi., 63) respecting riots in Cumberland further
illustrates the matter. The management of the King's
interest in the county in 1472 would thus seem to have
retained much of the form apparent in the published Pipe
Rolls of Hen. II., which themselves appeared to be fore-
shadowed in 1086 (D. B.), in which are divers evidences of

Feudal Statistics

?>S

The Domesday Hides amount in number to
about 67,000* in 34 counties, and approximate
to same circa 11 50 (see Tables): a comparison
with the Leicestershire Survey 11 24-9 is made
in Feudal England (Round), and another can
be done from Gale's Register of the Honour
of Richmond for Hang, Gilling, and Halikeld Occasional
Wapentakes 30 Hen. II. (i 183-4), the carucates g^S^ °^
of which are almost identical with those of the
Book of Winton (1086) ; the reference occurs on
pp. 24-6, and on pp. 22-3 presumably of the same
date (30 Hen. II.), are fines to the Sheriff com-
puted at 4s. yd. per Tenmantele, (10 men equal to
14 carucates), and it is curious to observe that
taking the Domesday figures as 10,09 5 f (Maitland)
the Danegeld would be ^^i 65-^^166, at the above
rate, and that the actual amount named in 31
Hen. I. (Pipe Roll) is ;^ii4 os. 4d., plus
£^i 19s. 2d. by pardons. Some further illus-
trations of the occasional stability of Hides are
given later from the H. R. of Ed. I., also com-
parison of the Survey of St. Paul's Manors (1222)
in Essex, Herts, Middlesex and Surrey shows
practical identity with 1086, and the appended
table collating the Ramsey Abbey Manors

fiscal administration, thus : Beds, zoga {bis), zogb (fer) ;
Cambs, 197a; Chester, 262b; Essex, ii. 2 (bis), and 3;
Hants, $oa ; Hereford, iy()b ; Norf., ii. 118, 119, and 276
(the royal treasury) ; Salop, 254^ ; Surrey, lob ; iVilts, 6ga ;
Worcester, ij2a.

* Prof. Maitland's Norfolk " Hidage " has been used here,
though not agreeable to the evidence of D. B.

t For Yorks ; but land between Tyne and Tees (not in
D. B.) is accounted for in 8 Hen. II.

3—2

Examples
of con-
tinuity of
Hidage.

36

Domesday and Feudal Statistics

MANORS OF RAMSEY

ABBEY IN HUNTS

BEDS, CAMBRIDGE,

NORTHANTS. AND HERTS

1086, AND

TEMP. ED,

II.*

Huttts.

Normancross Hundred.

Bedfordshire.

1086.

t. Ed. II.

1086.

t. Ed II.

Athelinton .

. 10 H. 4 c.

10 H. 4 c.

Cranfield

. 10 H.

10 H. 4 c.

Sawtre

• 7|H.

71 H.

Barton

. II H.

10 H. 2 c.

Lodinton

. 2iH.

2jH.

Pekesdene

. 10 H.

10 H. I c.

Weston

. 10 H. )

Shitlingdon

. 10 H.

loH. 5 V.

Brington

. 7H.

4 c. 15 H.

3C.

Bytherne

• 4H. \

G r a V en-

Walton

. not in

5H.

hurst

. not in

I H.

Holewelle

• 3iH.

3^H.

Hunts.

Leystonestane Hundred.

Berford

. 5H.

5H.

1086.

t. Ed II.

Cliston

. I H.

I H.

Giddinge
Ellington

. not in
. 9H.

7 H. I c.
10 H.

Cambridgeshire.
1086.

t. Ed. II.

Dillington .

. 6H.

6H.

Gravele

• 5H.

5 H. 2C.

Hunts

. Tolesland Hundred.

Knapwell

. 5H.

5H.

1086.

t. Ed. II.

Elsworth

. 9 H. I V.

9 H. I V.

Offorde

. 4H.

4H.

Stowe

5 ac.

•:)-■

. I H.

5 ac.
/3H.
(2iH.
I H.

Emin g-
forde

. 18 or 19 H.

18 H. 2 c.

alia Stowe
Broune

E mi n g-
forde alia .

. 5 or 6 H.

5H.

Drayton
Overe

. |H.
. lof H.

I H.

II H. 2 c.

Gyllinge

. 5H.

5H.

Girton

. 8|H.

8f H. c.

Hunts.

Hyrstington Hundred

1086. t. Ed. II.

Borewell
Charteriz

. loi H.
. 2IH.

lo^ H. c.
3 H. c.

Stukeley

. 7H.

7H.

Northants.

Ripton Ab. .

. 10 H. 2 c.

10 H. 2 c.

1086.

t. Ed. II.

Broughton .

. 9H.

9 H. 4 c.

Whiston

::|3H.

. not in

jiH.
liH.

Wistowe

. 9H. 3C.

9 H. 2 c.

Doddinton

Haliwelle .

. 9 H. 2 c.

9 H. 2 c.

Hisham

Slepe

. 20 H. 3 c.

20 H. 3 c.

Bernewelle

. 6H.

6H.

Houghton
Wilton

. 7 H. 2 c.
. 7 H. 2 c.

7 H. 2 c.
7 H. 2 c.

Remington

. 2^H.

3 H. 3 V.

Wardeboys

. 10 H. 3 c.

Herts.
1086.

10 H. 3 c.
t. Ed. II.

Therfield

. . loi H.

10 H. c.

* H. = Hide or Hides, V. =Virgate or Virgates, c. = carucate or caru-
cates, and the date of the Survey of the record of Ed. II. is not headed^
nor noted in margin, but is in body of text {Cart. Ra?ns., Rolls Series).

Feudal Statistics

37

t. Ed. II. and Domesday demonstrates the point
still further. Records of the reign of Ed. I.
frequently show the enquiry whether or not vills
are " geldabiles," such contributing to the SherifFs
aid for Hidage, etc. ; thus 39 Hen. III. (Salop
H. R.) a usual rate is 4d. for mot fey and the like
for streetward per rateable hide (another point of
interest in this record is the occasionally double
description in terms of the fee and hide) ; also
in Kirkby's Quest (13 Ed. I.) in StainclifFe, Yorks,
a common rate is 3|d. per carucate to the Wapen-
take fine (similar in amount to 4s. yd. per Tenmen-
tale of 14 car.), and in Pontebell, (same co.), no fine
is due, because held by acres and not by bovates.
Some vills have exemption from these local rates
(the lords having regalities, or as being held in
alms may quit them), and further instances can
be seen from the H. R. (7 Ed. I.) in Wilbraham
Parva, SwafFham, Bolebek, and Coteham co. Camb.
of defence against the King and SheriflF ; of local
rates (p. 337, Vol. II., Hoggeston), Hidage at
6d. per virgate ; (p. 829, Vol. II., Badigton)
Hidage and P>ankpledge; (p. 407, V. II.) Pontage
raised by the Hide for repair of the bridge over
the Cam, and at Elyngton and Gidding co. Hunts
(V. II., 7 Ed. I.) the so-called Hidage of the
Abbot of Ramsey, presumably to furnish the 40
days' expenses of 4 knights whilst in the King's
Service.

As to the areal Hide its variations may be ^"'reai"^
particularly studied in the Ramsey Chartulary Hides.
(Rolls Series) where at Shitlingdon c. 1240 it is
computed at 4 virgates of 12 acres each {i.e.y

38 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

48 ac), and at Therfield of 4 virg. of 64 ac.
(/.f., 256 ac.) with in other cases 3-7 virg. per
Hide ; in the H. R. (referring of course to the
5 counties given at large) it is — I think — the
exception for Hides to be named, either for
defence, or as areal measures, nevertheless there
are indications of a varying no. of acres per Hide,*

* The E. H. R. (vol. v., p. 143, review by W. H. Steven-
Domesday son) states that measurements are never given in terms of the
"ineasures."fjjjg and Oxgang, Ploughland and Yardland, as still fre-
quently confused by antiquaries, which proposition postulates
that the critic is better informed than Domesday Book ; such
a statement calls to mind the reply of the unfortunate
authoress of the "New Atalantis," who had discovered some
special Facts (concerning the Whigs, t. Anne) which were
thought above her own Intelligence (i.e.y information), and
alleged in defence that her source was Inspiration, " because
knowing her own Innocence she could account for it in no
other Way." Some of the following references to Domesday
demonstrate that the uniformity alleged in the E. H. R. is not
agreeable to the Record : Cheshire (body of county), 263<?,
266*^ — bovates occur in a hidated shire ; (between Ribble and
Mersey), 269^, z']oa — one Hide is equated to 6 Carucates,
which is amply borne out by the summary of 79 Hides
(scotting), whereas the Hides and Carucates add to about
80 H. by above equation ; and further the Hide is sometimes
(Cornish \ valued at l6s. and the Carucate at 2s. 8d. ; Cor7izvail, 123/? to
("acres." ) 125^ appears to prove the acre greater than th.t /erling, and
from the Exon 'Z). B. the former seems equal to 10 fiscal
English acres, thus p. 92, Tretlant 4 ac. ; p. 206, Tretlant
(apparently same entry), i virgate and I acre ; also p. 242,
Delio, I virgate divided into l^ acres and another land,
suggesting 4 ferl. = I virgate = 3 acres, which is rather sup-
ported by the Testa de Neville (21 Ed. I., pp. 204-5), where
the Cornish acre equals the Cornish carucate ; Devon, 1 04^7,
107^, iioa, the acre apparently normal, and the ferling the
fourth of a virgate ; Glos'ter, 162a, the Welsh carucates ;
Hereford^ i8i/z and b, 182/^, English and Welsh Hides ; Kent^

Feudal Statistics 39

and Hides per virgate (at Haliwell, Hunts, a virg.
of 16 ac, at Elyngton, Hunts, a Hide of 120 ac.
in 5 virg., and at Gidding, Hunts, a Hide of 180
ac. in 6 virg.) and by collating the Ramsey Cartu-
lary with itself and the H. R. it may be seen that
in the same place changes occur at different times ;
thus at Dillington, Hunts, in 1279 (H. R.) the
virgate contains 18 ac, and about 1240 (Ramsey
Cart.) 33^ ac. These Hides have of course no
connexion with the amount of land ploughable
by one team p. a., and it may be observed both
from the Chartulary and the H. R. that certain
holdings are "out of Hide," and that the com-

lOtf, half a solin and 3 virgates, the virgate being the fourth
of a jugum (see Feudal England, p. 108), and za, 400^ acres
make z^ solins, which with the entries of the Rochester
Custumal (p. 153) of 40 acres per jugum, and the absence of
further information in D. B., suggests that the solin might
have contained 160 and not 120 fiscal acres ; Leicester, 232^,
3 carucates less a virgate ; 236^7, 5 car. less i virg. ; and
237^7, one Hide of 12 or 18 car. la. ; Norfolk, vide ii. 168,
205, 224, and 237, as instances of actual or computed
measurements, which seem to have been not uncommon
here, thus ii. 171, J league and 2 perches long by 4 quaren-
teens and 4 feet wide (in co. Bucks I45<7, one Hide less
5 feet occurs); Ncrthants, 219^, 222^, 223*7 and b, 225/7
{bis), and b {bis), zzSb, zzjb and 2281^ afford 1 1 unmis- Inter-
takcablc instances of bovates (oxgangs) added to or sub- mixture of
tracted from Hides and Virgates ; Notts, 289^, a ferling»n,easures'."
seemingly equated to a bovate ; Rutland, 293^, 2 Hundreds
each of 12 fiscal carucates ; Salop, 253^, 255^, Fines of
Welsh land, and 260^^, a ferling apparently of 10 acres ;
Suffolk, passim, presumptive actual or computed measure-
ments ; Torks, 'i'j^b, 2 measurements of Pontefract castellate,
and frequently the areas of manors, and the woods contained
in same arc given, see p. 129, and note on p. 131 for co. Leics.

40 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

putation by Hides may differ as whether against
the King or the lord (Craunfield, co. Beds,, p. 2,
V. II., Rolls Series) ; this together with the
changing no. of acres per Hide tends to indicate
a possible solution of the great variations noted,
on the supposition that the rural arrangements
are constructed to fit the fiscal ones. Tho' taxa-
tion & rates are paid by the Hide, nevertheless
individuals are liable and in defence for varying
proportions ; the acre is not the unit of assessment
and it might well be that an artificial unit such
as the Hide should contain in one place twice or
more, than the acres in another, with the further
fact of usually certain tenements being omitted
from the reckoning — as a rule (if I have observed
rightly) cottagers are not in defence, and both in
the Chartulary and H. R. for the Ramsey Manors
a tolerably close approximation of the details with
the no. of Hides stated, is to be found, rather than
exact coincidence. Further, Hides are to be sought
Fiscal in ground unoccupied and presumably defended

Hides in i r j

Woods, by the lord of the Manor, thus D. B. (fo. 204^^)
Marshes. ^^ ^^^^ Hide wasted for the King's wood (Elin-
tune), which same is noted in the Ramsey Chart.
(A Hen. I. and /. Hen. II.) as being in the wood
of Walberge ; the Abbot of Croyland's 5 Hides in
the Coatham Marshes (1086-1279 compared in the
. sequel) ; and at Beolege (D. B., fo. 175^) in plain
and wood 21 Hides, said wood being 6 leagues by
3, and but 10 ploughs named: also the arable of
the lord's demesne is sometimes out of Hide, and
not rarely the hidation is given first for the
Manor, and then for its components, i.e.^ demesne

Feudal Statistics 41

and villenage. Could we transfret the centuries
doubtless a landowner would be able to indicate
the exact boundaries of his property, and likewise
inform of its total Hides, and indicate exactly by
whom each item of taxes and rates was paid —
further it might be found that some tenants paid
neither rates nor taxes, and others perhaps in pro-
portion to their holdings in the common fields, the
owner acquitting the demesne at a more or less
arbitrary computation for arable, wood, and grass,
by Hides, which may indicate different quantities
of ground on 2 adjoining properties. Again either
the whole estate may be, say, i o Hides, or but such
portions of it as are concerned in defending them ;
in Yorkshire (1086) there can be small doubt that Yorkshire
wood and rough pasture is within the carucate, as
the dimensions of same are often given and com-
prised within the larger areas of the Manors —
see also Kelham's X). B. Illustrated (p. 231) ;
" took from this land i Hide of the aforesaid
wood," and " J a Hide of wood." Now tho' it
might have been practicable to fix a tax by the
acre (instead of the Hide) on arable and grass
enclosures, to bring woods and rough pasture land
into a similar computation in proportion to their
area would be a hard matter, premising that the
latter would have to be sought out and measured,
and charged at a suitable and varying rate. The
scope of the Hide appears to approach to 400 scope of
acr.es in 1086, and its fiscal value then to be i20Hfd?*^
ac. ; and possibly at that period a rough estimate
— equivalent to 10,000,000 acres (made up as of
arable, several meadow and pasture, some wood,

42 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

Knights'
Fees.

Bishop of

Durham's

Case,

Service,

and

Retainers.

mills and other sources of profit) — may have been in
view. The same conception may be made of the
Knight's Fee, either the whole tenement being
regarded as X fees, or but certain portions of it
which total X ; thus a fief of lo fees might be
made up of 7 of old feoffment and 3 on the
"dominicum," or one of 15 fees, of 12 of old,
5 of ne\y feoffment, and the " dominicum " quit,
in which latter case there appears an excess of fees.
Sure it is, there must ever have been a balance for
the lord of the fee ; in the former case the
*' dominicum " if entirely subinfeuded would be
more than 3 fees, tho' only liable for that number ;
to take an actual case the Bp. of Durham said he
ought (L. R. Rolls Series) the service of 10 knights,
and sends in a certificate of about 70 ; he can name
any 10 of these as his service to the King, and his
entire tenement comprises either 10 or 70 fees,* the
service being dischargeable from but a small portion
of his estate. For taking the Bp.'s statement to be
correct (and in an ordinary case I do not discover
he ever paid on more), he is not bound to enfeoff a
tenant who owes him i knight's service in ^^ of
his estate — that, subject perhaps to custom, is a
matter of arrangement between the Bp. and pro-
spective tenant, and an excess of fees above service
is easily comprehensible. In 19 Hen. III. (Testa
de Nevill, aid to marry), when all tenants paid on
both old and new feoffment (theoretically), as con-
ceded by the common council of the realm, the
said Bp. (p. 373 T. de N.) pays ^^200, equal, at
2 marcs per fee, to 150 fees ; but for the Gascony
escuage circa 1242 (p. 412 T. de N.) his fees are

* As early as a.d. 1088, himself is a witness for his
100 milites (not necessarily all feudal tenants), — the Durham
5V[S. is almost certainly from that of a writer, living Wm. II. :
again Caerlaverock reports Anth. Bek had 160 men at arms in
1300, whilst Ro. de (^raystanes (contemporary), states, habuit
de familia sua XXVI vexillarios et communiter de sua sect a CXL

Feudal Statistics 43

noted a3 not unless i o, for the bishops had granted
40s. per fee to the King, on all those fees they
ought him for scutage, obtaining in return for
themselves a like grant on all their fees, so that
1 1 66-1 242 the Durham bishoprick. seemed to
contain 70 and 150 fees, the whole however
being not unless 10. Now plain it should appear
that an immediate tenant's estate was never likely
to be completely subinfeuded, and that the lord
would reserve for himself some portion — the above
case is extreme, but 'tis contrary to reason to sup-
pose any tenant would systematically subinfeud at
what rate himself had been enfeoffed ; nevertheless
such unreal conceptions have caused erudite state-
ments as to measurement by Hides — so many
Hides, so many Knights, etc., etc. ; presumptions
unwarranted by evidence, and very little flattering
the sagacity of our predecessors.

Without much violence to probability it may
be conceded that records of Hidage before 1086
existed (thus in D. B., in North Lanes, StainclifFe,
Ewecross, parts of Cumberland and Westmorland
are named no persons, stock, nor ploughs — save in
16 vills near Preston, where unknown — but the
Hidage is given), and it also may be allowed that
5-6 Domesday Hides make an average Fee (as Average
a grant to a lay tenant in cap.), but that is not to
say that the first feoffment (presumably before
the Book of Winton was written) was made by
nidation ; certain it is that even in one county
(Yorks) the subinfeudations vary greatly, thus
1205, 7 John^ in Scawsby (Honour of Tickhill)
2^ carucates make a fee (Final Concords) ; temp.

tnilites, in the Scotch war — this of course must not be con-
founded with the now almost extinct service, and whether his
retainers were tnilites or men at arms, any acquainted with the
records of the period will not need to be informed they were
probably mostly ad vadia nostra (i.e., of Ed. /.).

44 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

Hen. III. (L. R. Rolls Series V. ii., p. 736)
Variations 6o Car. make a fee in Swynton, etc., and in
sTderaWe". ^.D. 1300 (I. P. M. Rog. de Moubrai, as cited in
Grainge's Vale of Mowbray) 159 car. make a
fee — these are extremes, but ample confirmation
of variations in practice may be found in the
Testa de N., Kirkby's Quest, and Knight's fees
31 Ed. I. (see vol. 49 Surtees Soc), and it may be
remarked that the average ^-G Hides would be far
from applying on the one hand to Yorks, or on
the other to Cornwall. The burden of supporting
the 4, 5, or 6 Hide theory falls on its promoters,
and receives no assistance from the subinfeudations
of tenants in cap. which are quite untrammelled
by any show of uniformity — the following from
Domesday may be noted,

Service.
Examples. Fee of Wm. Percl in Yorks ... '^%i)\ c&r.\ r

„ „ in Lines ... some 58^ „ /•'

Fee of Earl of Richmond inl . fco fees in

Yorks r'' ^'^7^ " r Yorks

and the Abbot of Ramsey had in all well over
300 Hides and Carucates, with a service of
4 Knights, but ecclesiastical fees are on a different
scale to lay ones. Further if Fiefs had been dis-
tributed on the 4, 5, or 6 Hide plan, the value of
a fee in Cornwall would have exceeded one in
Derby more than 6 times ; a grant of course might
well be as by Hides, premising no uniformity ;
some average fee there must be, but it would be
conveying but scant information of the ages of
4 individuals, two 60 and two 20, to state their
average age as 40. The ^20 p. a. value is another

2 + h + ^ fees +

I car.
3^ fees + 2 bov.

Feudal Statistics 45

rough standard of occasional correctness for the
fee in its transit to extinction, {i2 Car. II.),
varied from £2-£2^ t)ut usually ^5 to ^^8 p. a.
(Book of Winton, by Pearson's values) to £100
p. a. (Brady who lived in the latter period), so it
is to little purpose to cite average values, unless
the times to which they pertain are observed, as
the following may demonstrate :

WAPENTAKE OF CLARO (INCLUDING LIBERTIES OF
RIPON AND KNARESBRO').

1065. 1085.
From Domesday 31 Ed. i. 20 Ed. III.

worth

CClaro i4i + i5V fees 14^ + ! fees

\Knareshro' -^^Jr^ ,,

Enrolled ajcs of the Exchequer.

That the subinfeudations by the chief lords were
often in terms of the Hide and Carucate, appears
from such records as the Testa, Kirkby's Quest,
and Knight's Fees 31 Ed. I., but at no uniform
rate, and clearly it would be easier to enfeoff in
terms of already known Hides than in the often
unknown acres ; but this is not to say that 2,000
acres, or yet 5-6 Hides, would contribute a couple
of pounds to an auxilium^ for the tax was primarily
on the Fee, and only on Hides and carucates (for
feudal taxation) as being members of same. For
example in 1346 (Book of Aids) the Prior of
Marton holds i carucate in Appletreewick of the
lord of Skipton Castle (Yorks) of the King,
whence 14 car. make i fee, and therefore is
assessed at 2s. io|-d. to a 40s. aid, but in the
same vill at same date Hen. de Kighley holds

46 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

I bovate (-1- of i car.) of the Fee of Moubrai of
the King, whence 28, etc., and therefore owes 2^6..
to the aid, — the one in double proportion to the
other, and having examined each entry of 3 wapen-
takes (Yorks) the writer can state that in no other
sense is land taxed there than as part of a fief.
For defect of service (fees were frequently unable
to be found) doubtless the King had a right to
claim, the Servitia being based on the render of
the 14 Hen. II. Pipe Rolls ; but the services of
1,000 Hides in military tenure would be a phrase
of no meaning, and would have to be ascertained
from former inquisitions or returns.

Reciting the explanation of the Barons' Cer-
tificates in Feudal England^ which with a slight
amendment appears warranted by the Charters,
definite if disputed services were due by the
immediate tenants to the King in respect of their
holdings, which debt is named more or less dis-
tinctly in some half these documents. The royal
enquiry had been not as to the service due, but
how many Knights had been enfeoffed by i Dec,
1,135 (^^^ ^^y ^^ which Hen. I. was quick and
dead), how many since, and how many (if any)
were due on the " dominicum." The former are
specified as fees of the old feoffment in contra-
distinction to those of new (Dec. 2, 1 1 35 onwards),
and the last enquiry refers to the balance between
the service and the actual number of Knights
enfeoffed, if such deficiency existed. The term
" dominicum," tho' usually applied to land in the
hands of the lord in 1166, is also applied to
the non-infeuded portion of the fee prior to 1135

Feudal Statistics 47

and 1 166, thus Hugh de Dover (Kent) states that
on his " dominium " are 2\ Knights* of new
feoffment, and Earl Eu (Sussex) that on his
" dominium " are 6^ Knights* whose names are,
etc., and that he has no new feoffment. These
certificates are the Primer of Feudal Tenures in
England, but themselves contribute references to
older times, which add to the scanty contemporary
notices of Knight service, and it may be observed
that no one in the days of Hen. II. (Certificates), Retrospec-
John and Hen. III. (Testa de N.), or Hen. III. l^^c^oi
and Ed. I. (H. R.), seems to have been in doubt fe^o^nf"nts
as to the early existence of the feudal system ; in
elder times the question would perhaps rather
have been if such tenures were in usage before the
Conquest (see Spelman's Works, rebutting that
opinion which had been " legally " successful
t. Car. I.). Hence the fiiU burden of a demon-
stration lies on those who hold that tenure by
Knight Service arose after 1086 ; the author of
Feudal England has given (notably on pp. 295,
296) several retrospective references, to which I
will add a few from the H. R. of Hen. III. and
Ed. I. In 3 Ed. I. (p. 42, v. ii., p. 42) Wm. I.
gave to Hugh . . . and his heirs as \\ fees the
Manor and Castle of Oakham ; {ibid.) Wm. I. gave
to a certain predecessor of Gilbt. de Umfravill the
Manor of Hamildon as i fee ; {ibid.) the Manor
of Preston formerly demesne of Wm. I. given by
him to a certain Earl as i|- fees ; (p. 166) 3 Ed. I.,
a note of a free socage from the time of Harold

• Id est, held by military tenants (whether knts. or not),
in proportions equal to 2^ and 6^ fees.

48 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

the King [commended to the promoters of the
fraternal "ceorls"]; (p. 231) 39 Hen. III. a free
hundred of the Bp. of Salisbury's belonging to
the church from ancient feoffment of OfFa the
King ; (p- 337) 7 Ed. I. the Abbot of St. Albans
holding of the King and adjoining Barony by
service of 6 Knights for 40 days, likewise enfeoffed
by Offa ; (p. 337) another socage tenure from the
time of the Conquest ; (p. 637) 7 Ed. I. the Manor
of Overton Waterville given to Wm. Olifareli at
the time of the Conquest for ^ fee, who after long
holding, committed a felony (seems to have been
held by the Sheriff D. B. 1086), whence forfeited
till King John, etc., and on same page another
Manor in same place of whose service the pre-
decessors of the Abbot of Peterboro' were enfeoffed
in the time of King Edward before the Conquest,
and it is f of a Fee. Now it may justly be remarked
that these statements have little more than tradi-
tionary value, and that the service of Hen. III.
Their and Ed. I. is quietly assumed to have been that
authority. ^^ ^^^ j_ . ^^^ g^^g ^j ^j^-^^ applies to like

passages in the Testa de N. (pp. 295-6, Feudal
England)^ which however can be surpassed (see
pp. 314-5, T. de N.) where " from the conquest "
is the usual form of the Jurors of Jerdeburg
Wap., /. Hen. III. Of course in thoipresent age,
with much less probability, a like statement* is not
unusual, but it seems scarcely critical to accept
the literal sense of records Hen. II. — Ed. I. as to
the nth century, and to confront King Offa's
Knights' fees is somewhat of a problem : in the
T. de N. a pedigree may appear from the Con-

* Fide, works on Genealogy, County and Family Histories,
etc.

Feudal Statistics 49

quest (p. 87, Ric. Cheven* who would answer well
enough to Richard the hunter in D. B.), and the
evidence in it and similar records is good to prove
the general belief in those days of the antiquity of
enfeoffment. Roger de Moubrai's charter (1 166),
informs of 88 old fees, and iif new, and 28 of the
old had Nigel de Albigni enfeoffed " de dominio
suo": this Nigel (his father), was one of those
great men aggrandized by Hen. I., and the 60 fees
(88 less 28) would seem to include parts of the
estates of Robt. de Moubrai, and Robt. de Stute-
ville, escheats of Wm. II. and Hen. I. Dugdale
quoting Vitalis states that Nigel de Albini married
a second time in June 1 1 1 8, and that his heir
Roger de Moubrai was within his age 1138,
3 Step., (citing Ailredus Rieval.); the Pipe Roll
passing for 31 Hen. I. makes it clear the said
Nigelf was then deceased, hence all the 88 fees

* In D. B., i. 250^, the name Chenvin occurs as a tenant
T. R. E., and 1086.

t In 1086, a Nigel de Alblni's principal estates were in Nigel
Beds — he also held in Bucks, Leic. and Warw., and had held d'Aubigni
in Berks (D. B, 59^) ; Hen. de Albeyni of Cainho would R^oger de
appear to have succeeded to all or parts of the above in Beds, Moubrai.
Bucks, and Leic, whose son and heir (Dugdale) Ro. in 1166
returns under Beds a carta of 25 fees of his Barony. In the
Baronage of England the above Henry is stated to have been
a younger son of Nigel (of the text), and a grantor (with the
Lady Cicely, his wife) /. Hen. I. ; this however can scarcely
be correct, as Rog. de Moubrai (his presumed elder brother)
is allowed by Dugdale to have been a minor at the Battle o.f
the Standard [j 8teph^ ; errors of course are inevitable in a
so vast a work, whose author's painstaking labour would truly
reflect the greatest credit on any age. Rog. de Moubrai in
1 1 66, returned as under Yorks, 88 old fees, and \\\ new ones,

comprising

50 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

Fn

'E TA

^LES

OF

KNIGHTS' FEES, 1166— 1346.

/ ^66-8

, Barons' Certificates
-^ND PiiE Roll.

1210-12

Inq.,
Total.

/ *a.^

J253-4 /
PipeRofl
38Hen.III.,
Totals.

6.
1302
Inq.,
Total.

/a

1346/

Inq.,
Total.

Ren-
der.

"Ser-
vice."

Ex-
cess,
Old.

"1^

Ex-
cess,
New.

7
Jotal.,

Beds

98i

\<X)%

..

IIOj

II3J

181 A

i63i

89J

Berks

I37i

i35i

54

2

1424-

36i

42 '0

Il6^

Bucks

152a

^ihW

12

4i

1722*4

i7oi

8I^

181

Cambs

95 1^2

96

16S

17M

1305 /'249 j

•^ I4if

i64-j

i6si

Cornwall

2I5i

215J

..

..

215.^

22oi

l652'4

83

i65f

Cum'land

"^68y

8i

..

3i

34

lOj

Derby

60

10^

78J

y 86J

*/ 230^5

79^

79

Devon

4245

441

175

lOi
2o|

_469i
409 A

,438i
/ 423

4204
•^411*

3644

412

Dorset

"32

ii4i

rii^

Il6io

127

Essex

3795

32oi

59i*2
47g

/414I
Not
found

• 679iAj

264*^
135

267

Gloucester

392I
r37i

392I

461J

408/0

13s

Hants

1371

I4§

2

153:1

Not
found

1421

I703

i7of

Herelord

1702

171*
62

_^1

14^

4i

I92«

66i

203

2592-4

83*

841^

Heits

62

Incl. in
Essex

See Essex

85ig

94i

Hunts

35

35

2S

2iH.

403

Incl. in
Cambs

See
Cambs

43i

49i

Kent

_^^5i

^93_

242

fk

225i

224|_

91

155

2592H)

266i

Lancashire

29t

Leicester

__33„

351J

35

33

Ai

37i

221J

/ 2875^

100

Lines

3641-0

5ii

261*2

2li

24

••

438i

61,^2

3124

392i*2'&

14

4424-0

428J

Middlesex

35

.364

15*
450*

I9f

Norfolk

_338_xH,
126

3371^0

38
2^
A\\

397f

• 475

I22i

68

/'646i

458

Northants

I28i

3l

2i

I34i
84h

1246

222^

N'th'land

nl

76s

[914]

145^

Notts

141

i43i

••

Ah

14736

Incl. in
Derby

See Derby

163^
7681"

160S

Oxon

56g

56S

••

58I

Not
found

8520

i68i

Rutland

..

..

74

14

25?f

24f

Salop

56*
253

54^^
253S

~^h

4S

59^

97i

622%

107^

Somerset

273 r 2

Incl. in
Dorset

See
Dorset

281I

289

Staffs

126

126

"

6§

132s

Not
found

128

Un-
com-
puted

Sufitolk

29Ss

297^

5

8i

Sioi'a

Incl. in
Norfolk

See
Norfolk

279I
69A

28li

Surrey

3

3 1 I

..

4

24

9J

73S

Sussex

251^

248 , 7tf

, 14

269Sg

224I

2764

213S

235

Warwick

124^

I24f i ..

7i

132

1564

See Leic.

87

West'land

..

.• 1 ..

..

..

..

..

7i

Wilts

174*

174;! i lOj

i4i^

7^

) 199^

i76i

I74i

207^1

227

Worcester

62*

63i i 9

8o/c
622..^

2484

78

822\

82

Yorks

515

|6,720|

495A 79i

47i-

4903

441 ii)
c. 6,969

348J

394?-

6,666

4601

!340f

6,446^1

8,334j

c. 6,000«c

Feudal Statistics 5 1

NOTES TO TABLES OF KNIGHTS' FEES.

*a This was an aid to Knight Prince Edward, granted by Aids of
the Prelates and Magnates, scilicet de singulis scutis que de nobis 14Hen.II.,
tenentur in capite xl so lidos tarn de veteri feofamento quam de novo jgfjg^ jjj
{Lane. Lay Subs. — J, A. C. Vincent — citing Ql- 37 Hen, HI.), contrasted,
but with 2 or 3 exceptions new feoffment is quite omitted
in the returns, these for the more part being equivalent to the
render of 1168, that is, those fees alone for which the tenants
were wont to respond for escuage, so that this column may-
be properly compared with the 1st one in the Table as regards
the total. It should be understood that both in 1168 and
1253-4 the counties have a somewhat nominal significance —
for a baron owning lands in divers shires may be returned
under only one of them, and hence for any co. the result is
likely to be both excessive and deficient, and the making a
transcript from the Pipe Rolls of any particular shire does not
of necessity answer to a list of its capital tenants by knt.
service. There are several omissions in 1253-4, amounting
under ii entries to some 775 fees ; viz., the co. of Cornwall
215J ; portions of the fiefs of the Earldoms of Chester and
Richmond, 1 14 and 106^^^; Hon. Wallingford, loo^^ ; Hon.'
Lancaster, 72J ; the Archbp. Canterb., 60 ; fief of St. Valery,
50 less II ; Hon. B'stead, ii\% ; and the fees late Wm./^
Robert, Wm. Traci, and Rog. Huron, 29, 6, and 10. Fiefs
of less than 10 {12 Hen. II.) have not been traced, but it may
be assumed with probability that some new fees had been
granted since that date {e.g., Hon. Knaresbro') ; Cornwall is
not found, having been granted to Earl of same in i 5 Hen. III.
(Dugdale) for 5 fees, who also held the Hon. of Wallingford
(noted, but no payment nor return of fees): 12 counties
answer in pairs, and N'land and Rutland have been supplied
from the Roll of 40 Hen. III. (aid to knt.) — counting en bloc
the composite entries under Honors (those under Boulogne,
and Peverels of Essex, and Notts are answered by tenants of
same, and taken as 3 entries) the tenants yield some 439 names,
which allowing for omissions may be taken as c. 450, a« against
300 in A.D. 1 168. Neglecting the omissions, and taking the
fees of 38 Hen. III. as 5959 '" 439 entries, 9 tenants hold a
full \ of them (1572), and 29 over ^ (3012), but the majority
of tenements consist of small fees (y^- to 2), leaving 204 names
for upwards of 2 (fees), but 74 of them holding more than
20 fees. The returns of 12 Hen. II. on the same basis {render)
yield 6339 fees (5721 +618, as omissions here added) in 300
entries, of which ll tenants hold ^ (1600), 34 a half (3204),

4—2

52 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

Aid of

1302.

Total of
Knights"
Fees,

/. Ed. III.
by con-
temporary
Scribe.

and a minority (94) 2 fees and under (2 to ^, leaving 206
holders of upwards of 2, of which 121 and 40 hold 15, and
50 fees and upwards respectively ; it is not thought probable
that there were many (if any) single capital fees T. R. W.
as will appear in the sequel. These rough analyses (correct,
however, for practical purposes) of 12 Hen. II. to 38 Hen. III.
show a natural increase of tenants due in the main to partition
thro' heiresses ; after the Statute 18 Ed. I. {^Quia Emptores)
further increase should occur, but (if I err not) there are no
existing records from which complete lists of contemporaneous
holders of the Crown can be furnished.

*^ Fourteen of these entries have been already printed in
Lanes, Lay Subs. (J. A. C. Vincent), but those in the Table
(save Wilts), are from Enrolled Exch. ales L. T. R. No. 3, the
reference seemingly given for the 14 (a/ sup.) being now
changed (I am informed) to Subs. L. T. R. No. 2, which is
less complete than Enrolled, etc. {ut. sup.), but considerably
more so than the list in Lanes. Lay Subs. ; with regard to which
(p. 248 ibid.) Surrey is given £l(>\ 2s. id. {i.e. 822V fees), a
reading which neither of the above originals assign it (either
reads ^^139 8s. od.), but both refer to Worcester, which the
author of above vol. refrains to mention, nor were N. R.,and
E. R. of CO. Yorks assessed as such (p. 248, ibid.) but portion
of the former was taken with the latter, and balance of the
former separately, as the details in the Exeh. Enr, ajes {ut sup.)
amply demonstrate.

*c Sum of all the great fees in England (save Staffs)
5.831! + ^ plus 2s. 7|d. more in total = j^i 1,663 ^7s- y^d. at
£z per fee ; small fees of Moreton in Somerset, Dorset, and
Bucks, 6o|+ j-^^ = _£8o 8s. 8|d. at 2 marcs per fee ; small fees
of Moreton in Devon, 61^2= £76 7s. o^d. at 25s. per fee :
total sum, ;^II,820 1^. ^hd. The writer being unsatisfied
with the incomplete returns in the 'Book of Jlids for this
tAuxilium instructed Mr. N. J. Hone, to search for it in
Enrolled ajes of the Exeh., where it was found in No. 3 ;
the record certainly deserves publication verbatim et litter atim.
It must be explained (the original MS. it is believed is a
triumph of addition) that the writer for reasons of expediency
has used slight license with Mr. Hone's figures (who must not
therefore be accused of lack of accuracy) ; thus Hereford is
returned as fourscore and four fees and the sixteenth part,
and the half of the forty-eighth part of a fee, whereas
84^'g- fees appear in the table, and similar slender deviations
(never \ fee) occur in same.

Feudal Statistics 53

are proveably old ones. Now the Moubrai fee ^g"*'"'**
(Hen. II. — III.) is always rendered between 88
and 89 fees (usually 88|- fees), and in the Inquisi-
tions 12-14 John (pp. 469-574, L. R., V. ii.) it is
curious to observe 6o\ fees (the ^ fee held of the
Archbp. of York) are given by the Yorks sheriff,
and just 28 by those of Lines, Leicester, Cam-
bridge, Hunts, and Warwick ; Dugdale (quoting
ancient authors) informs of the additions of the
Northern Baronies of Moubrai and Stutteville
t. Hen. I., and these would presumably pass
with all the Knights those lords had enfeoffed.
The Patent Roll of 20 Hen. VI. cites a grant of
Massamshire from Earl Alan to Rog. de Moubrai,
by the same service as his father Nigel de Albini
held it, to wit i fee, and then proceeds to give the
boundaries of his grant, which method may have
run parallel with subinfeudation by hides and
carucates, as where 14 car. make a fee (Skipton
Fee, L. R., 1166).

Few better estimates have been made than
Pearson's (cited in " Feudal England," p. 293) viz.
6,400 Knights' fees of 5 Hides each, stipulating
for an average, and not a uniform 5-6 Hides ; as
an eclectic table is of doubtful value, the following Method of

I • r 1 /- /- n • computraR

explanations or the 1 166-8 tenures are given — fees,
such entries in the Red Book (Barons' Cartae.) as '• ^^" "'
are of date posterior to t. Hen. II. are omitted,

comprising lands (I think) in Essex, Lines, N'ants, Leics,
Notts, Warwick, and Yorks (in the 4 last named also in Pipe
Roll 3 1 Hen. I.) ; Nigel (his father), and Wm. de Albini
{PincernaS, appear to have been younger sons of Henry of
Cainho {ut sup.), who presumably was himself the son or
brother of Nigel the Domesday tenant (vide D. B. ; Ord. Fit.,
and Chron. Abingdon).

54 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

whilst some in a hand later than the original are
retained {e.g. nearly all the Yorks entries by the
Sheriff) as of those who had not sent Charters,
with further additions from the 14 Hen. II. Pipe
Roll of fees military, but not from later ones,
excepting the Abbot of Malmesbury (required to
complete the military church tenants) who appears
neither in the returns of 1 166 nor 1168. By this
method some 700-800 fees are lost, thus the
Earl of Richmond 64, the balance between 140
(the least probable no.) and 76 named in the
L. R. 1166 returns, the Honour of Boulogne, say
113, Earl of Leicester say \i\^^, the Honour of
the Constable in Essex, say 57, part of the Earl of
Chester's fees, say 118, Bernard de St. Valery, say
50, Simon Crevequer 13^, with Peverel of Dover
8^, and Hon. Lancaster 72^.* The service due
(including escheats) in 1 166-8 there can be little
doubt exceeded 6,000 fees, but by how much is
difficult to estimate, as the largest tenements are
those where most uncertainty prevails — to state
the number as under 7,000 may be probable, but
Expiana- scarcely proveable. The ist col. of the table
s coiuLn gives the render of account in Pipe Roll 14 Hen II.,
^He^n II ^^^^ allowances for omitted returns from later
Rolls (thus the whole of the Salop tenants sending
charters are wanting 14 Hen. II.) ; the 2nd the
services due where stated, and where not the
" render " which method is erroneous for large
tenements ; the 3^ the excess of old feoffment
over service, by equating latter with " render "

* The fees of Earl Hunts, and the complement of the
Chester fief (both unknown to writer) are here omitted.

Feudal Statistics 55

where unstated, the 4th the excess of new feoff-
ment on the same plan, and the 5th the total,
probably short of the real one on the ground of
incomplete returns from the larger tenements,
where as a rule nothing is assigned to the
dominicum. The ist and 2nd column would be
practically equal, if deductions were made from
the former of excess by tenements in the hands of
a custoSy and certain exceptional cases (noted in
the sequel) where the render is excessive and
corrected in future returns. There are some
51 cases of fees from 10-75, where the service
seems to be stated ; made up as under, using
O = Old, N = New, S. D = Super Dominicum

'24 cases of O + N4 S.D. (i ecclesiastical) Composi-

'+ " O + S.D. (I „ ) l^-l

8 „ less than O (3 „ ) "Service."

3 „ O.
, ^ „ O + N (i „ )

and 76 cases of fees of Lay Tenants, of service
unknown but presumably exceeding 10, as under

42 cases of O. 4 cases O + N + S.D. Composi-

1 o I • ^ /-v XT "on of

15 „ by Sheriff 4 „ O + N unknown

8 „ of 0 + S.D. 3 „ less than O "Service."

Total, 76 cases.

Thus it plainly appears in the known cases that Remarks

* . •/ ^ r _ . on above.

O 4- N + S.D. is the most frequent service ; whereas
in the render of the unknown lay fees, O occurs
very commonly ; here the ecclesiastical fees are
omitted, their conditions not being applicable to
lay ones. For example the Honor of Totnes
returns 49 old, I9x% new, and 6^ s. d., which
amounts to 75 fees, the probable tho' unstated

;i

56 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

service ; whereas the render is 5 5|- fees, which
being palpably deficient, a debit of 19I- is entered
against the tenant on the Pipe Roll (nevertheless
55|- fees or thereabouts becomes the basis of returns
of Ric. I. to Hen, III.) ; but the Earl of Glos'ter
whose service is unascertainable renders 261^ fees,
whereas his charters inform of some 258^ old, and
13^ new in Glos'ter, besides 23 fees in Kent,
which would be lightly rated at 300 (the Honor
reputed to have been granted to Ro. Fitz Hamo
by Wm. II.) ; also the Earl of Clare rendering
142, and debited with yf new, informs by charter
of a similar number of fees, making no statement
either as to service or a balance on the dominicum^
and it may be noted the Exchequer seems not to
have material available for completing a defective
return.
"To^^ The total of tenants is about -^oo, and with

caP'tal . /T 1 • 1 \ 1 r

tenants {«/ somc 1 1 exccptions (i thmk) the render of

by K'night 14 Hen. II. (or a later render where not returned

^wfllr^the ^^ ^^^^ Roll) became the basis of assessment for

usual basis Ric. I. to Hen. III. throughout England ; and in

^quent Yorkshire (and presumably for all England) for

returns. ^^ reigns of Hen. III. and Ed. I. (as is proved

by the aids to marry and Knight 29 and

38 Hen. III., and the Welsh Scutages of

42 Hen. III., 7 and 14 Ed. I. see Pipe Rolls) ;

by the render is meant the reddit compotum only,

not including the additional amount now and

then debited to the tenant t. Hen. II. Of

these II exceptional renders 5 were adjusted by

18 Hen. II. (the Irish scutage), and 4 more by

ci Ric. I.,

Feudal Statistics

S7

Exceptional Cases.

xi68 R. C

1172 R. C.

2 Rid.
R:C.

Northumb. Bolebec Walt . .

4i

Bertram Rog. . .

6i

Yorks. Bulmer Bert.

3M

3tV

3t^

CamerarS: Herb; Steph./.

li

H

I*

Gaunt Ro. de . .

17

not in

I2i

Laci Hen.

63I + 1V

43l

431

Paganel Wm. . .

16

15

15

Ros Everard

m

not in

6^

Skipton Hon.

21

,,

12

Stutteville Wm.

8i

8

8

Vesci Wm. de . .

2m

not in

24i

Excep-
tional
cases.

and of the rest, the fee of Bolebec Walt, has
avowedly a service of 5 (Charter 1166) and is so
given in Swereford's extracts from the Pipe Roll
of 4 John, also p. 392 Testa de N. in the inqui-
sitions of 12 1 2-1 2 14, and not only is Rog.
Bertram's service stated as 5 (Charter 11 66) but
is so returned in the above named inquest (p. 392,
T. de N.).

Some 146 Charters state or practically state the "Render'
service, which in 103 cases agrees with the render, "Service."
and in 27 disagrees (the remainder not being
found on the 14 Hen. II. Pipe Roll), but this
excess is largely composed of very small fees, and
this to such an extent that there are about 800
fees agreeing with the r. c. and the same number dis-
agreeing ; the majority of the important barons very
prudently declining any information either as to
their service or the debt on their *' dominicum,"
are thus practically at their own assessment. Cer-
tainly in the reign of Hen. II. there are additional
charges on new feoffment (much of which was due
to the Crown), the relative payment or non-pay-

58 'Domesday and Feudal Statistics
New ment of which would require to be sought out,

feoffment. , _ t- 1

but the attempt to enrorce even the new that was
owing (where not included in the render of
14 Hen. II.) seems to have been abandoned in
later reigns (Ric. I.-Ed. I.). The consequence of
the above probably was that there was much loss
of service due, in addition to considerable difficulty
in collecting the scutage on the basis of the
14 Hen. II. render^ and doubtless numerous bad
debts ; Swereford has given enough extracts from
the Pipe Rolls of Ric. I. and John (pp. 70-184
V. i. L. R. Rolls Ser.) to trace the " services " of
fees, and there are the Inquisitions of 1210-1212
(pp. 469-574 ibid.)^ in addition to the already
named Pipe Rolls of Hen. III. and Ed. I. Of far
Excess of more importance than the supposed increase of
ment%n service from 1168, and permanent change of
tkaffS assessment (p. 286, "Feudal England") was the
not usually attempt (likewise unsuccessful) of the Crown to
^' ■ make the church fees pay on excess of old feoff-
ment ; in 15 Hen. III. (Brady's "Hist. Eng."
V. i., App. p. 42, citing Pat. Rot. 15 H. III.)
the prelates conceded to the King 40s. per fee, on
those fees they were wont to answer for to military
service, but were permitted to have service of all
their fees for themselves at the like rate ; again
19 Hen. III. (Brady ut supra, pp. 43 and 44,
citing Close Roll) an aid had been conceded on
church and lay fees of both old and new (to marry
the King's sister), the collections, etc., for which
appear in the Testa de N.; and that the concession
of 19 Hen. III. was exceptional is plainly brought
out by Pat. 20 H. III. m. 8 (cited by Madox) to

Feudal Statistics 59

wit, that it was from all the ecclesiastical fees, as
well those of which response is made to scutage,
as of others retained to the tenants' own use, the
grant not to be drawn into a precedent.

In 27 Hen. III. the Jay tenants who did not Aid to
join the Gascony expedition fined and conceded !^357and
scutage (voluntarily) of both old and new, but the scmTge"
Bishops conceded 40s. per fee on their service^ and 1242.
in return were allowed for themselves, to take
40s. from all their fees (Mich. Comm., 27 Hen. III.,
as cited by Madox) ; the inquisitions and col-
lections (from the prelates) may be found in the
Testa de N. ;''• where the 19 and 26 Hen. III.
items are the chief contents as regards feudal
service alone; the inquests of John's reign
being frequently as to the rights of the Crown
and subtractions of service (with tenure by knight
service, serjeanty, and socage often occurring
together), and no systematic returns about old and
new feoffment. The difference between the aid

* It is to be hoped, in case of a new issue of the Testa de Testa de
Nevill, Minerva will temporarily endow its editor with so Nevill.
much of discretion as to enable him to distinguish, say,
between an undated inquisition of the reign of John and
Hen. III. ; see the note p. 733, vol. ii., Red Book Rolls
Series, placing the extent of Nigel de Moubrai's fee (prob-
ably 15-25 Hen. ni, during the heir's minority) as later
than the inquisitions of the Gascony Scutage (pp. 363 and
366, T. de N.) oi circa 26 Hen. IH. Either these inquests in
Yorks are fragmentary or incomplete returns ; the Moubrai
fee proves this, for the inquisition (p. 733 as above) is
considerably fuller than that in the Testa for this county.
With reference to the date of the Testa returns (pp. 363 and
366), both the form of the record and the names of the
tenants should have been sufficiently significant.

6o Domesday and Feudal Statistics

to marry 19 Hen. III., the Gascony escuage
26 Hen. III. and an ordinary aid (as 29 and 38
Hen. III.) and escuage (as 42 Hen. III.) was that
in the two former payment was made on all fees
or all that could be found, in the latter on those
only recognised in the renders of the tenants' ante-
cessors in 14 Hen. II. ; what old and new feoff-
ment meant 19 and 26 Hen. III. is not significant,
and was perhaps differently understood by divers
Northum- tenants, but in the 1242 Inquisitions Northumber-
quStion?" land (p. 381, etc., Testa de N.) old feoffments are
26Hen.iii. those made in and before Hen. II., new ones from
/. John, which is to be seen by reference to the
Inquisitions of 12-13 John (T. de N., pp. 392-3,
under heading T. de N.), which latter are abstracted
in the L. R. (pp. 562-5, v. ii. Rolls Series).
There is not the least witness of general inquisi-
tions of old and new feoffment prior to 1242
(saving the case of the aid to marry 19 Hen. III.)
Evidence where the evidence seems to have consisted partly
^nIvUL '^^ of charters of the magnates (referred to in the
sequel), and partly of inquiries made by the Sheriff ;
as examples the Bp. Durham (service 10) pays on
150, 19 Hen. III., is noted for 10, 26 Hen. III. ;
the Bp. Hereford pays on 18, 19 Hen. III. (ser-
vice 15), and the Archbp. of York is noted for 20
(his service) 26 Hen. III.; but the monastic houses
on both occasions (in theory) pay on all their
fees; thus 19 Hen. III. Abbotsbury (i) pays on
3|, Cerne (2) on 5, Pershore (2) on 5, and also in
26 Hen. III., when Ramsey (4) pays on 3 3 J,
Winchcombe (2) on 5, and Malmesbury (3) on 6f,
but perhaps sometimes these were compositions.

Feudal Statistics

6i

Returning to 1 166-8, there were I think nearly
500 fees newly created (1135-1166) of which

J bout 210 debited en the i^f. Hen. II. Pipe Roll.

Due to the Crown

By custos

Not due, but claimed

Doubtful

45 fees

^\ »

35 „

128 ,.

Extent of
so called
exactions
of "new
feoff-
ment."

About 27 J not debited on the 14 Hen. II. Pipe Roll.
Of which, no returns ... ... ... 15 fees

96^ „

Included in render
Not due nor charged
Doubtful, not charged
Due, but not charged

78
70

I3i

so that far from annexing all new feoffment, the
Exchequer did not even always demand payment
when due. Some new fees are included in the
render, and the majority of doubtful cases appear
to be due, and after all the total demands for
further payments, owing, doubtful, or otherwise,
were but on a minimum of fees, i.e.^ 210 out of
some 6,000-7,000 : the following examples are of
fees due, not charged.

Ser-
vice.

Old.

New.

S. D.

Paid.

Debited.

Pinkeni Gilb.

15

"i

ih

2

I3i

Nichil

Windlesores Wm.

20

27?T

I*

If

18H

Wahull Walt.

30

^i

I*

27

Foliot Ro

15

I3I

3::

I3I

Cormeilles Ric. . .

10

6

I

3

9

Chauz Ro

15

I2i

2*

*

I2|

3ii

Fossard Wm.

33i

27

I

5h

The chief features of the 14 Hen. II. Pipe Roll
seem to be the presumptive escape, of many of the

62 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

magnates, from a payment adequate to their prob-
Evidence able service, and the attempt to tax the church on
Roii',^^ all her fees of old feoffment ; few lay barons of
j4Hen.11. ■^^Q^^ service of 10 fees and upwards had any
excess of old ; these cases are all in Essex, viz.,
Essex Galf. Comes, Mountfichet Wm., and Walt.
/. Ro. (who all fall back on what their men tell
them, and whose charters were perhaps indebted to
the ingenuity of the same scribe), with the pos-
sible exception of Earl Ferrars ; but on the other
hand excess of old was quite common in church
fees, which (if I have observed rightly) are some-
^ what as under

Total.
Summary S&vice. Archbps. and Bps. 461 J Monastic Houses 294* 7561V
of Churchy Total Fees. „ ,, 743I ,, ,, 343* i,o875='(f

Service. Excess.

Fees, 1 166.

Old. New. S. D. Old. New.

Bps. etc 451J 3^ 6| 24of 41^

Mon. Houses , . 28414 | gt 45/^ 31.

73m 4 i5i^ 286it 44^

Ecclesiastics as a rule " render " their services, and
are debited with excess old, but not excess new,
which latter just in a few cases is included in the
r. c, so that of some 263 cases of excess old
debited on the 14 Hen. II. Pipe Roll almost all
belong to the Church ; this is a less total than
286 (above) but the Archbp. of Canterbury's fee
(paid by a custos) is included in the render, and
the Abbot of Peterboro' is not charged (with his
excess), — in addition slight deficiencies in the
charters render exact figures (when collating with
the 14 Hen. II. Pipe Roll) impracticable. Of the

Feudal Statistics 63

balance between 45of fees (total of 3- col. being
excess of old) and 263 (Pipe Roll), Wm. de
Romara is charged with 9^ fees relaxed, which
with the excess of render over service by certain
lay tenants accounts for about 80 fees ; of the re-
mainder most of 84 fees were probably due tho'
not rendered (service unknown), and with the
cases of Canterbury and Peterboro' account for the
total. Thus Nigel de Luvetot (Hunts) probably
owes the I2f fees he names in his Charter, tho' he
escapes by paying on 10, hence he must be sup-
posed to have excess of old (service unstated), so
that I presume about 84 of the 4 5 of excess of old
were due to the Crown — taking the Church fees
to have been correctly assessed by their renders.
Perhaps amongst the curiosities of the Exchequer Unre- \
might be found a case of a Bishop or Abbot paying iJabiiitS,
on a fee he did not recognise, but saving by a^nd

o ' o J extensive

custos it has not been the writer's good fortune to demesnes
discover an example thereof — thus in Pipe Roll ° ^^^ ^'
I Ric. I. (1189) the Archbp. of York and Bp. of
Durham still owe their contributions (of unrecog-
nised fees) for the aid to marry the daughter of
Hen. II. ( 1 168). Pearson's table of Valets (Hist.
Eng., pp. 665-9) for 2 1 Southern Counties estimates
the home ecclesiastics as being lords of about ^ of
the land in 1086 ; and of the total fees of 1166
the Church possess ^ to ^, so that the presumption
lies, that tho' in proportion to their service the
religious had far more Knights than the lay
barons, their " dominicum " was still in greater
comparative excess.

In the 40,000 acres of the Liberty of Ripon,

siastics.

64 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

" Liberty
of Ripon.'

Inade-
quacy of
Col. 2,
Table I.

the Archbp. of York had (31 Ed. I. and
20 Ed. III.) not quite 3 fees, which I suppose in
the language of the Exchequer (still current) would
be some 12 or 15 Hides of 160 acres each, or at
most 2^ carucates of 120 ac. (each); it is very
evident the ecclesiastics were lightly rated, which
perhaps explains their exemplary fines or promises
when the King was going on an expedition. As
already noted the second col. in the Table termed
"Service" is erroneous, for the Render is not likely
to equal same in the larger unascertained fees, as
there is no reason why in these the old feoffment
should be the total due, when S = 0 + N + S. D is
the commoner equation. Finding therefore that
in known fees with a service of 1,232 (taking the
45 lay cases from previous table of 51 known)
there are some 1,070 of old, the "service" from
unknown fees may be gauged roughly from the
old feoffment : of the 76 cases named before, 15
are returned by the Sheriff (and hence omitted),
leaving some 2,653 fees of old, which it is pre-
sumed might be answerable for a service of 3,055
fees, and the difference 402 is a supposed balance to
bring the estimated service more in line with that
of the known fees, enabling subject to correction
the underwritten table, which is thought to be low
rather than high :

Estimate
"Service
1 166.

*' Service," as shown in 2nd col.
Deficiency (estimated)
of *Omissions (see list)

Service

5,656
402
618

6,6^6 fees

* Fit/e p. 54, and note pointing out what fees are still
uncomputed in list of omissions (618).

Feudal Statistics 65

Making the convenient assumption of 6,756 fees

of which the Church held 756 and the lay Barons

6000, and supposing 9,000,000 acres held by the

former, and 15 millions by the latter, a Knight's

feet ^s against the King, would then have a scope

of some 12,000 acres if ecclesiastical, and 2,500 Estimate of

acres it lav : in addition to the above (to estimate ^^res in

additional fees beyond service) there would have to and Lay

be added such excess of old and new feoffment as has ^^^^'

not been calculated in the adjustment (402), which

(if I have not erred) would be somewhat as under :

Fees, answered by the Sheriff ... ... 745

Old feoffment ... ... ... ... 4,903

New feoffment ... ... ... ... 483

Super dominicum (108^ + 315^)= ... 424

Omissions (see list) 618 Estimateof

Total Fees.

Total 7»i73 fees*

the "deficiency" (402) of the former table being

found amongst the new, and s.d. in the above; whilst

the omissions and Sheriffs' estimates do not permit

of being further specified. Perhaps one might say

the lay Barons had some 32,000 Domesday Hides

plus 2,000-3,000 imaginary carucatesj in Durham

and Northumberland, which would furnish nearly

6 Hides per Fee as against the King, of a scope of Estimateof

430 acres each, or somewhat approaching to 400 ac. i^y^^

if allowance be made for land which never was

+ It is not of course meant to be conveyed that an entire
fee comprised nothing but military tenants ; nevertheless
the tenants in socage, and all the acres of land on a feudal
lord's estate may from one point of view be regarded as
portion of his fee, and therefore of his service ; and thus in
defence towards the king.

* yide note, p. 54 ; hence total more than 7173.

X There is no intention to state the non-existence of caru-
cates here, in and prior to 1086, vide Hist. St. Cuthbert.

C

66 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

hided, and " cariicates " in hidated counties: these
400-430 acres might by a convenient Exchequer
fiction be reckoned as 120-160 ac. of lucrable land.
Taking characteristic examples from the 1166
Certificates

8

•d

^

P

•0

•d

u

0

V

w

c:

0

Charac-

Ecclesiastical

teristic

Fee.

Examples.

Bp. Lincoln

Lay Fees
(known).

60

102

2

60

42 old

Hamo f.

15

"to

lA

the

15

quit

Meinfelin

balance

Wahull Walt

30

27t^5

I*

^\

27

,,

Scalars

15

10

5

15

,,

Steph.

Ro. f. Wm.

30

26i

I

2j

29

I new

Beauchamp,

7

16

—

not

not

In later re-

Wm,

found

found

cords quit
for 7; an
unusual
case

Pagnel Ger-

50

50

5l

—

50

quit

vase

Foliot Ro.

15

I3I

3i

—

i3f

■ ■

Lay Fees

(unknown).

Glos'ter Earl

—

258I \

+ 22| /

i3i

—

26ii

quit

of

Lascy Hugh

—

54i

5^

—

5ii

,,

de

Reginald

—

21

55 fees

2i5i

„

Earl

Hugh Earl

—

121

35i

—

i25i

37i

Richmond

—

—

50

quit

In Yorks

Earl

by Sheriff

In a return (pp. 26-7) in Gale's Honor of
Richmond purporting (see Observations) to be of
Hen. II., 68^ knights' fees are noted for Richmond-

Feudal Statistics 67

shire (service 50) ; and altho' the Red vers fee
answ^ered (14 Hen. II. Pipe Roll) for but 89 fees,
it avowedly contained over 100 (20 Hen. II. Pipe
Roll); the above table shows somewhat the easy
assessment of such important tenants as make
indefinite returns. It may be suggested that in his
charter a tenant now and then states his new
feoffment within his statement as to s. d. ; but as Super do-
a whole the certificates demonstrate this term (s. d.) *"^"^'"^'
to be used for land in the lord's hands in 1166 :
Lamb, de Scoteni informs of a service of 10, and
has 5 fees of old, and 5 s. d.^ remarking that he
has f new, enfeoffed " ex illo dominio," and renders
10, but is debited with f new, but probably his
charter should be read as service 10, old 5, new f,
and s. d. 5 less ^. Again Rad. de Worcester states
his service to be i , and that he has enfeoffed ^ of
his few of new, the balance being s. d. ; accordingly
he renders i, but is debited with f^ new ; taking
a line from all the certificates together demonstrates
that usually the addition of old, new, and s. d. deter-
mines the service. The total entries are about
300, not including the tenants of the 618 fees
given under omissions, but the former number
contains a few double entries; of this total 261 statistics of
are lay, and 39 church fees. There are in all 125 ^^^•
cases of fees less than 5, and 155 less than 10,
leaving 145 of 10 and upwards ; of known fees
from 10-75 are 51 cases, of which, I think,
some 10 cases with fractional dimensions, the
remaining 41 being by service 10, 15, 20, 25,
30, 35, 40, 50, 60 and 75 ; where the service is
unstated (for large fees) there is little uniformity,
probably pointing to a defective render, and

5—2

68 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

further, cases of subsequent addition (known
service) may have disturbed round figures, as in
the case of Hen. de Lacy (Yorks) whose service
(if I have observed rightly) should be read as 60
less 20 plus 3|.

The Computation of the Service of the Lay

Tenants is entirely based on their own statements,

which are scarcely likely to have exaggerated the

Capital debt, and it may be called to mind that in 1086

SSd (I^- ^') were some 1400 tenants in capite (Ellis),

1166. of which it seems unlikely that 300 (if so many),

were capital tenants of the Crown by Knight

service.

inquisi- The rctums in the Table for 12 10- 12, are of

T]ohn. somewhat doubtful accuracy ; the totals for 1 166-8

and 1346 have been considerably laboured, but

that of the former date quickly run up; the

inquisitions of King John give lists of tenants of

whose services the sheriff is ignorant, and are

otherwise incomplete, etc, for example 200 fees

may be subtracted from Worcestershire (p. 567,

V. ii. L. R. Rolls Series), as Walter Beau champ is

there given 207 fees instead of the correct 7, (see

T. de N. p. 43).

Later In- Xhc method of raising scutage and aid (T. de

N.) temp. Hen. III. from all fees has already been

referred to, which is repeated in the reigns of

Ed. I., Ed. II. and Ed. III. for both purposes;

from whence the valuable topographical inquisitions

of Kirkby's Quest and Knights' Fees (Ed, I.), the

Book of Aids (Ed. III.), and of Knights' Fees

6 Hen. VI.; the Crown seemed in constant alarm

lest lack of service should occur and it is not

quisitions.

Feudal Statistics 69

surprising to find that England contained little '
more than 6,000 fees in 1346. These I suppose i.nqu'si-
were all that the jurors could or would find, and 1346.
consisted of old and new without distinction ;
whether most of the fees which had formerly been
returned as " super dominicum " were discovered -is
not quite so clear. Again deductions should be
made from the total, as presumably there would be
cases similar to those of the Abbots of Fountains,
Furness, etc., who successfully (I think.) disputed
their indebtedness on some of the fees they were
charged with. The aid to marry Blanche daughter
of Hen. IV. is set forth in the Enrolled A/<^^ of the Returns of
Exch. (partial returns in the Book of Aids); thus^'^'*"' '
for W. R. Yorks (some 1 50 fees in 20 Ed. III.)
the collectors render account of £12 6s. ii:|d. for
1 1 1 fees, and the third part of a ^ part of a fee,
and 4 car. 7 bov. of land whence 10 etc., and
whence 8 bov. make i car. held immediately of
the King in W. R., of each fee 20s., and of more,
more, and of less, less etc.; and of 27s. 2d. of
^27 3s. 5d. worth of land held of the King in
socage [sine medio) at the rate of 20s. for ^^20 and
for more, etc.: this is an interesting return, as it
would appear that the lands held by others* of " les

* f'^iJe the government volume, " Feudal Aids," in co.
Berks, where the returns cite tenor of Statute 25 Ed. III.
(20s. per Kiiight's fee held immediately of the Crown, for
more, etc., and 20s. for each 20 //. la. held of the King sine
medio, for more, etc.), but the editor in his introduction
(p. xxvi) renders this 20s. per Knight's fee, and the like for
20 //. la. held in socage. The form in the record is of
course correct, and as is not unfrequently the case with

7© Domesday and Feudal Statistics

grauntz " escaped taxation as knights' fees. Com-
parison should be made with similar aids of
14 Hen. II., 29 Hen. III. and 38 Hen. III. where

Change of volumes published at the common charge, discovers their
method editor's failure to understand his subject ; thus, in the co. of
in these Cornwall is but ^ fee immediately held, and no capital socage
returns tenant of the Crown [whereas in 134.6 (see p. 50) were
<i403)- some 165^ Knights' fees and of course numerous socagers
holding of lords of same] ; had the levy in 4 Hen. IV. been
per Knight's fee, the above would have owed to respond, as
they did in 31 Ed. I. and 20 Ed. III. on like occasions, being
then required to be answered de quolibet feodo militari (Rot.
Pari., i. 25), and de singulis feodis militum ("Feudal Aids,"
A.D. 1346). No reader of course should be content to ta^ce
his views at second hand, when the originals can be con-
sulted, but regarding the vast accumulations of ancient
evidences printed during the 19th cent., a certain under-
standing of mediasval usages might justly be expected from
any historical writer allowing himself to expound them. It
is quite clear that in the 12th and earlier part of the 13th
cent, a capital tenant was answerable as well for his fees held
in demesne, as for those held of him by others : it is equally
certain that in the 15th cent, the fees held by others is/' a
tenant in cap. were not esteemed to be by him held in chief
— the returns of this aid (4 Hen. IV.) for 30 counties are
extant amongst the Exch. enrolments (the Book of Aids is
very incomplete as to same), and including socage total under
j^i,o75, whereas from each Knight's fee (1346), with no socage
included, the collectors are burdened with j^ 11,663 17s. yi^d.
from 36 COS. (the rate £,z per fee), which would appear to
demonstrate that ^th of the total Knts' fees were then in
demesne. A tax of 20s. on every 20 //. la. held in socage
indiscriminately would of course have produced a very con-
siderable sum, but it betrays a singular confusion of ideas to
consider the immediate socagers of the Crown as answering
to above : some or all capital tenants by serjeanty responded
to the 4 Hen. IV., but (I think) not so from Wards, Escheats,
or Honors, nor from Baronies (to the collectors at any rate).
At this date the Bp. of Ely held by the latter tenure for

Feudal Statistics

71

the barons answered the tax (in the two latter cases

on the scutage assessment, i.e.^ the 14 Hen. II.

render) \ and with those of 19 Hen. III., 31 Ed. I.

and 20 Ed. III., where usually the King's collectors

gathered the aid from all the fees they could find :

the 6 Hen. VI. Inquest cited above, applies but to Returns'of

those who had more than ^ fee, and the returns ^ ^'''' ^^'

are extremely slender for W. R. Yorks (see Book

of Knights' Fees, and the Yorkshire Lay Subsidy

of that date), so that the land was presumably held

for the more part by tenants under the limit ;

regarding the later aids of Hen. VII. and Jac. I. No returns

I have not found that any estimate by fees was Fees"^*'^^'

attempted. Hen.vii.,

In the Inquisitions of 12-13 John (as abstracted
in the Red Book) I find but one note of new feoff-
ment in the case of Gilbert Peche, whose fee might
then be in the hands of the Crown ; his father's
certificate (1166) is practically repeated, the new
being ^ + ^ + ^ in both cases, but occasional
references to new fees occur in the records /. John
in the T. de N., presumably of those which had Further
been enfeoffed in that reign. In 19 Hen. III. the from the
aid to marry was paid to collectors, to the Sheriff, X^^//*
and also directly into the wardrobe, or Exchequer
(see T. de N.) ; to all or many of the magnates
the King had written, instructing them to return
to the Exchequer a list of their fees as well old as

6 fees, and the Abb. of Glastonbury for 3 (fees), which is the
precise no. of Knts. for which they answered in the Marshals*
Rolls of 29 Hen. Ill,, 5 and 10 Ed, I,, and 4 Ed. II., though
their service (including fees held by others) in I166 was
40 fees each.

72 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

new : eight of these charters may be found on
pp. 44, 415, and 416 of the T. de N., and
another (that of Ro. Beauchamp of Hache) is to
be seen along with the King's writ in Madox's
Form. Ang. I give an extract from the return of
the Abbot of St. Edmund's to the Exchequer, who
commences by naming the precept of the King, as
to certifying how much of the aid for the marriage
of his sister had been paid to the Exch. and how
much to be paid, how many fees, in what counties
and vills, and what of old and of new, and follows
" Nos concessisse domino Regi sexies viginti marcas.
Ex quibus jam solvimus ad scaccarium medietatem
scilicet sexaginta marcas alia vero medietas adhuc
restat solvenda. Feoda vero militum de veteri
feoffamento habemus quadraginta que tenemus in
capite de domino Rege etsi respondemus pro illis pro
temporis necessitate. Alia vero xij feoda habemus
de novo feoffamento que capta sunt et feoifata de
nostris propriis dominicis. Et pertinent ad nostram.
Que nulli respondent nee unquam responderent nee
respondere debent nisi soli abbati Sancti Eadmundi.
Et ipse abbas nemini respondet de illis predicta
vero feoda partim sunt in NorfF' et SufF' partim
in Essex'. In quibus vero villis sint constituta vel
quid et quantum in quo loco Deus novit." Now
be it observed that the Edmondsbury service was
40, and that in ii68 there were some ^i\ old and
\ new fees ; hence it appears the Abbot in 1235
understood by new feoffment any surplus fees
beyond what he was wont to answer for to a
scutage, and also he seems to have compounded
at a rate equal to 60 fees ; likewise the Abbot of

Feudal Statistics 73

Ramsey who pays 60 and 100 marcs respectively
in 1235 and 1242* equal to 30 and i^^k ^^^^*
The King's mandate to the Sheriff of Norfolk
and Suffolk (p. 282 T. de N.) dated 6 May
20 Hen. III. mentions the charters of the mag-
nates, and that the Sheriff shall certify of those
holding I fee and less ; and presumably a like
method might be used in other counties.

The Gascony Scutage has been dealt with in the
Preface to Vol. II. (L. R. Rolls Series), notwith-
standing the editor's failure to recognise the York-
shire returns in the Testa de Nevill ; (see his note
p. 733, Vol. II., ibid., citing T. de N., pp. 625
and 638), and it may suffice to add that inquisi-
tions of this date {circa 1242) occur in almost
every county named in the T. de N., and to
point out that the monastic houses had not com-
muted their service in the same way as the bishops.
Northumberland is well given in the T. de N., as
there are inquisitions aVf^ 121 0-12 (12-13 John)
on pp. 392-3, collections for the aid to marry
(pp. 394-5), and the later Gascony inquests com-
mencing on p. 381 ; the following fines from
Dugdale's Baronage (citing Pipe and Fine Rolls),
may be noticed in this connection ; calling to mind
that those who '* had their service " abroad had
scutage (for themselves) of their men, and that
said escuage was 3 marcs per fee, but that most of
those who fined conceded their scutage also.

* 1235 and 1242 are dates used with latitude for the aid
to marry and the Gascony scutage ; in neither case were the
debts all paid in those years.

74 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

Fines ne

trans

fretant.

26 Hen. III.

14

Fines

Hen. II.

Notes.

ne trans.

Render.

i 120 li.

1 02 J fees

rist fine lest he trans-

Warwick Thos. Earl

1 120 li.

(32 more
38 Hen.

J fret
2nd fine to have his

(

HI.)

scutage

Albini Wm

20 marcs

33 ..

Beauchamp Ro

80 m.

17 ..

Perci Wrn

100 m.

30 „

Nevill Ro

10 li.

3i ..

Heir to the Yorks
fee of Bulmer

Gaunt Gilb

200 m.

68H..

By Simon, Earl

Stuttevill Wm.

15 m.

Hunts, in 1166

Umfravill Gilbt. . .

100 m.

Baiocis Jo. . .

loom.

17 ..

Supposed
develop-
ment of the
Fee from
the Hide.

Instances of the so-called " enfeoffment " prior
to the Conquest have been already cited from the
H. R., and I suppose few will deny that the Hide
was a Saxon, and the Fee a Norman institution ;
but the theory that the figures of 1 166-8 (say total
renders) represent the number of Knights due in
exercitu t. Wm. I., seems fijUy as improbable as the
unwarranted emergence of the Fee from the Hide.
The editor of the Red Book (Rolls Series) appears
to think otherwise, as the following citations from
his preface to Vol. II. indicate :

p. clxi. " the ancient system of assessment for imperial taxa-
tion, which in the shape of a common assize
(i) continued to be apportioned according to the old
plan of hidation — for scutage and aid . . . —
down to a far later period."
p. clxi. "the normal Knight's fee contained 4 hides — a
scale which seems to have been recognised as
(2) late as the i6th century," with note, citing
H. R., II. 830.
p. clxii. "unless the actual extent of the holding should
prove (upon inquisition taken) to contain an

Feudal Statistics 75

equivalent for hidation. So when an inquisition
was taken throughout the Kingdom, for the

(3) assessment of a Scutage, the Sheriffs were re-
quired to return the number of fees in each
hundred, estimating their extent by the actual
number of hides or proportions of a hide," citing
the T. de N. and the Abbot of Ramsey's case.

p. clxiv. " and moreover the extent of the hide or carucate
is often stated in denominations of an acre both

(4) of arable and pasture land," citing Kirkby's
Quest, fo. 228.

It has already been allowed that sub-infeuda- Remarks

i\ 1 TT- 1 ^ /— on same.

tions were (or are returned) by Hides and Caru-
cates, whence so many make a fee ; the establish-
ment of the feudal system did not of course
extinguish hides (as units for rates and taxes)
or acres as areal measures, but as less than , 3
or more than 150 carucates might make a fee,
and in a feudal tax contribute not by the rate
of carucates but at that of fees, it is difficult to
discern how this can be termed a tax on the land
unit. For instance taking examples from the The theory
T. de N. which seems to be indicated in thenuJJJe?oS
3rd of the above extracts, on p. 337 the Earl oi^^c.or6s.
Chester holds in Horsinton 2 carucates of which
Walt, de Bolesby holds i, whence 11 bovates {i.e.y
1 1 car.) make a fee, and lord Simon de Kyme
holds the other whence 20 bovates (2^ car.) make
etc., and on p. 249 in the Gascony inquisitions in
CO. Beds., Peter de Lekeburn holds 8 virgates
(2 Hides) for ^- of a fee ; Walt. /. Alex, holds
I virgate for ^^ of a fee (here 3I Hides make
I fee), the Prior of Neuham 2 Hides for ^^ of a
fee (32 Hides per fee), and further divers tenants

76 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

hold Hides and Virgates, with the rate of the
tenure omitted. The return that the jurors are
ignorant of the service is by no means a novelty
to those acquainted with records of the kind, and
should these unknown fees be made to contribute
to a feudal aid, their Hides, Virgates, etc., will
necessarily be brought into some proportion.
Examples have already been given [20 Ed. III. and
4 Hen. IV. (see pp. 45, 69) aid to Knight and
marry, Knaresbro', and W. R. Yorks] of odd caru-
cates and bovates ; in the latter, the number of caru-
cates per fee is stated, but in the former not, never-
theless as (see p. 45, Knaresbro') 3^ fees+ 2 bovates
are given against £6 5s. lod. in a 40s. aid, it must
be plain that the couple of bovates equal ^^^h of a
fee, equal to whence 12 etc., just as in the latter
record where there are 4 car. 7 bov. over, whence
10 etc., they are |^ of a fee, as is proved by the
amount received. And further anyone inspecting
the inquests of knights' fees (apart from those of
serjeanty and socage) in the T. de N. will find it
quite exceptional for Hides or Carucates to be
named alone ; i.e.^ without giving their varying
value as fractions of fees ; and naturally if the
jurors did not know the amount of tenure they
would limit their statement to the convenient
hides etc. ; for under the same tenant in capite
(see I. P. M. Rog. de Moubray 29 Ed. I., 1300)
there might be extremely various scales of sub-
infeudation, just as in the same Manor the Hide
might (even at the same time) contain a different
number of acres.

Feudal Statistics jj

The following records from Hen. I. to Hen. VI.

will bear out the above ;

Reign.

List of Peterboro' Knights (Camden Soc, 1849) Hen. I.

Barons' Certificates (Red Book Exch.) Hen. II,

Testa de Nevill \

Hundred Rolls L Hen. III.

" Liber Rubeus")
Kirkby's Quest \

Hundred Rolls V Ed. L

Knights' Fees, 31 Ed. I. J

Book of Aids Ed. IIL

Aid to marry ... Hen. IV.

Book of Knights' Fees ... Hen. VI

The description of the Peterboro' Knights
t. Hen. I. will be found on p. 168 in the Chronicle,
and there is no stable relation between the Hide
and Fee ; illustrations have already been given or
reference made to the Barons' Cartes. ;* H. R.
Hen. III., Testa de Nevill, Book of Aids, and
the aid to marry Hen. IV. 's daughter (Enrolled
a/cs. Exch.), and the following will serve to show
the rest are of like nature :

Liber Rubeus. Fee of Nigel de Moubrai (15-25 Hen. HI.)
In Haytone ... 15 bovates whence 12 car. make i fee
In Swinton, etc. 3 car. „ 60 ,, ,,

Kirkby^s Quest. Honor of Richmond, Halikeld, 1284.

Eskelby and Leeming ... ... 18 car. make 1 fee

Uppeslunde 3 „ | „

Knights'' Fees, ji Ed. I. StainclifFe Wap., Yorks.

Neuton and Elslack 6 car. whence 28 make I fee

- Cracoe, etc ... 12 „ 12 „ i „

* See Round's "Feudal England" (p. 294) for 2-10
Hides, per fee in 1 166, and for like evidence in Chartularics
(p. 295).

78 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

Book of Knights^ Fees, 6 Hen. VI. StainclifFe Wap., Yorks.

Lord de Roos holds in

Thornton ... lo^ car. by service off fee

Joan, Countess of West-
morland holds in Kettle-
well 6 „ ,, I „

In the 2nd extract from the Preface to the Red
Book, the editor cites H. R., II., 830, where Hugh
de Musgrave holds i Hide as \ fee, which is duly
found as stated but it would be singular if so vast
a bulk as the Hundred Rolls could not furnish
such an instance ; here are a few more to be found
in same Vol. II. : p. 575, 2 fees equal to 6J
Hides ; p. 578, I fee to 2 Hides ; p. 580, \ fee to
3 J Hides, also \ fee to 3 Hides, p. 584, \ fee
to f Hides ; p. 585, -^^ fee to i;^ Hides, also \ fee
to 2 Hides; p. 336, i fee 'to 10 Hides (see
*' Feudal Aids " where Doddington is given as i fee
in 1284, 1302, and 1346), also Mursele, Ro. /.
Nigel, \ fee to 2 Hides and more, and p. 334,
I fee to 5I; Hides, which are given to show that
the Hide was here a varying portion of the Fee,
not touching on the point that in the H. R. it is
often an areal measure or approximately so. This
same extract notes a scale (where 4 Hides = i fee)
recognised as late as the 16th century, which
possibly refers to pp. 442-7 of No. 49 Surtees Soc,
where is a computation as above, with an editorial
note that same seems to have been compiled about
the latter part of the i6th cent. ; this scale also
gives tables for 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15,
16, 18, 23, 24, and 28 carucates per fee, not
stating which of the latter is " normal." Supposing

Feudal Statistics 79

for a moment this " normal " fee really ever did
contain 4 Hides (and whether of 1 20 acres each
as in the Preface to the Red Book or 160 each as
in the L. R. itself does not much matter), as there
were 6,000-7,000 fees (Hen. II. to Ed. III.), and
some 67,000 Hides in say 35 counties in England
in Domesday ; it is evident that the Barons and
Church would hardly have possessed 28,000 of
them (probably less) ; whereas few historians should
think of rating them at less than f of England,
say 50,000 Hides.

With regard to the 3rd extract, which names
the Sheriffs estimating Knight's fee by the hides
they contained, the reference is seemingly to the
Testa de Nevill, the returns from which have
already been exemplified ; but these remarkable
instructions to the sheriffs are not found therein,
nor in the " Forma Inquisitionum de Scutagiis,"
nor in the writ to the Sheriff of Hereford (both
these latter on Mich. Com. 27 Hen. III. as cited
on pp. 472-3 of Madox's Exch., ed. 171 1) nor I
should imagine anywhere else than on p. clxii of
aforesaid Preface ; and as to the extent of the hide
or carucate being " given in denominations of an
acre both of arable and pasture land," anyone
finding same on fo. 228 of Kirkby's Quest will
have better luck than I had.

The case of Ramsey Abbey is certainly
exceptional ; but by Domesday Book that house
had well over 300 Hides and Carucates, which in
the language of the Exchequer (4 Hides =
I Knight's Fee) would be the equivalent of over
70 Knights ; as a matter of fact the Abbot

8o * Domesday and Feudal Statistics

equipped as a rule 4 (see his Court Rolls for 1258
and 1294, in Selden Soc, Vol. II.), notwith-
standing aforesaid inquisitions of 1242 estimating
Knights' fees by hides (where he contributes as if
he had 33^ fees). The uniform manufacture of
Hides into fees at a rate of the " normal four "
would be apt to break down in practice ; suppose
a Baron had a grant of 400 Hides for a service of
100 fees ; he might enfeoff 100 knights* on 350
Hides at i fee each (as presumably he would have
some residence, and tenants in socage and
villeinage), and hence (on the 4 Hide plan) the
Sheriff would find not unless 87^ fees instead of
100 ; the above by way of illustration, as \ of the
land of a fief would (I think) be more than was
usually sub-infeuded.
Scutagium The subject of escuage is I venture to think
Auxiiium. but partially understood, nor can the writer pre-
tend to set it forth in a clear light: the author
of " Feudal England " has shown how the
Church was set to military service /. Wm. I.j" (see
also Archceologia 1863 and Steven's Royal Trea-
sury, ed. 1725), and it is here assumed that the
more important lay tenants in that reign also held
by the divers duties pertaining to same. As may
be seen from table (p. 55), there must have been
(on the whole) a considerable balance on the
dominicum /. Hen. I., and the following extracts
from the remaining Pipe Roll of that reign seem
to apply to commutations of military service, none

* 100 Knts,, i.e., a " service " of same, indefinite as to nos.
and rank.

t Bigelow's Flac. Ang. CNjirm., ed. 1879, an American
work had long before borne witness on this head. 1

Feudal Statistics 8i

of which (if I have observed rightly) have been
thought worthy of mention in the Government
index of said vol. Some entries (p. 89) re the
old aid of the Knights, two of them dating to the
time of debtors' fathers; (p. 132) the gtftoi the
Knights of Durham Bishoprick ; (p. 153) the old
aid of the Knights, of Baldwin de Redvers ; (p. 1 54)
the like of the Bp. of Exeter ; (p. 159) the old aid
of the Knights ; (p. 49) the Uke ; and (p. 84) the
old aid of the Knights of Croyland Abbey (see
also Scutage Rolls, Bdle. 11, No. 9, where in
48 Hen. III. the Abbot fines in 50 marcs). Again
Knight service /. Hen. I. is seen in the Peterbro'
Chronicle (Camd. Soc. 1849); a systematic com-
mutation of lay service at so much 'per fee prior to
Hen. II. seems highly probable rather than fully*
established; the author of "Feudal England"
(pp. 268-9) h^s given 2 references under the name
of Escuage, the first* of which is reviewed in
Vol. II. Red Book Exch. (Pref. Rolls Sen) ; Madox
has given another in his most excellent History of
the Exchequerf (p. 435 ed. 171 1), and yet a
further one may be found in Stephen's Charter tc

* The payment of £^60 by the Bp. Norwich (40 fees)
seems to have no connection with " the Ely contribution "
{Feudal England, p. 270), and the reference is quite indefinite:
but I consider (as a matter of opinion), that the entry in Pipe
Roll 31 Hen. I., refers to a reduction of the Ely "service,"
memory of which is preserved in the copy of the Charter, as
cited, p. 268, Feudal England.

t Westminster MSS. : Mandate of H. the King to Wm.
Const, of Chester that the Monks of Westminster should
hold Peritona (D. B. 247b, under that Abbey), as free from
escuage, etc., as the father of said Wm. first conceded same
to them.

6

82 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

Fountains (i 1 35), as to the authenticity of which
no comment is here made. I would here remark
that altho' auxilium and scutagium present different
ideas to the modern historical critic, they can some-
times be shown to be terms synonymous ; and as un-
fortunately the scribes of elder times were debarred
from having any conception of the precise meaning
of technical terms in the 20th century, latter day
students might with becoming humility endeavour
to attain the exact usage of words when they were
written. Thus the aid to ransom Ric. I. is a
Scutage in the Pipe Rolls, and quite properly so
called by Alex, de Swereford : likewise the aid to
marry (of 19 Hen. III.) is called both auxilium
and scutagium : the writ is printed in Brady and
Select Charters (p. 364) and reference to the Testa
de Nevill will (I think) plainly demonstrate the
object of the collection, and the use of either term
— indeed the writ itself mentions the aid, subse-
quently calling same the aforesaid escuage ; and
further the Scutage of Gascony is distinctly called
an aid on p. 412 of the Testa de N. ; reference to
the same vol. (pp. 166, 169, 257-8, 263-6, 277,
349, and 416 with 357 for W. Patric's Charter),
and collation with the writ, noting the dates and
tax per fee, should put the matter beyond question.
Early I do not think, there is in the Pipe Rolls exist-

of feudal i"g prior to 14 Hen. II. any sufficient material to
°^['sations, construct evcn an approximately complete list of
the services due by the lay tenants of the Crown ;
nor can I find the Exchequer had any ample guide
towards assessing the aid of 1168. Now altho'
the daughter of Hen. II. was not married till

Feudal Statistics 83

1 168, and the certificates are of 1 166, there can be
no particular improbability in supposing that the
marriage of the Princess Matilda might be in con-
templation prior to the former date, and also that
the Crown might think it prudent to have some
definite information from their lay tenants, which
views are by some considered as antiquated. In
1 1 09 Hen. I. took (Hen. de Huntingdon) 3s. per
Hide to marry his daughter : if this is an exact
statement, a larger sum (presuming the demesne
Hides taxed), would be raised than from the tax
on the fee in 1168 ; and strengthens the belief
that the lay aids of Hen. I. diff^ered considerably
from the escuages Hen. II. to Hen. III. After 1 166, Military
and during the reign of Hen. II. it would appear ^^'^'^^•
that usually the tenant in chief either went on
the expedition, compounded by substitutes or
money to furnish them, or paid escuage : it is
difficult to see how the heading (Pipe Roll 18
Hen. II.) De Scutagiis militum qui nee abler unt in
Hyberniam^ nee milites, nee denarios illuc miserunr"
followed by lists of capital tenants either owing or
liberating into the Treasury could refer to anything
else than scutage quitted at a fixed rate per fee.
The editor of the Red Book (Rolls Ser.) seems to
think otherwise and that the assessment (Vol. II.,

* Perhaps the best evidence of early fines might be sug-
gested from this heading, unless the "auxilium militum" of
3 I Hen. I., or the promise of servientes (Pipe R. 1 1 Hen. II.),
or the dona t. Hen. II. are regarded in that light : an instance
of escuage being paid into the wardrobe at Worcester (one of
the places to which the " army of Wales " was summoned)
occurs on CI. i. 572, 7 Hen. III.

6—2

84 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

p. clviii) of escuage might be to enable the lord to
justice his men, which appears scarcely applicable
above, nor has he cited any fines " lest they
transit " in this reign. Information is needed as
to the difference in obligation of church and lay
barons, also to what countries the capital tenants
owed to go, in what cases there was option of
escuage ; the obligations of the mesne tenants to
their lords, as regards scutage and service, and in
what fees the latter were bound to act at their own
charges. The author of " Feudal England " has
cited the case of the Edmondsbury tenants /.
Ric. I., and the course taken by the Abbot there-
anent; the following illustrate the feudal service of
the House at Peterboro', who ought as by 60 fees:

How oer -? John. The Abbot pays 120 marcs, and owes a palfrey, for army of Normandy
formed by of ^2 2. {Rot. Ca»c.)

Peterhro ^ Hen. III. May come with 30 Knts., (Stamford), Newark (Scut. Rolls -y-).
Abbey. 5 Hen. III. Has escuage of fees held of him — Biham (C/. i. 475a).

7 Hen. III. Had 6 Knights by precept and to have \ his scutage — Montgomery

[JJ- Esc. Rolls].
I22g. Seems to have paid esc.^Kery : C. Pet.

1230, 14 Hen. III. The Abbot fines in 100 marcs and pays 180 m. of scutage, for
the Brittany exercitus ; scutage 3 m. per fee, to our ist passage. (JChron.
Pet.)
1230, IS Hen. III. Pays 180 marcs scutage (C. P.) after first passage.
123s, IQ Hen. III. The Abbot returns 63^ fees, pays on 60, and is debited for 3J.

(Testa de N., p. 38.)
2Q Hen. III. r. s. 60 fees performed by i Knt., 8 servients (Rot. Mar.)\ quit by
writ of 40 fees (30 Hen. III., Pipe) ; pays 60 tnarcs escuage (3 fit. per fee,
hence on 60 less 40 fees), army and scutage of Gannock {Hist. Pet.).
2Q Hen. III. Pays 60 m. only (2 m. per fee), to the aid to marry (Hist.).

1264. The Abbot's Knts., joining the Barons, he pays 300 /«. (and 30 tn. queen

gold), for defect of service, and transgression — after Lewes he has to fine
with the Barons (Hist. ; vide etiatii p. 93 under 49 Hen. III., where the
entry above seems to be given in a different way).

1265. After Evesham, the Abbot pays the King 500 w?., the Queen 50 ;«., Prince

Edw. 300 m., and also to others (Hist., see also note, p. 100).
7277, J Ed. I. The Abbot fines in 250 marcs for 5 fees, and 25 m. Queen's gold,

for the first Welsh war, his tenants having declined to go except at the

Abbot's costs. (Chron. Pet.)
I2JS, 6 Ed. I. The King conceded scutage at 40s. per fee, or the above war,

which the Sheriff was to cause the Abbot to have. (Chron. Pet.)

Feudal Statistics 85

1382, 10 Ed. I. The Abbot fines for the 2nd Welsh war, at the same rate as in
1277, and has acknowledgement of receipt of fine 10 Jan., // Ed. t.
{Ckron. Pet.)

liSj, 13 Ed. I. The King in Parliament concedes scutage re above, at 40s. per
fee, and the Sheriff has a writ, 7 July, 13 Ed. I. to cause Abbot to have
same. {Chrott. Pet.)

28 Ed. I. The Abbot fines in ;S20o, and £,^o Queen gold ; Scotland {Hist.), for
rates per fee, see pp. 94-5.

31 Ed. I. Fines iJioo, and i,\o Queen gold ; Scotland {Hist.).

34 Ed. I. Fines ioo;«., and 10m. Queen gold (Hist.)

4 Ed. II. Fines ii'zoo for 5 fees, and ;£2o Queen gold, and finds 100 m. of pro-
vender (for the army of Scotland), which he has to carry \,Sc. Rot. Vi
and Hist. : see also note p. 100].

/c Ed. II. Gives 200 tn. of subsidy to repress Thos., Earl Lancaster's rebellion
{Hist.).

16 Ed. II. Fines in ;^2oo, and ^^20 Queen gold, Scotland — no general levy of
escuage (Sc. tiot. -V-, and Hist.).

t Ed. III. Fines in ;Cioo, and £,\o Queen gold, Scotland {Hist.).
16 Ed. II. The Abbot fines in ^200 for 5 fees (for the Scotch exercitus presum-
ably)—no general levy of escuage. {Sc. Rot. ^.)

now it will be observed that the Edwardian fines
are not based on the " service," and it may also be
noted the fine with escuage was under 5 m. per fise
in 14 Hen. III., 1230, whereas it was but about ;^i
per fee 5 and 10 Ed. I. (by theory at least) as
some 175 marcs should accrue on either occasion,
as his escuage — the money received by the Crown
being much the same as in 1230. The Exch.
Common Roll 17 Ed. III. (cited both by Brady and
Madox) gives the case of the Prior of Coventry who Prior of
/. Ed. I., and /. Ed. II. fined for 2 fees (service 10); case^"''^*
both these authors observe the Prior's Plea was
false, but neither of them record judgment: cer-
tain it is many capital tenants fined just in the
same way as the Prior, and it is difficult to suppose
any systematic deception could have taken place
with the evidence then on record in the Pipe
Rolls. The charter of the Prior of Coventry to
the King (aid to marry 1235) is on p. 94 of the
T. de N.f and an inquisition of his fees in Warwick

86 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

and Leicester (p. 97) in 1242 follows; in 1166
he had 7|i of old and i\ fees in demesne : the
King's advocates either could not or would not
answer the Prior's argument which appears to be
entirely misapprehended by both the distinguished
authors citing the case — what the Prior pleads is
that he and his tenants paid on 10 fees to two aids
to marry, and that his certificate of 1166 duly
acknowledges 10 fees as by him and his tenants,
but that he held by the service of 2 fees only, and
challenges any recorded proof to the contrary —
none produced. This probably refers to the
2^ fees in demesne, for which the Prior fined [i.e.^
2 as above), or in other words his service was 10,
two of which he recognised in exercitu {e.g., a
Marshal's Roll showing the Prior had sent 10
knights would have shown the Crown to be seized
of the " service " of i o fees in the Prior's sense,
but seemingly was not so found), noting that the
defendant used the term " service " with a different
meaning than that which is attached to it in modern
writings (including this chapter). Now if the lord
could compel his men always to do corporal service
at their or even his own costs, he would not have
paid exemplary fines, and it is certain that nothing
Escuage more than scutage could be had (and that sometimes
with difficulty or not at all) from some of the
mesne tenants ; but I have not found that it was
the more usual practice both to fine and concede
scutage to the Crown. From the Church often
something more than her service seems to have
been expected, but from Hen. II. to i Ed. III.
many lay capital tenants appear to have escaped by

tenants.

Feudal Statistics 87

paying or owing escuage. Madox in his chapter
on Escuage cites (I think.) hut 4 cases of actual
disseisin ; such however was common enough, and
no one acquainted with the records of John and
Hen. III. will consider amplification needful : it
may just be noted that disseisin was not disherison, Disseisin.
and often appears to have been a mere formal
process of taking possession on account of the un-
satisfied claim of the Crown to the tenant's cor-
poral service, or its pecuniary unpaid equivalent ;
the malevolence of the King being averted, and
seisin recovered when the tenant came to terms on
the matter. In and prior to Hen. I. forfeiture
seems to have been frequent, but the attentive
reader of History must have often observed that
traitors and rebels by no means necessarily lost
their estates (even temporarily), and frequently,
having been disinherited, regained them in their
own persons (or by their heirs)— nor must it be
supposed that disseisin* was the inevitable sequence
of failure to attend the royal summons (bearing in
mind that records do not show that half the Crown
capital tenants had usually a direct summons), e.g.y
P. Writs 30 Ed. I. where Jo./. Reginald is directed
to proceed against the Scots, having previously per
diversas vices neglected to obey such summons,
and again 13 Ed. II. [P. fV.) when the King states
that '* very many of our realm " who should have
done service in the army oi )\\s fourth year, neither
did it, nor fined, which is to be compared with the
already cited heading in Pipe 18 Hen. II., and the
nee ierant nee miserunt of Walt. Coventry in 121 3.

* For an early instance of, see p. 105.

88 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

.Obliga-
tions of
under-
tenants.

That the undertenant (John-Ed. II,) was more
frequently of pecuniary than personal assistance
seems to be supported by evidence as known —
Prof. Maitland cites the legal view of a Knt. failing
to do service /. Hen. I. {Chron. Abingdon, ii., 128);
the Earl of Chester's Knts. are to be compelled to
render him service (presumably partly or wholly
of a corporal nature) in 10 John (Pat. Rot.) ; and
a tenant's superior lord is to have full seizin if
former is unwilling to transit for him in 14 John
{CI. Rot.) ; — nevertheless it is apparent enough
that of very many mesne tenants there is no further
obligation to their lord than to pay escuage, how-
ever they may stand to the Crown in the matter of
fealty, as if I have rightly observed, they would be
a class liable for summons amongst the iurati ad
arma.

In the Scutage Rolls {Chanc. Misc. \^ in 10
Ed. III. is a mandate to the Sheriff of Yorks to
cease distraint on the Luterell estates, because by
the Rolls of the Marshal /. Ed. I. it appears that
Ro, Luterell, deceased, had his service for 2 fees
which he acknowledged, in 5 Ed. I. in the ist
Welsh war ; hence it appears that the Scutage due
in 1278 was still owing to the Crown in 13 16-17,*

Inade- * It seems clear that the notes as to tenants in 1278 {Pipe

Scu^aee ^°^^ ^ ^^' ^' ^^°^-) ^^^ indefinite, as some had, and others

entries in l^ad not done service in the war of 5 Ed. I., but Ric. de

Pipe Rolls, Malebisse who had been summoned to perform military

• • service in person (Muster at Worcester 5 Ed. 1.) does not

acknowledge nor fine for same, but is noted in the 7 Ed. I.

Pipe Roll, as paying 40s. scutage for i fee (which was held of

the Hon. of Eye). Again Peter de Mauley did his service,

Feudal Statistics 89

and further that when Scutage was asslzed, it might
be collected either for the tenant or the King. Turn-
ing to the Pipe Roll 7 Ed. I. Yorks, the Scutage
of Wales was assized at 40s, (;^20 seems to have
been actually paid then) whereof Ro. Luterell is Double
noted with j^ 2 5 for 12^ fees, with a reference to ??|e?ike °'^
the last Welsh Scutage, i.e.^ 42 Hen. III. at a jj^'istrated
similar rate : the names seem to have been copied Lutereii
from a former roll or rolls with alterations of'^^**'"
Christian names (thus Ro. Luterell succeeded in
5 Ed. I., his grandfather Andrew being tenant in
42 Hen. III.), and hence in 10 Ed. III. it might
well appear that the executors of the said Ro. stood
charged with the Escuage of 1278. Now it may-
be remarked that the Luterell property ought the

acknowledging 2 fees, (appearing in person with another
Knight at the Muster at Rhuddlan 10 Ed. I.) : nevertheless
both in the Pipe Rolls of 10 and 14 Ed. II. he is debited with
;^63 scutage for that particular campaign : his service being
3i-| fees, as he inherited the estates of Wm. Forsard who
rendered that number (Pipe Roll 14 Hen. II., Ebor.\ Most
of those capital tenants specially summoned for the 5 Ed. I.
Welsh war, from Yorkshire [unlike the total for England,
where about half of all specially warned neither come, send,
nor fine — MarskaFs Roll 1277] fine, or "make," or "have,"
but there are no writs of quittance noted on the Pipe Rolls
of 5, 6, or 7 Ed. I. re this army; that King however seems
not to have effectively pressed the collection of escuage (see
Pari. Writs /. Ed. II.), and as shown in the Luterell case,
such was being collected in 10 Ed. III. Edward II. collected
or attempted to collect the escuages of Ed. I. — most of the
Yorkshire entries (Pipe Rolls 7 and 13 Ed. I.) give no further
information than the number of fees each tenant had (the
Welsh war of 10 Ed. I. is the last of which any regular
entry of escuage is made for this county), and could be but of
slight use as a guide to what was due to the Crown.

90 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

service of ii\ fees and recognised such by 2 knights
in the King's army, and that said fees were those
for which Ro. de Gant sent in a Charter in 1166 ;
in 1 168 (being one of the eleven exceptions) he
rendered!']^ but paid then on \i\ only, and is not
on the rolls till 2 Ric. I. when the fee is given as
1 2^ (see p. 77 "RedBook" Vol. I., likewise in 6 and
8 Ric. I., I and 13 John), also 38 Hen. III. where
account is rendered by the Sheriff of ^^25 of
\l\ fees of Andrew Luterel, of Maurice de Gaunt,
in the aid to Knight Prince Edward.

The following illustrations save where otherwise
stated are from Madox's " Hist, of the Ex-
chequer":

Examples iS'Hen. II. Glastonbury Abbey in the hands of the King :
^"l therefore unrecognised fees paid,

etc. ' 7 ■^'^' ^' -^°' <^^- S*^- John r.c. I 5 marcs, lest he transit, and
to have escuage of I fee,

7 Ric. I. Matilda Countess of Warwick r.c. 40 m., lest she

send Knights o'er sea, and to have escuage of
15 fees. [Scutage £1 per fee.]

8 Ric. I. Bp. Coventry r.c. £21^ lest etc., and to have escuage

of 15 fees of the Bprick and 10 of the Priory

[seems an even fine].
I 'John. Ro. de Turevil r.c. 5 m. for \ fee which he holds in

demesne, lest he transfret with horses and arms.
I John, Hen. de Witefeld owes 4 m. lest etc., who holds

\ fee in demesne.
I "John. Geoff, de Mandeville who holds in demesne i fee

'"•^- ;^5 ^^s^ ^tz., and to have scutage of said

demesne.
J John. Ric. Descrupes owes ;^5 for 3 fees, lest, etc.
12 John. Earl Clare r.c. 500 m. for his passage, Ireland, (and

is quit of escuage. Pipe 13 John).
14. Hen. III. Fines and Scutages (3 marcs per fee) for the

King's first passage to Brittany:

Abbot Evesham r.c. ;^20 for passage, and for
scutage of 4^ fees

Feudal Statistics 91

Abbot Pershore r.c. £,\o for passage, and for

scutage of z fees.
Abbot Abbotsbury r.c, £z, for passage, and for

scutage of i fee.
Abbot Westminster r.c. lOO marcs of fine for

scutage of 1 5 fees.
Abbot Michelney r.c. 3 m. by the Sheriff for

I fee.
Abbot Cerne r.c. £^ for passage and scutage of
I fee ; r.c. £2 of scutage of i fee, for which
he did not fine.
Bp. of Bath (20 fees) gave ;^I20 of aid, partly

pardoned.
Prior of Coventry r.c. 35 m. for his passage and

to have escuage of his 10 fees.
Ro. de 3^vo 'Burgo r.c. 20 m. for his passage,
saving to the King, scutage of his 15 fees.
j8 Hen. III. The Bp. London r.c. 60 m. of fine to be quit of
sending Knights, and to have his escuage, ahd
should the King pardon scutage to any of the Bp's
Knights, same to be allowed for in the fine [20 fees].
20 Hen. III. Re exceptional grant by ecclesiastics of an aid
of 2 marcs per fee as well those usually answerable
to escuage, as others retained to their own use ; not
to be prejudicial on future occasions ; (refers to the
aid to marry, and is from record citing it).
2y Hen. II L Receipt of 50 marcs subsidy of the Abbot of
Hyde in consideration of which he will respond
for escuage of 15 instead of 20 fees.
7 Ed. I The Bp. Lincoln fines in ;^8o for 5 fees (service 60)

which he recognised for I5l Welsh war.*
7 Ed. I. Order to levy scutage of 40s. per fee from capital

tenants, etc., re above.
2J Ed. I. 2 cases of quittance of escuage of capital tenants
for army of 5 Ed. L who respectively " had," and
fined for service : (planes. Lay Sub.).
31 Ed. I. (Brady Vol. L Hist. p. 120) Hen. de Perci who
was in the Scotch expedition of 31 Ed. I., to have
£2 per fee scutage.
JI Ed. I. (Brady, ibid.) Hen. de Lacy to have £2 from each

* Hist. Exck, p. 460, ed. 1711 ; cf. Peterboro' Abbey,
5 Ed. L, already cited, p. 84.

92 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

of his fees, as he was in the King's service nego-
tiating in France, during the exercitus of 3 1 Ed. I.

24 Ed. I. Similar order to last, re Scotch expedition.

g Ed. II. 4 cases of distraint of escuage on mesne tenants
for armies of 28, 31, and 34 Ed. I. ; mandate that
same should cease, unless at aforesaid time the lord
of said mesnes was within age, and in the King's
hands.

g-i2 Ed. II. Two cases showing that in this reign the
tenant of an honour was bound to give scutage, but
not to do corporal service.

10 Ed. II. Debts of Scotch expeditions of 28, 31, and 34
Ed. I. to be collected at the rate of £z per fee as
scutage, and enquiry as to capital tenants, escheats,
honors, perquisites, wards, and vacant ecclesiastical
holdings — reference to abovx in a mandate to the
Commissioners.

75 Ed. II. Summons for an expedition against the Scots, in
which ecclesiastics, widows, and other women are
to be allowed to fine at £,40 "^tx fee.

20 Ed. III. (Brady, Vol. I. App. pp. 86-8) Expenses of
the army of this year, showing its composition,
wages, etc., (a Knight 2s. per day).

Payment Now it secms clear that it was easier to pay
^^' Escuage than to fine, and certain tenants appear to
have escaped by the former plan ; why some should
stand as quit paying or owing scutage is difficult
to discern, further than on such general grounds as
expediency, negligence, favoritism, relative strength
of the Crown, abilities of tenants, etc., bearing in
mind that wards, escheats, perquisites, honors, and
vacant bishopricks explain the matter in many (but
certainly not all) cases. The following references
are mainly from original matter at the Record
Office, dealing with the final period (up to
I Ed. III.) beyond which I do not find any notice
of a general levy of scutage in England ; as

Feudal Statistics

93

Madox's Hist. Exch. and Pari. Writs (the only
works assaying satisfactory illustration), do not
bring the History of Escuage quite to a close :

2g Hen. III. Aid granted 1242, ^^i per fee, to marry the Examples
King's daughter noted for Yorks in the Pipe Roll, •""'om ,1/55.,
on basis of render of 1 168. unprinted.

^8 Hen III. Aid to knight Prince Edward, noted on Pipe
Roll, at £z per fee, generally on same basis as
above though theoretically on "old" and "new"
feoffment.
42 Hen. III. Escuage for Welsh war, at 40s. per fee, noted
for Yorks on Pipe Roll, same basis as above, i.e.,
render of 1 168.
/f.g Hen. III. Chanc. Misc. Bdle ll. No. g. Fines for services
due to the King in his army anno 48 ; totalling
;^i,302 los. ; (r. 68 entries) thus :

Abbot Glastonbury ... 60 marcs.

„ Abingdon ... ... 60

„ Hyde 50

,, Croyland ... ... 50

Thos. Kyn' ... ... 40

Chapter of Lincoln ... 40

Bp. Salisbury ... ... 50

Bp. Durham ... ... 100

Abb. Peterbro' (as well for

service, as of his gift) ... 300 ,,
5 Ed. I, (Chanc. Misc. ji) Order to Sheriff of Yorks in
10 Ed. III., to release distraint on Luterell estates
for scutage of 5 Ed. I., as Ro. Luterell dec^ then had
his service for 2 fees.
7 Ed. I. Scutage of Wales assissed at 40s. per fee with refer-
ence to 42 Hen. in. ; a list of most of the York-
shire capital tenants, some of whom fined, had or
did service, but nothing to indicate this on the roll,
the names being proper to 7 Ed. I., and not to
42 Hen. III. ; £,io paid ; the fees on basis of 1 168.
10 Ed. I. (-y- Sc. Rot.) Fines for army of Wales ; r. 90 entries.
7^ Ed. I. Another list, presumably of the second Welsh war,
on same basis as 7 Ed. I. ; both Yorks Pipe Rolls.

94 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

28 Ed. I. (-\i Sc. Rot.) Fines for army of Scotland, at 40 li.
per fee — total ^^1,975 6s. 8d. in c. 15 entries.

28, Jl, 34 Ed. I. Lay Subs., — *-. Collection of escuage
(Middlesex) at the rate of 40s. per fee for the
armies summoned for Carlisle (28 Ed. I.), Bcrwick-
on-Tweed (31 Ed. I.) and Carlisle (34 Ed. I.),
seemingly paid by undertenants.

28 and J4 Ed. 1. King's writ in 4 Ed. III. to the Sheriff of
Westmorland that the executors of Marmaduke
Twenge deceased (who was with the lord Edward
grandfather of the now King in the Scotch expe-
ditions) should have scutage, at 40s. per fee, both
for 28 and 34 Ed. I.

jl Ed. I. (np Sc. Rot.) Fines for Berwick army at 20 //. per
fee — total £'i,'J'J'J is. 8d. in c. 32 entries — thus
Archbp. of York (service 20), ^100 for 5 fees.

J4. Ed. I. (^ Sc. Rot.) Fines for Carlisle army at 20 marcs
per fee — ^^total ;^i,88i os. o|^d. or more, in c. 69
entries.

J4 Ed. I. {Chanc. Misc. i|) Writ in 5 Ed. III., that whereas
Wm. la Zouche fined for his service in Scotland
34 Ed, I., said Wm. to have scutage at the rate of
40s. per fee.

3^ Ed. I. (Yorks Pipe Roll) The Archbp. York fines in
100 marcs for 5 fees which he recognises : notes of
presumed debts of Welsh scutage.

jj" Ed. I., I Ed. II. Like entries as to Welsh scutage on
Yorks Pipe Roll.

4 Ed. II. I^Chanc. Misc. \\) Writ of 2 Ed. III. to the Sheriff
of Surrey and Sussex to the effect that, whereas
our father (Ed. II.) by divers writs, commanded
that our beloved Abbot of Hyde, who had his
service in Scotland (4 Ed. II.), etc., should have
escuage at the rate of 2 marcs per fee, and that as
said Abbot has informed us that same has not been
levied, etc. — to cause said Abbot to have, etc.

4 Ed. II. {ibid.) Writ in 4 Ed. III. to the Sheriff of Lanes
that executors of Marm. de Twenge deceased,
should have escuage.

4 Ed. II, {ibid.) Writ in 5 Ed. III. to Sheriff of Somerset to
cause Wm. la Zouche to have escuage re 4 Ed. II.

Feudal Statistics 95

4 Ed. II {Subs. ^-) Derby ; collectors' accounts of escuage,
presumably from undertenants, at the rate of 2 marcs
per fee.

4 Ed. II. (Sc. Rot. -y-) 9 entries of fines at ;^40 per fee for
army of Scotland.

6 Ed. II. {ibid.) Fines for respite from service ; r. 52 entries.

6-7 Ed. 11. {Chanc. Misc. Bdle. 11, No. 9) Fines thus:
Jollan de Nevill 40s. for respite of service due
from I fee till the Nativity of St. John the Baptist :
Aucher/l Hen. recognises the service of \ fee, and
makes fine {see T. W.).

y Ed. II. (-Y- Sc. Rot.) . Fines for army of Berwick, at
20 marcs per fee ; c. 40 entries.

S-ii Ed. II. {Chanc. Misc. Bdle 11, No. 15) Roger de
Mortimer, who was with the King, etc., to have his
scutage.

10 Ed. IL (Yorks Pipe Rolf) Notes of presumed debts of
2 Welsh scutages of Ed. I. ; Geoff. Luterell pays
£z^ for I2| fees, for the 20^ scutage, for his father
deceased ; it is interesting to note that Ro. Luterel
acknowledged 2 fees in 5 Ed. I., and did his
service ; in 10 Ed. I. he was summoned, and
clearly seems not to have appeared nor fined (there
are many writs /. Ed. II. stating that as tenant had
fined he is not to be distrained for scutage, or to
have his escuage), his son paying the scutage on
12^ (not 2) fees, 35 years later.

jj Ed. II. (V- ^<'' R<^f') 5 fi"'^^ ^o"" army of York at ;^20
per fee.

14. Ed. II. (Yorks Pipe Roll) Entries of presumed debts
of escuage for the 2 Welsh wars of the last reign, on
basis of 1 168.

j6 Ed. II. (V ^^ ^''^') £S^° ^^^s ^°'" "™y °^ Newcastle at
£^0 per fee :

£.

Bp. Bath and Wells 80

„ Chichester ... ... 100

„ Winchester ... ... 200

Abbot Peterbro' ... ... 200

y, 2, J Ed. III. No entries as to escuage found on Yorks
Pipe Roll.

96 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

I Ed. III. {Chanc. Misc. \\) Writ of 1 1 Ed. III. to Sheriff
ot Somerset to cause Abbot of Glastonbury to have
his scutage for fine made for service in Scotland
I Ed. III.

I Ed. III. {Subs. -2//-) Account of collectors of the E.R.
Yorks (in or after 13 Ed. III.) as to escuage of
1 Ed. III., showing that nothing had been levied,
the King having stopped levying till further demand.

I Ed. III. (JJ- Sc. Rot.) Cn^ fines for army of Newcastle,
at j^20 per fee ; in c. 26 entries.

12 Ed. III. {Jones' Index^ citing Hil. 12 Ed. III. Mem.)
]o.f. Ro. de Ros to be attached for view of account
of scutage.

12 Ed. III. L.T.R. Mem, Commission to collect scutage of
I Ed. III.

12 Ed. III. Fcedera. To defer collection of above scutage
till further orders (1338).

20 Ed. ///.(Chanc. Misc. Bdle 11. No. 19) Fines thus:
Ric. de Goldesbrough miles^ for 5 marcs for expenses
of I hobelar ; Humph, de Bassingbourn miles
26 m. for expenses of 2 men at arms and i hobelar
— but no note of fees, being assessed on value p. a.
of land or rents, commencing at £z^ (one archer).

g Ric. II. Pari. Roll. Petition (granted) that no escuage
shall be challengeable on account of the King's i^*
expedition to Scotland.

1312. (FcEdera). The Irish Exch. Barons not to exact scutage
from persons whose possessions are held by the
rebels.

There is no evidence of any general levy of

escuage {ut credo)^ in England, after /. Ed. III.,

iuextirc- but there is not infrequent mention of it in the

i7th'°^^^ Rolls of Parliament, and some evidence of its

century, existence as a rent charge* — however scutage was

not abolished in 1641, when the House of Com-

* Inter alia : Wm. Angevyn held ^ the Manor of Hebden
of the Abbot of Fountains by homage, fealty, scutage, and a
rent of 8s. p. a.— I.P.M. 15 Hen. VII.

Feudal Statistics 97

mons were to take it into consideration, possibly
in alarm lest it might be utilised to meet the
exigencies of their unfortunate monarch, who is
reported to have been benefited to the extent of
/ioo,ooo, or ^173,537 9s, 6d., by the compositions
for Knighthood of the 40 librate holders.*

The popular idea of the servitium debitum is Popular
clearly stated by J. A. C. Vincent {Lanes. Lay serdoe ;«
Subs.^ p. 116), in his expansion of a writ oiexerdtu.
military summons, to wit, in the proportion of one
Knight to each fee^ whereas the mandate requires
habeant ibi pro se servicium suum nobis debitum ; —
the simplicity of a theory asking credence for the
muster of the whole Knight Service of the
kingdom to a particular place on a given day
one very much admires at. Like views appear
to be expressed in Feudal England (pp. 270-1,
J, H. Round), and p. 202 where that author Unanimity

of authors

labours hard to equate a scutage of 2 marcs per there-
fee with the service of a Knight for 40 days ; in *°^°^-
the excellent work of the Bishop of Oxford {Const.
Hist. i. 589) ;t and also in The Scutage and

* Archaeologia, 1863.

t It would of course be impossible for any author to
fathom every detail in so vast and laborious a work as that
under note ; at the same time a levy of one-third of the
milites by tenure, would be (I think), as large a proportion as
ever recorded ; the chronicler himself styles it maximam
expeditionem, ita ut duo milites de tota Anglia tertium pararent
ad opprimendum Galenses {Ckron. Norm. p. 993, Duchesne),
and it must be remembered that King John, when raising the
country to resist invasion, ordered quod novem milites pet totam Quotas of
Angliam invenient decimum militem, and in 4 northern counties ^^'^^'*^-
a portion of this quota (j^^) was to be retained to guard their

7

98 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

Knight Service in England (p. 108, J. F. Baldwin),
which is perhaps the best modern work on the
feudal system of this country.

Certain it is the Abbots of Evesham, Ramsey,
and St. Albans, and the Bishop of Durham did
all, and sometimes more (the two latter) than the
same service for which they responded to escuage —
but what evidence remains (by no means in-
considerable), demonstrates that most of the
ecclesiastics and laymen did very much less. At
Army of the siege of Calais (when conditions had entirely
^.D^'ij46. changed), there were perhaps at most* i^odj
English Earls, Bannerets, and Knights, with some
3^000 esquires (in feudal language c. 2,500 fees),
all at wages \yide MS. Harl. 3,968, which is fuller
than the Heralds^ Coll. copy printed in Creci and
Calais'] ; and a professional writer [the Hon. Gen.

own parts (^Pat. Rot. 6 John), The same author (Ro. de
Monte, ut sup. Chron. Norm.^ gives the interesting reference
{vide Duchesne, 995), cited in Feudal England (p. 280)
whose author suggests the chronicler is at fault, as the
escuage represented but a minority of the fees : the available
records do not demonstrate that at this period the Exchequer
were seized of any evidences which would enable its Barons to
form a competent conception of the number of fees held by
the lay Crown tenants ; it would seem probable that many
records perished t. Stephen, as when ancient evidences are
called for of a general nature, the Crown instructs its officers
to produce Domesday Book, and the Barons' Certificates, so
that apparently these were all the records to hand.

* This estimate of course includes all the English men at
arms present whether Crown tenants or not : some of them
presumably had no landed property whatsoever — cf. chescun
Esquier nient possessionem, des terres, reTit, ne chateaux^ q'est en
service ou ad este armez [2 Ric. II.].

Feudal Statistics 99

Wrottesley], states this to have been the most
complete expedition despatched from England till
the 19th century.

In 14 Hen. II. and 38 Hen. III. are some
1 1 and 9 cases of services of upwards of 100 fees Supposed ^^
(to escuage), and yet one thinks the authors of of more
the accepted theory of all the feudal milites* Sgh^.
doing service together in the same army would
be particularly distressed to prove an actual service
in the army of 20 fees even in 5 cases, or of
40^ 50^ or 100 fees in any single case whatsoever :
40 may have been a possible number, as the Earl
of Salisbury allows such to be his debt in exercitu
in ir66 (fees to scutage 56^ and 55^, 18 Hen. II.
and 38 Hen. III.) — but the Baronial Charters
themselves often furnish undeniable witness that
the services are of divers natures. There is fairly
ample evidence as to the armies of John and Popular
Hen. III., and no lack of same /. Ed, I.-II., and kn?ght°
in no caset {ut videtur mihi) anything approach- pr^bie""
ing 20 milites by any baron; nor is it likely that j*^'- ^«. and
(in the earlier period) all the feudal milites could cupjiCn of
have been entirely withdrawn from the Castles, ^^'^°^^^-
especially on the Welsh and Scotch borders, thus

* Milites — a difficult term, Wm. I. to Hen. II., and scarcely
quite equivalent to the same /. Hen. III. to Ed. I. ; in 38
Hen. III. the Bannerets and Bachelors by tenure might total
1,000, or possibly 1,500; — /. Ed. I. there is evidence of a
considerable force, including the vadlets, servientes, or esquires,
but by far the more part of same ad vadia nostra.

f Earl Richard (89 fees et amplius) led 20 milites and
40 servientes (probably archers on foot for the more part) in
the army of Wales, {Pipe Roll, 1 1 Hen. II.).

7—2

lOO Domesday and Feudal Statistics

depriving the land of its natural leaders, and
tending to place the much decried (C. Oman, M. A.,
Art of War, and Prize College Essay) abilities of
our mediaeval capitanei, more nearly on a level
with those of their modern critics.

Now true it is that the wages* of a miles for

Expenses
of military
service.

Bargains
with hired
Knights ;
actual case
in 1284,
between
tenant and
miles.

* The siege of Kenilworth is said to have lasted from
June 25 to Dec. 13, 1266 {Const. Hist., ii. 96), and the
Abbot of Peterboro' (as other prelates), was summoned for
his service (at this period the equivalent of 5 Knts.) ; the
expedition seems to have cost him £\2^-^ [Hist. Pet.), but
no definite dates occur save 3 weeks after Aug. 24, and 15
days after Nov, i — amongst the items are 17 horses deprcedati
de pretio £,\o, and 10 loricce cum toto apparatu de pretio jQi^.
Later at Shrewsbury are entries of the expenses of brother
Wm. Paris, cum toto servitio, for 6 weeks, £\\ i8s. od., and
in purchase and repairs of arms 0> 14s. od. ; in 4 Ed. II.
the King wrote to the Abbot (vide Hist.) for his service for
Scotland (suppose 5 milites) whereupon he sent him Wm. de
la Zouche {miles), with horses and arms, at a cost exceeding
60 marcs, but nihil placuit regi, so the Abbey fines for 5 fees
in ;^200, etc. (see p. 85). The cost of a hired Knt. would
to some extent be regulated by the fines to the Crown, to
knowledge of which the contracting parties could be no
strangers — thus in 1284, the Abbot of St. Augustine's
(scutage service, 15) arranged with Wm. de Cobeham (miles),
to quit them of all military service due to the Crown
(sc. I Knt. in exercitu, see Rot. Mar. 10 Ed. I., and Chron.
W. Thorn), for £zo. As the fines for this army (Wales)
were 50 m. per fee (queen gold 5 m.), it is evident the
Abbey saved £16 13s. 4d. by the above pact, but it should
be noted that the liabilities (ransom, loss or injury to horses,
etc.) of the service would probably fall on Wm. de Cobe-
ham. The wages of z miles at this period were 2s. a day,
and apparently rather a mere average equivalent for housing,
and provender, in time of war for himself, his vadlets, and
horses — the King's household and hired Knts. being at the

Feudal Statistics looa

40 days at 8d. per day, would be met by an
escuage of 2 m. per fee, upon which it may be Wages of a
observed, (a), that the duration of service /. Hen II. J^y/S!'//.
(«/ videtur mihi)^ is not clearly proven ; (^), that
8d. might perhaps on the average defray the daily
cost of a miles^ 2-3 horses, and an attendant or
attendants ; (r), that it would seem to leave no
surplus for casualties — e.g. loss of horses, and .
expenses to and from the place of muster ; and
[d) that 2 m. is the highest scutage, and 8d. the
lowest wage t. Hen. II., i w. and is. (wage) being
also recorded. Further the conventions between
Hen. I. and Robt. Earl of Flanders (i 101-3) Flemish
demonstrate that not only did the King agree to uons?"
pay journeys to and fro, find board and food '• "'"■ ^•
\ut credo, the equivalent of the customary wages),
but also to defray all losses, as was customary
with the milites of his own household : in addi-
tion the Earl was to have an annual retainer of
400 marcs., for 1,000 milites in England (in case
of need), for an undefined period, each miles to
bring 3 horses.* The editor of the Red Book
Exch. (Z.. R. vol. ii.) rates the expenses of Knight
Service at 3- the escuage, but ut supra, no proof

Crown's risk as to losses, and in some cases (at any rate),
wearing the royal livery, but it seems clear that the liabilities
to losses from service by tenure would be taken by the tenants
themselves.

* Fadera ; ^OO milites in lioi, and J,000 in 1 103 ; sec
also Pipe 31 Hen. I., where is some slight evidence for sup-
posing the wage of a Knight in a Castle to be 4d. a day
(p. 137 ut sup.), and vide Chron Pet. App. (p. 175) where
Vivian (/. Hen. I.) ought to be a miles in exercitu cum ij
equis, et suis armis, et abbas inveniet ei alia necessaria.

loi Domesday and Feudal Statistics

(under correction) of time has yet been advanced
as to the earlier period in England ; Prof, Mait-
iand remarking this has given the useful reference
to a certain term {Rot. CI, 14 John, p. iiyi*),
but at the same time it is to be allowed that

Term of 40 days is not infrequently named in connexion
with small serjeanties and the iurati ad arma, and
clearly for Knight Service in Normandy /. Hen. I.,
(Bp. Bayeux' fees). Nevertheless it seems almost
demonstrable that in 121 1 (12 John) certain
feudal tenants served far beyond that period ; the
royal army being at Pembroke, 16 June ; Water-
ford, 20 June ; DubHn, 24 August ; and Fish-
guard (Wales) 2 days later: in this expedition

Presta- the I St general prest to feudal tenants was made
at Pembroke, 16 June, and the last notable ones
at Dublin, 21 August, to some 332 milites^ and
to r. 116 more next day : altho' many of these
advances (to milites) are indefinite, some, up to
the close of the period, are stated to be on their
demesne (or that of their lord), — in the case of
Flemish Knights, on their fees. It may be re-
marked that Earl David (Hunts) had an advance
(prest) as late as Aug. 24, and that in 14 Hen. III.
(Bain's Scotch Cal. citing L. T. R. Mem.) his
successor Earl John accounts for and is pardoned
^80 of the prest of Ireland /. John — the former

Army of Karl had 10 milites in the Irish army, likewise the

J2U. ' Earls of Hereford and Essex (the Justiciar), but
this is the highest number there recorded :* in

* It should be scarcely necessary to observe these Earls
had more than 10 fees each — prests occur in the Pipe Roll
31 Hen. I, as being accounted for at the Exch., and it is

Feudal Statistics 102

the reigns of Ed. I. and II. it is certain that
40 days is the accredited term, and appears to 40 days,
have been in 50 Hen. III. (^Pat. Rot.) when
5 northern Barons are acquitted of further service
on that ground.

The Inquisitions of Normandy (1177-1189) J^q'jJ?^"*^''
perhaps show a service to the King of c. 6^2 fees tions.
from a total of c. i^S^o fees [the record gives 581
from c. 1500,] some of the royal service being in
castleguard — in either case about a third of the
total, the balance presumably serving in nummis^
and guarding the baronial castles, which in a
certain sense are those of the King and Duke
[Hen. II.] : the earlier return of the Bishop of
Bayeux is similar, 40 knights doing service
40 days (to Hen. I.), for 120 fees."'"'

The massed capital {c. 1400) and undertenants
(7,871, £///j), in D. B. yield 9,371 in toto ; of
these most of the immediate and many of the
mediate ones can in no sense be regarded as hold-
ing by Knight Service : the number of milites MUites m
(Ellis) is 137, but this is a most delusive return ; Domesday.

clear that some had been made to English milites for the army
of Normandy, 2 yohn (Rot. Cane. 3 John).

* The whole service due to the Duke is here stated as
774 milites [^Feudal England, p. 292, citing date as 1171, and
Liber Rubeus, vol. ii., p. 647, under date c. 1133, noting that
the total (774) is not in the original], but this seems to have
been an error of the transcriber, produced perhaps by adding
the service {c. 652) of/. Hen. II. (including the Bayeux fees)
to the latter total (120) t. Hen. I. : it may be noted that the
Bishop had 120 fees at either date ad servitium suum, and is
returned as owing 40 milites to the Duke /. Hen. I., and
20. t. Hen. II.

I03 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

as " Knights " occur also amongst the capital and
undertenants : there are certainly upwards of 700
(it is impracticable to distinguish duplicates) men,
to whom D. B., directly or indirectly applies this
term (and many more of course of the class, not
specified otherwise than by the baptismal or
gentilitial names), but some of these are in no
sense of the term "Knights," as obviously the
domince do not militate, nor presumably does
Wennenc, the priest [D, B., i., 1 8^, bis vel amplius~\^
included (I think), amongst Earl Eu's milites.

The term therefore in its collective usage may
include mere tenants by military service, who
cannot be "Knights"; the same application is often
to be remarked in the Baronial certificates (includ-
ing domincB^ monachi^ etc.), of 1166, which yield
some 4,000 names, f of which hold less than i fee ;
some of these are entered more than once, and on
the other hand the returns are neither definite nor
complete : Simon de Beauchamp's charter names 85
tenants on 36I old fees, and if read (by the letter),
Auxiiium, informs of an aid on the fee /. Hen. I. {i.e.^ scutage
/. Hen. 1. jj^ nature, if not in name), — that all his tenants
were milites t. Hen. I. or /. Hen. II. is improbable.
The Assize of Arms* (11 81) ut videtur mihi,
affects for the more part tenants by Knight Service;

* It is presumed that few tenants other than military, and
townsmen, would /. Hen. II. be assessed at 10 marcates of
land or goods ; the exceptions perhaps would be tenants in
fee farm, retainers attached to important households, and
perhaps a few tenants by socage on the ecclesiastical estates,
allowing always for considerable intermixture of tenure. The
Assize /. John, names tenants ol \ fee, [some of them perhaps
equestrian servientes\ ; most of the Yorkshire subsidy men

Feudal Statistics 104

(«), I fee or more; (/^), 16 marcates of land or Assize of
goods — say \ fee; {<:), 10 marcates of Jand or tnln. n.
goods — say ^ fee ; (^), all burgesses and tota com-
muna liberorum hominum allowing {d) to include
those holding other than by Knight Service, and in
exceptional cases (/^) and (<:), and supposing the above
classes to furnish the cavalry and heavy armed in-
fantry /, Hen. II., and that the villani were not
to be permitted to have the furniture of freemen.

The author of The Art of War lays much stress
on the absence of bows and arrows, which is little Alleged
to the purpose, as the assize /. John {vide Rot. CI. Archery.
14 Hen. III., p. I, m. 6*^^) is quite definite on that
point — in addition, these weapons are named in the
Laws of Hen. I., and it is incredible to hold
that the community of chroniclers of divers ages
had entered into a pact for a systematic deception .
of the moderns on that head, and vide also Pipe
Rolls t. Hen. II. as to archers and arrows.

Ordericus Vitalis mentions feudum militis as Feudum
quite early in the nth cent., thus, Prcsjatus ^^^ormMdy,
Decanus ex discipulis Fulberti Carnotensis Epis- J^^'^^^^
copi fuit^ et ex paterna hereditate feudum militis
possedit with reference to Dean Fulc, whom he
terms silicernius t. Mainerius (1066-1089), and
further (as to military ecclesiastics) continues,
Deinde Presbyteri de stirpe Dacorum litteris tenuiter
edocti parrochias tenebant^ et arma ferentes laicalem
feudum militari famulatu defendebant — whether
or not the Dean of Evreux was classed as a miles

[25 Ed. I., No. 16, Yorks Rec. Ser.\ are rated at less than 20s.
of goods, but it is allowed that mediaeval assessments arc of
a Jortnal nature.

I05 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

Afilites of
Peterboro',
/. Hen. I.

is left indefinite ; but certain it seems the feudal
tenure of Normandy, as portrayed by that author,
was the antecessor of that introduced into England.
Just as some of the milites of D. B. and ii 66
are demonstrably and presumably not " Knights,"
so also in the return of the milites of the Abbot of
Peterboro' {Chron. Pet. t. Hen. I.) occur soche-
manni et serviunt cum militibus^ but it would be
hard to credit their appearance as "Knights"
habentes equos, et loricas^ et cassides^ et clypeos^ et
lanceas^ in exercitu, tho' they might very well
serve in nummis.

Without falling back on the writ described as
Service of Startling in Feudal England (p. 303) ; the writ,
Abbey!'^« P' 304> ^i^id.^ and also in Ellis' Intro d. to D. B.y
exercitu. y^]^ jj^ ^p^ ^^^^ ^^^ 1 833) in which the Abbot of

Evesham is ordered to lead 5 milites [in his charter
4-|, and \ fee new ; returns 4^ fees for scutage
(aid) 14 Hen. II., and 38 Hen. III., and recog-
nizes the service of as many in exercitu^ 5 Ed. I.,
and 4 Ed. II.], there is no refusing''^" the conclusion

The pre-
decessor of
Ranulf
Flambard
disseised
for defect
of service,
etc.

* The statement that Ranulf Flambard (Bp. Durham),
devised feudal service, can obtain but little beyond our halls
of learning, for his predecessor temporarily lost that Bprick
(1088), in that, after ^^r^z/ summons he withdrew himself, and
his milites^ in the King's necessity, etc.: this was Bp. Wm. sancti
Carilefi [the American Plac. Ang. Norm., ed. 1879, cites the
case, giving reference, but not identifying the prelate, but vide
Simeon of Durham], whom Lanfranc proposed to treat after
the manner of Bp. Odo t. Wm. I. Indeed strictly contem-
porary evidence (Hist. Eccl. 'Dun., written there) renders it
clear that Bp. Walcher's neglect in restraining his milites led
to his death in 1080 : it may be suggested that A.S. history
would yield a more suitable range for theTmagines Historiarum
of the romantic school, as furnishing for speculative genius a
scope both ample and comparatively secure.

Feudal Statistics io6

that certain capital tenants enfeoffed milites t.
Wm. I., and hence themselves had been infeuded
for their homage and service.

This is of course not to say that Wm. I. had
generally enfeoffed his military tenants by the
service of bringing all their milites to his armies in
England and Normandy, for, the office of holding
the former by maintaining his castles, and those of
his barons seems to have been a more essential
one ; and, that the servitia debit a v^^ere divers [tho' Diversity
uniform as far as regards escuage and aid — saving duf^^"^'^
the small fees of Moreton], is plainly to be dis-
covered both from the Norman Inquisitions [/.
Hen. I. and Hen. II.], and the English Baronial
Charters [/. Hen. II. reflecting Hen. I.]. Exactly
what pacts (if definitely expressed) were made with
the Conqueror's Barons can be but a matter of
speculation, — but there is no particular improb-
ability in supposing that a tax on the fee then
existed, and that the " Knights " in exercitu were
supported by the contributions of their compeers,
and others, who did not militate. That the vague
service in exercitu due to the Crown was on a
more ample scale /. Wm. I. to Hen. II. than
Hen. II. to Ed. II. is highly probable (tho' no
particular information is available till Hen. I.),
but it should be borne in mind that the majority
of lay tenants of 1166 (or by their ancestors), had
been feft -post Wm. I. — owing to the forfeitures of
the earlier barons.

Thus the fief of Moreton* escheated at the com-

* This fief would have been " good cheap" at a service of
500, according to the measure of the a.d. i 166-8 entries, and
the above ver^ incomplete analysis shows c. 350 fees, hence 350

loj Domesaay and Feudal Statistics

Escheat.

Partial mencement of the reign of Hen, I., and from it
Moreton° arosc Very numerous capital tenants, to all appear-
ance, ut de corona ; thus. Earl Reginald in Corn-
wail {c. i\l\ fees), succeeding Wm. /. Richard,
whose father may have been the Earl's undertenant
in D. B. ; Ric. de Aquila. (35) ; Galf. Martell
(j^); Bern. Pullein (1) ; Wm. /. John de Harper-
tree ; Wm. /. John ; Ric. /. Wm. ; Nich. /. Hard-
ing ; Ric. del Estre ; Walt. Brito (15); Ro.

Evidence
of the
Roman de
Rou.

or 500 or more milites led by the Earl of Morcton to the
musters of Wm. I. — the nos. almost alike improbable. It may
be observed that the services (to scutagc), /. Hen. II., were
approximately in total on an equality with the infeudations —
the current theory therefore involves all the " Knights " (say
6,000-7,000) being present in exercitu: yet the Roman de Rou
(lines 11,253-9, "^"^^ Feudal England, p. 260), makes Wm./I
Osbern (certainly not with the approbation of his compeers),
offer to double the chevaliers for the expedition to England
(1066), — that the barons could easily have so done is not
improbable, as by the Norman Inq., /. Hen. II., the figures
of which by no means reach Wace's [he names 20, 30, and
100 chevaliers to become 40, 60, and 200]. The Roman de Rou
[lines 11,364 — 5] cites Duke Wm. as setting his baronage an
excellent example of evading feudal obligations to his lord.

Petit sert mais meins servira
Quant plus ara meins vos fera

to be compared with the tarn parvam fortitudinem hominum
secum adduce t quam minor em poterit it a tamen ne inde feodum suum
erga Regem Francice forisfaciat of the Dukes of Flanders in
the already cited conventions of iioi, 1 103, and 1163, and
the ten (1103), and twenty (1163) milites to the assistance of
the French Kings as service, whilst to the English ones, i,ooo
and J'OO " Knights" can be furnished (for cash down). What
is recorded of the Conqueror's lay Baronage either in England
or Normandy very little suggests they would rigidly conform
to any fxed and defnite military obligations /;; exercitu, — the
diminution of the army service of Bp. Bayeux from 40
{t. Hen. I.), to 20 (^ Hen. II.), has already been remarked.

Feudal Statistics 108

Beauchamp (17); Hen. Lupel (18); Wm. Fos-
sard (31^), presumbably the successor of Nigel
Fossard,* Earl Moreton's Yorkshire undertenant ;
and many others, including the Honor of Berk-
hamstead retained in the hands of the Crown
(22?- fees), — it seems clear enough that all these
servitia dehita are of /. Hen. I., and have no very
direct connection with the number of milites Earl
Robert led to the Conqueror's musters, tho' per-
haps in some relation to the " Knights " that had
been enfeoffed, and the pecuniary assistance they
could render.

The charters of Earl Hugh and Wm. de Albenia Early
(Pincerna) are good evidence to demonstrate early tk)nTonay
lay systematic enfeoffments on an ample scale, by tenants,
the unit of Knight Service ; for Roger Bigot de-
parted this life in i loy (Fitalts), or 1 108 [Hoveden),f

* The Fossard fief in the Baronial Charters (1166) is
entered under Suffolk, but is essentially a Yorkshire one, and
so answered in the Pipe Rolls : a few of the tenants named
were capital tenants (apart from the fees of Morcton), thus
Nich. /. Harding, whose fief of Meriet had been held since Fees held
the acquest of England [T. de N. ; also in D. B.], but very since the
few of any minor capital tenants of 1 166 can be traced to England
D. B. : of these Rog. de Berkeley is one, but part of his
holding had been at fee farm, part under his reeveship, and
but a minority by possible Knight Service. The fief of Belet

E1210-1212 ; vol. ii. L. R. p. 545] is clearly that of D. B.
i. 84/?], and is rated as I fee in 1 166 [debet servitiumj militis],
but the Wm. Belot of 1086 [a/j«^.], is returned amongst the
servientes regis — I do not suppose that one in 100 of the
numerous thanes and servientes of the King (1086) could be
traced as capital Crown tenants 1166, by knt. service.

t Vide also Florence of Worcester, from whose Chronicle
it descends to Rog. de Hoveden.

109 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

Duke
Richard's
military
seivice.

Subin-
feudation,
i. Wm. /.

Duke
Richard's
Military
Service.

before which he had feft to the extent of 1 1 5 fees
\yide \\\s, son's charter 11 66] — likewise before the
death of said Roger, his son in law (the said Wm.),
had of the gift of Hen. I., 15 and 10 fees already
subinfeuded \yide his son's charter 1166]; in
addition Florence of Worcester (1086) uses the
expresssion, quot feudatos milites^ referring to D. B.y
and tho' that valuable record is no Feodary, it
gives the information the chronicler records, tho'
not in so ample a manner, as would occur in a
specific return of Knight Service.

The Exon. D. B. ; the /. C. C, and /. E. (ed.
Hamilton), in conjunction with D. B. set early
feudal tenure in a clearer aspect : in the latter
[/. £., presumably /. Wm. I., and almost certainly
nth cent.], amongst the list of ploughs (p. 168,
ed. Hamilton, and in all 3 of his originals), occurs
the following [hitherto unnoticed, ut credo\ with
reference to the vill of Teusham,* — Hoc tenet
iohannes in feudo de abbate pro duobus militibus.
Another reference to military service occurs in
Will. Gemet., of the early nth century [accipiens
munere comitatum ut inde exhiberet ei militice statuta,
compare, in statuto servitio Milicie in the Charter
of Hen. I., Lib. El. III.\ which (former) is cited
more fully in The Scutage and Knight Service of
England.^

* Fide D. B., i. l()la and 201^, where the lordship of the
vill is divided between the Abbot of Ely and John/^ Waleran,
perhaps the same tenant as in I. E., ut sup.

t The reference to Wm. de Jumieges was made known to
writer by this work (J. F. Baldwin, Univ. Chicago Press, iSgf),
which is well deserving the attention of all — interested in the

Feudal Statistics

loga

Feudal System — either in America or England : there are A recent
(and it can scarcely be otherwise with a vol. written so far American
from original sources) many demonstrable errors, and also a the"^ Feudal
rather too conspicuous tendency to combine the opinions of System.
English writers (named). But the subject has been well
laboured from printed works, and the author, having a clear
conception of his own views, is intelligible enough to the
reader : a certain well known historical method, is to attempt
to consign to oblivion, all intrusive works, at the same time
quietly making use of their references (occasion arising), as
suitable novelties. There is another citation of servitium
militum (j. Wm, /., p. ix., ut sup.), and should his occasions
permit, it is to be hoped, this writer will continue his
investigations in English History, for readers both of his
own, and this country.

It is not, of course, to be inferred that the mere fact o^^magnvm
residence on a Western continent confers a particular im- ^^^°^/
munity on historical writers, for I would not suppose that, Britain.
even the most ingenious of our own artificers of History
could hope to surpass, and scarcely to equal, Ancient Britain
in the light of modern Archceological Discoveries. This magnum
opus states that "albeit the true character of the false Saxon Extracts
chronicles have {sic) been frequently exposed, they still con- ^^om, and
tinue to colour our popular histories, and to injuriously affect said work.
our national policy" (p. ix) ; that its design is "to restore to the
pages of British history those circumstances of which forgery
and imposture have deprived it, and which archaeology has
found safely preserved in the pure bosom of the earth " (p. x) ;
that the A. S. chronicles are ** patched forgeries of the
eleventh or twelfth centuries, probably done in Rome, and
wholly unworthy of credit'' (p. 74); that "ancient trash
piled . . . accepted by the modern world as the groundwork
for a history of Britain and the construction of its national
policy " (p. 74) ; that " so far as books go, the Sacred College
of Rome had the entire making of European history . . .
until the invention of printing put an end" to its monopoly"
(p. 180); that Beda's information concerning the Anglo-
Saxons "was hopelessly wrong and defective" (p. 73), and
terminates by bringing " to book " " the theory " of Beda
(p. 181).

logb Domesday and Feudal Statistics

Now be it observed that a certain grandeur, and magnifi-
cence of language (well enough adapted to exploit the dis-
coveries of Professors of the Arts of Graphology, Phrenology,
Palmistry, etc.), is in itself no proof absolute of their author's
lack of more real attainments ; such is apt, in the mind of
certain readers, to raise a curiosity as to the fulfilment of
expectations suggested by a platform of premises so great.
Now it is at once allowed that even from the most preten-
tious, and least solid of books, some useful information may
issue, but whatever success "circumstances " "safely preserved
in the pure bosom of the earth," might or might not have in
refuting " the false Saxon chronicles," such are (in Ancient
Britain, etc.) neither exposed, nor digested in a manner calcu-
lated to afford (at least to the tenuiter edocti) any proof of
their existence (as on p. x) ; that is, the author does not
favour his readers with that special access to their* repository
which himself must be presumed to have.

The ancestors of the English brought with them "the
polytheism of the Mongolian steppes" (p. 53), and the
Romans found in Britain, "the Buddhic polytheism of the
Goths" (p. 54), whose "bitter hatred of hierarchical govern-
ment" was not "an Aryan sentiment, nor a Teutonic, nor a
German one," but " purely and distinctly Gothic" (p. 190),
so that the hitherto illiterate reader, now rather persuaded of
the error of believing his predecessors were of the Indo-
European race (as he might have imagined), is amply compen-
sated by the possible reward of Chinese originals: as the
Gothic sentiment {ut. sup.) is anti-Teutonic, he will naturally
be distressed to understand why he, or any other Scandinavian
or English descendant of the Goths, should now be speaking
a language essentially Germanic — here the author might
well come to his aid in revealing one of those secrets of the
"pure bosom, etc.'' (p. x) to which he alone has so easy an
access.
Formation '^^'^ ■^' ^' chronicles doubtless took their present form
oi A. S. t. Alfred {c^th cent.), and are in hands of the 9th to the 12th
Chronicles, cent, (the last terminates in 11 54, but most of the writing
would seem to antedate 1066, the French form of letters oi

* Sc. the interred, and now disinterred, "circumstances," a notional
meaning, and exact particulars, of which are so difficult to attain.

Feudal Statistics logc

the nth cent, being notably different from those of Saxon
England), being compiled from Beda, and presumably embody-
ing divers local memoranda : the existence of such for
Northumbria, 732-801, can easily be demonstrated by drawing The
out the provincial entries from the Northern Annals (praised A^tnah of
for Symeon of 'Durham'), and by comparison with the National irfj"
Chronicle, the consistent and more complete notices in the
former (or rather its original, or originals), evidently having
furnished the more slender items in the latter. It is not easy
to see why the "Sacred College" (p. 180) should have wrought
essentially heathen pedigrees for the A. S. kings in the
Chronicle ; it is still less easy to understand why the statements
of contemporary historians are usually* confirmed by records, Chroni-
nor how the works of Matth. Paris and divers others con- '^''^''■'■
taining matter extremely hostile to Pontifical authority could
escape the censorship of said College — it, it may be repeated,
is difficult, but not impossible of explanation to one having a
source of authority — "the pure bosom, etc." (p. x) — unhappily
denied to ordinary mankind.

As to English events in Britain prior to the time of Beda,
it may be remarked that learning reached the North from Introduc-
Ireland c. 565, a few years after the reputed landing of the "°" °\
1st King of Northumbria, prior to which, let it be supposed, in the
Runic letters would not be unknown in England : a chronology North.
of the authentic Kings of his province, is appended to a copy Royal
of Bede (the writing praised for the 8th cent.), and traditional ^q^'
predccessors of the royal houses might well be handed down
in the verse of Scalds (even, if not in writing), their authen-
ticity of course not being alleged.

In the vol. under note the Suevi appear as a Slavic tribe Gothic axxA
(p. 138), a Gothic or semi-Gothic one (p. 193), where also, ^<f''»""«<'-
as of the " Sacas or Goths of the Euxine and Baltic, the
Gothones of Tacitus," so that it would appear that Goths and
Sclavs were all one ; without, however, attempting to deter-
mine whether the author's authority on the ethnology of the
Suevi derives from inspiration, or exhumation, it may be stated
that Gothic and Germanic are often used (riot in Ancient
Britain, etc.) as terms interchangeable, but perhaps the most
convenient modus is to include Scandinavians, Angles, Saxons
and Deutschen under the term Germani (the Germania of
Tacitus is of course not the present German Empire, and

• No particular accuracy for dates, ncr correctness in matters
statistical, is here suggested.

8

109^ Domesday and Feudal Statistics

Goths,

Gutce,

Gothones,

and

Qothini.

Dani,

Svethans,
and

Siiethidi,
not neces-
sarily
Gothic.
Angli and
Suevi ;
their loca-
tion.
Regnar
Lodbrog in
English
History,
A.D. 870 ;
bis speech
under-
stood.
Deficiency
of the
Collection
of the Mon
Hist. Brit.
as to early
evidences
of the
English
races.

BeJa counts as Germani Angles, Saxons, Frisians, Danes, etc.),
and to consider the Anglo-Saxons akin more particularly to
the Norse [leaving open the question of whether or not
Angulus was part of 5th century Scandinavia*], rather than to
the inhabitants of the Empire to which Charlemagne suc-
ceeded. To class Norse, Angles and Saxons as Goths of
Mongolia.^ and the T>eutschen as Germans and presumably
(p. 190) Jryans, has certainly the advantage of novelty, and
needs but some trifling explanation [as that Confucius had,
with considerable foresight, instructed the Gothic races (prior
to their emigrations), in the speech of Germany], to become
impregnable ; doubtless, by an oversight (not altogether
irremediable) the learned author has omitted to supply from his
often named, and particular repository, this necessary expla-
nation (for a dull reader), as to language.

* How to apply and limit the term Scandinavia, 51h cent., is beyond
the power of the writer to discern, but it may be observed that the
earlier writers make no mention of Goths in it, unless indeed the Gutcc
(see p. logj, and for further illustration) of Ptolemy are held to be such :
at the same time that author (whose Geography, praised for a.d. 120,
seems sometimes to antedate Tacitus) locates the Guthones (within the
Venedi) in Sarniatia, — apparently the Gothones of the Germania, who
live more under the constraint of monarchy than the other Germanic
gentes. The Gothini of Tcuitus, who pay tribute, and work the iron
mines, were not far from the Danube ; now certain it is that jforfiattdes
{c. 552) derives the notable Goths (who overran much of S. Europe
from the 3rd to the 5th century) of the Danube, from Scanzia, in which
he locates the Suethans, Suethtdi, and Dani (who also originate in it),
whereas the classifications of its inhabitants by later writers, render it
particularly doubtful that any Goths had more than mere settlement in
certain parts of Scandinavia. Both King Alfred and Beda consider
the Danes as Germanic, and derive the Angli from the Schleswic
district, whereas Ptolemy and Tacitus agree in esteeming the latter, as
of the Suevi (cf. p. /ogj) a gens noted by CiEsar, and occupying about
the Elbe, t. Strabo (c. a.d. 30), and at the time (r. a.d. ico), of the
two above-named writers, the former of whom {Ploletfty), does not locate
the Angli on the actual coast (the Saxones, for one, on the neck of the
Cytnbric Cliersonese cut them off), as does the latter (or near it, — the
island, etc., Germania, 40) : besides the evidence for esteeming the
Scandinavians to be also, to a great extent of the Suevi (see p. 109/),
the St. Alban's Chronicler (praised for Rog. Wendover, and Matth.
Paris), using some unknown Passio of St. Edmund, names the likeness
of the Danish to the Anglian speech, in the converse of Regnar Lodbrog,
with the King and Martyr (?« anno 870). The Mon. Hist. Brit, (a
work laborious enough) concerns itself, at some length, with notices of

• the early inhabitants of Britain, but although produced at the common

• charge of the English is singularly deficient as to their originals, a line
of investigation which might have been esteemed just as pertinent, as
a collection relating to Roman subjects ; this (some illustration of the
Germanic races who settled in England as Angles, Danes, Norse, and
Saxons), the present writer hopes to essay (occasion permitting) as an
introduction to A History of Northumbria.

A NOTE ON THE AGRICULTURE IN TACITUS'
ACCOUNT OF GERMANIA.

Tacitus^ (born c. a.d. 40 to 56) wrote his account of Ger- Tacitus'
tnania, c. a.d. 98 ; dismissing the question as to the exact Oermania.
value of this author's information, and gathering data from
the whole of his short work, it may be observed that
although some of the gentes noticed are under more or
less despotic rule (25, 43-5),* many exist as communities
enjoying and appreciating a considerable degree of liberty
(11, 37i C/- 45), under reges (7, 11, 43-4), ox principes
(11, 15, 22). The Germanict tribes appear to have dwelt
in villages (evV/, 16), their ranks being composed of tiobiles
(7, 25, 44), ingenui (20, 25, 38, 44), liberti (25, 44), and
sen>i [24, 25, 32 {familia), 38, 44, 45] : a difference between
the warriors and actual cultivators of the soil is apparent
(14, 15, and perhaps 26), the principes [who maintain a
retinue {comites, 13, 14), averse to the labour of husbandry
(14)], receiving a voluntary tribute of cattle and grains
{armenta and /ruges 15), suppose for consumption. The
distinction is by no means so clearly marked as to enable
the statement that warriors and cultivators are terms incon-
vertible ; but the bravest of the former class are depicted as
leaving the care of the fields {agri, i^^cf. 26) to the women,
aged, and infirm of their households ; these (latter) are
presumably ingenui rather than servi.X The plebes (11)
include the ingenui, and perhaps the liberti ; the reges and
principes appear to be of the nobiles (7, 11, 13) ; and the
duces (7) not necessarily above the rank of the ingenui: no

* The bracketed nos. refer to the divisions of Tacitus' text,
t Tacitus does not consider all the tribes he names as Germanic ; of
those he names as such, no comment as to origin is here made.
X At any rate in section 15.

8—2

loqf Domesday and Feudal Statistics

permanent property in land exists (26), but in its products
(26), and in senn, household goods, farm stock, armour and
horses (5, 12, 18, 32). That the latter (12, 18, 32) were
used in Husbandry is not made apparent ; oxen {boves, 18) ;
herds {ar7?ienia, 5, 15, 21); flocks''' (J>ecora, 12, 21, 25),
and of course cowsf [tho' indirectly (23)] are named : the
food of the gentes includes fresh meat (23), cheese or an
approach to it (23), and grain stuffs {15, 16), — the common
drink is beer or its antecessor (23), and those tribes nearest
the Rhine buy vinum (23). Of crops, Tacitus distinctly
mentions wheat (^frumentum^ 23, 25, 45), barley (Jiordewn,
23), and, I think, uninclosed meadow {^pratuin, 26), noting
an appreciation of the winter, spring, and summer seasons
(26) : as horses are used in warfare, cattle for consumption,
oxen for the plough {iuncti boves, 18), cows for breeding and
milk (23), the Roman writer scarcely needed to inform the
readers of his day that oats and hay were known to the
Gerfjiafii, perhaps also rye. In the commentary on Tacitus,
in the excellent Co7ist. Hist. (i. 18), wheat is cited as the
only corn crop, a statement having of intrinsic probability
little enough ; reference to sections 2 [asperam ccelo) ;
5 {satis ferax) ; 1 5 {frugum) ; 1 6 {receptaculum frugibus) ;
23 (ex hordeo aut frumento) ; 26 [seges) ; 26 {Jiiems et ver) ;
and 45 {/rumenta ceterosque fructus) will demonstrate it to
be opposed to the witness of the Roman writer, whose
work should always be used to test the interpretations of his
exponents. The servi are pourtrayed rather as colo?ii (25)
than domestics, paying their lords a tribute in wheat, live
stock, or raiment, their position being somewhat akin to
that of our villani (12*'' to 14*'^ cent.), though the lord of a
Manor would not usually have been able to kill, or strike
his villein with impunity (25) : the land occupied by the
servus would presumably be regarded as the property (for
the time) of the do7ninus, — as a kind of rent is paid there-
from, the slave in a certain sense worked for his lord, even
supposing he never cultivated the fields more particularly

* Fecora, not necessarily flocks, but (21) ai-mentorinn ac pecoruvt
seems to require some meaning other than herds.

t Lac concretum ; even, if not the produce of cows, (>oves and armenta
compel their existence.

Agricultural Statistics ^ogg

set apart for the household of the dominus. There are no
niedigeval Manors, no theories of the mark, nor of the
I20 acre system ; there is nothing {ut uidetur mihi) to be
adduced in demonstration of 2 or 3 course shifts, nor {ut
credo) is there any decided negative of rotations ; there is
ample testimony (4, 14, 15-17, 22, 26, 45) of a general
aversion to labour, wastefulness of Agriculture, and abund-.
ance of land {agri). Section 26 particularly relates to
Husbandry ; in it I understand Tacitus to remark that the
arable, meadow, and grass fields of the Germans are occu-
pied (or put to profit) by all, in their respective villages to an
extent regulated by the number of actual c\x\\\\2Xox& {agri pro
numero cultorum ab universis in vicis occnpantur), supposing
that all signifies each free household, and that a husband-
man, free or the contrary, is indicated by cultor, rather than
an inhabitant, and that should in vices be the true reading,*
the sense turns on alternate periods of labour for individuals:
the conclusion of the sentence {quos mox inter se secundum
dignationem partiuntur) — which fields they (the heads of each
free household) soon (suppose in April or May) divide
amongst themselves according to their dignity {sc. a lord
with many servi would naturally need a share much more
ample than an ingenuus with a few, or a libertus with none).
Facilitatem partiendi camporum spatia prastant follows, indi-
cating that the abundance of land renders partition easy,
there being therefore ample sustenance for each individual :
this is succeeded by the lines Arva per annos mutant et
superest ager, which {iit videtur mihi) implies that the Ger-
mans change their arable lands (or some of them) yearly
(by ploughing land out of grass), and (nevertheless) land in
grass is left in plenty (owing to the already mentioned
abundance) : the section closes with further notice of the
supineness of the husbandmen, and the amplitude of the
soil {amplitudine soli), and a remark that the arable is only
taxed with grain crops {sola term seges imperatur), indicating
that beans, peas, etc., were not cultivated. The entire
Chapter comprises less than twelve lines, including a thrice-
repeated statement as to excess of land beyond the imme-
diate requirements of the population : in spite of this par-
ticular assistance from Tacitus, the Roman writer has of

* Cf. Ctcsar (r. B.C. 50), in his a/c of the Huevi : a possible reading
would be— frequent changes of pasture, by reason of its s\ipcrfluity.

io()h Domesday and Feudal Statistics

late been credited with statements, whose inconsistencies
could scarcely have failed to impress the well informed
readers of his own day. In one version the word mutant is
supposed to refer to a rotation, and ager is rendered /fl//(9Zf;'''
(I know not on what authority) ; it is clear therefore arva is
either equivalent to all the ploughed land, or such of it as is
sown, so that Tacitus is constrained to say that {a) the entire
arable is in rotation, and {b) a fallow is left, the {b) statement
being contained in (a), as the mere fact of a shift denotes a
fallow^ or else that the land under crop (or some of it) is
changed to a fallow^ and a falloiv is left, which reading is
alike elegant and cogent with the other. t In another
lectio (A. J. Church, M.A., Latin text, 1898, notes) the word
mutant is attributed to a change of occupancy ; but certain
yCj^X. is that the mere usure of a piece of ploughed latidljy
^^^x princeps^ dux, or ingenuus in turns has nothing what-
ever to do with the relative abundancy of the fields other
than arable (here agri^, the above version leaving the rest of
the sentence connected by ^/ in suspense "betwixt earth,
air, and seas," and void of meaning, whereas the ploughing
of ley land reduces the ager, for the simple reason that land
left from the plough would not be particularly profitable ager
for some time to come ; further, the alternate occupation of
arable presupposes a rotation, and how mere difference of
owners year after year on the ai-va could affect the ager is a
mystery that no one (tenuiter edoctus) can hope to explain.
It has been stated {supra) that Tacitus does not absolutely
negative rotations, but if arva per annos mutant requires the
rendering that all the arable is changed p.a., the ploughed

* If it is held that the change implies rotations which include yaZ/ow,
and hence a diminution of the grass land {ager), this would mark a con-
trast between a nation using no, or not so much hzre fallcnv, and one ac-
customed to some, or more of it, and hence relative extravagance of
Husbandry : at the same time the latter would 7iot change their arable
(as with 2 fields in a 2 course shift both would be arva), but merely its
cultivation ; further the literal rendering of the words arva per annos
mutant (an actual change of fields), is full of meaning, whereas ideas
read in, to support theories (e.g., they change their fields amongst them-
selves, or change the crops in their fields, or change their arable from
crop to fallow) are rebutted as well by the context, as the inconsistencies
they involve.

t /irz'a seems to denote the entire arable (whatever was "ered"),
rather than only that portion sown ; and a possible, but improbable,
reading might be formed by limiting arva to seeded arable, and by
supposing the Romans made little use of bare falloivs — rendering ager
as land not under the plough.

Agricultural Statistics 109/

fallo7o of a 2 or 3 course shift is of course impossible ; the
Roman writer perhaps did not intend a remark so entirely
definite, tho' it must be allowed he pourtrays the husband-
men as very little patient of labor, further than the neces-
sities of the times render expedient. The absence of land-
ownership is well explained in Tacitus, and it seems per-
spicuous enough that a division of the earth's products could
be more suitably arranged towards hay time and harvest : it
does not seem to follow that the partition, when made, was
necessarily in proportion to the number of the actual tillers
of the soil in autumn and winter from each free household,
as the warlike occasions of the gentes would disturb such an
arrangement, and the princeps and his comiies (who seem to
foreshadow the feudal system) might be generally allotted a
return out of proportion to the contributions to the labor of
husbandry made from their households, in addition to the
voluntary tribute already cited. 'I'o bring into the sketch
the mediaeval system of agriculture as to rotations and
ownership, the text of Tacitus scarcely permits ; any sort of
settled property in the arable nullifies the word mox, as the
writer would scarcely expect the critics of his day to believe
in divisions of property whose descent, tho' not successive,
was already defined by alternation. These tribes include
the Angli (40), who may have been the ancestors of the race Angii and
of the same name, who afterwards settled in England ; those ■^*'"'*-
of Tacitus belonged to the Suevi, and appear to have been
one of the freer communities : English and Scandinavian
traditions unite in representing the later Angli as deriving
from what in historic times was Denmark, rather than Ger-
many, but both countries are of course included in Germania
(i*' cent). The exact ancestors of the modern Scandinavians*

* Fomponius Mela \c. 4^5) names the island [always so till the 6ih Early
century, at least, and of unknown magnitude] of Scandinavia, as yet notices of
held by the Teutoni : I'liny, the naturalist \c. 79), says part of it, Scandi-
containing ^00 pagi, was held by the Hillevioni, noting also the islands navia.
of Scandia, Dtimna, Bergos and Nerigo, from which (latter) the voyage
to Thtile is wont to be made : Solinus Polyhistor {c. 80) mentions
Scandinavia, as the largest of the islands of Germania : 7'aci/us (f. gS)
places the Suiones [this term recurs in Eginhard {c. 820) as applicable
to Swedes and Norwegian^, and in Adam of Bremen (f. 1077), who

logj Domesday and Feudal Statistics

Soandi- if Tacitus) I have never seen satisfactorily determined ; but
English, y certain it is that a very considerable proporti n of the in-
IiaBTTants of England (/. 1086) were of Norse (chiefly Danish)
origin, as is witnessed by D. B., the old records of North-
umbria (which should be read with the A.S. Chron.), and
other notices of the Danelaga, in addition to such evidences
as nomenclature ; and tho' the Normans were a compound
race, speaking a foreign language, it is scarcely to be sup-
posed it was other than the Northman element which
enabled them to acquire England at that period.

Tlie AngU
and

Suiones of
Suevia ;
Daiii,
Dacians,
and Gut<z.

Briitia and
the Varni
in the 6th
cent.

Traditional
kinship of
Angles,
Danes,
Jutes,
Northmen,
Saxons,
and Suevi.

seems to confine it to the former] with a fleet, certainly in the mainland
of Sweden, and probably in some of the Danish isles ; beyond the
Suiones are the Silones (presumably a Finnish tribe, N. of Upsala, and
near the ancient city of Sictona), and here Suevia ends [this writer, be
it observed, classes both Angli and Suiones as Suevi, and calls the
Baltic, the Suevian Sea] ; Ptolemy {120 or before) places the Dauciones
and Gutce in the island of Scandia [whether Danes and Jutes, or not,
the Dani are frequently termed Dacians, thus, Gerald de Barri, 12th
cent,, notes the corruption of the Northern speech by the frequent
invasions of Dacians, and Norwegians, and Wm. f. Alan, 1166, owes
one knt. in Norfolk at Carlefli, against the Dacians, there being no
immediate connexion with a nation on the Danube in either case] :
Jornandes {6th cent.) locates the Suethans and Dani in Scanzia {quasi
officina gentium) island : Piocopius (6th cent. ), seems to place the Danes
about Denmark, near the Varni (extending to the N. Ocean, and
separated from the Franks by the Rhine) ; calls Scandinavia, the island
of Ihule, which he has only visited by the converse of those coming
therefrom — this is that author who mentions Rrittia, as inhabited by
Angles, Frisians and Britons, an expedition by sea of the former, led
by their king's sister against the Varni {supra) ; and as well notices of
British legations, lack of cavalry and horsemanship, navy, marriage
{cf. Tacitus), as various poetical legends : Beda {c. yjo) gives the Danes
as one of the nations from whom Angles and Saxons derive ; and Wm.
Malmesburien, {t. iijs) makes a traditional ancestor of the A. S. king-,
first a foundling in the Scanzia of yornandes, and afterwards a ruler
in Slcuivic (Haithaby), which may be a compilation from Ethelward
(writing 975-101 1), who states that Old Anglia was situated between
the Saxons and Jutes {Gioti), with a capital town Slesuuic {Saxonice),
or Haithaby {Danice), that Hengist's ancestor was Uuothen, whom the
Danes, Northmanni and Suevi, worship to this day, citing Ltuan (ist
cent.) as to the laller, /undit ab extremo flavos cujuilone Suevos, whicJi
corroborates Tacitus ; and in another passage makes Scef (the son of
Scyld), Cerdic's 19th ancestor, land on the island of Scani and become
king, whereas in the Beowulf, Scyld Scefing, is the found'ing, and then
king of the gar-Denum (spear-bearing Danes).

CHAPTER III

AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS

" This is an Age wherein to commend or extol an Ingenious
Art or Science might be deemed a Needless Labour, especially
in a Country so highly improved in everything ; but that we
find the more Noble, Advantagious, Useful, or Necessary,
any Art, Science, or Profession is, the stronger Arguments
are framed against it ; and more particularly against the
Rustick Art and its infinite Preheminanccs and Oblectations,
by the vainer and more pedant sort of persons, despising the
worth or value of what they are ignorant of, who judge it
below their honour or reputation to take any notice of so
mean a profession ; that esteem the Country no other than a
place for Beasts as Cities for Men." — Worlidgc's Proemium to
Systema Agricultural ed. 1681,

THE fiscal Hide of Domesday contained (or 120 Fiscal
often did) 1 20 fiscal acres, and the normal ^'^^^'
areal Hide 120 actual ones, which perhaps
accounts for the statement that a like quantity was
tilled by each plough -per ann. — which is opposed
to the common experience and knowledge of any
English farmer of arable, and would predicate
weather suitable for constant aration ; whereas
30 weeks in the year is perhaps a high estimate of
the period during which land can be worked, and
40-60 acres may be roughly taken as the present
land of one plough. The work on Husbandry
derived from the MS. of Sir Walter de Henley
(and printed by the R.H.S.) presumes a 3 or

1 1 1 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

2 course shift, of which respectively ^ or ^ in bare
fallow ; for the former take i8o ac, for the latter
crops 1 60 ac. (in each case statute), plough once for
and twice for fallow ;t allow 8 weeks for holy
days (presumably including the 3-4 weeks noted
in Custumals at the Nativity, Easter, and Pente-
cost, and the time occupied by the ploughmen on
their own holdings, etc.), leaving 44 weeks for
unbroken aration, thus
|2^^4f THREE COURSE SHIFT. p^ys

Aration. 1 8o acres (l20 ac. in crop, 60 ac. in fallow) at |^ ac.

per day ... ... ... ... ... ... 205|-

*6o acres (2nd fallowing) at i ac. per day ... ... 60

Add for Sundays w^
Total 310

TWO COURSE SHIFT. ^^^3

160 acres (80 in crop, 80 in fallow) at |^ ac. per day 182^
80 acres (2nd fallowing) at i ac. per day ... ... 80

2624

With Sundays, Total c. ut sup.

in either case, the total working out as above, viz.,
nearly exactly 44 weeks.

The above has been construed to mean that for
a continuous period of 44 weeks the ploughmen

Welsh -j- Gerald de Barri It. Hen. II.) remarks the neglect of

evidence • »

t. hen. 11. husbandry of the Welsh, stating they onl^ plough once each for

wheat and oats in winter and spring, and twice in summer —

the husbandman leaving his oxen on occasion of war, whereas

the theoretical ploughmen {ut sup.) are depicted as having

little existence other than as members of their teams.

* In Canon Taylor's learned paper on " The Ploughland

and the Plough," the accomplished writer seems to imagine

that (in a 3 Course Shift) either fallow land was unploughed,

or that each team ploughed 240 acres.

Agricultural Statistics 112

not only could, but also did, plough all day and
every day (saving the 7th), no matter the weather,
storms, snow, frost, floods, hay time, harvest, etc. ;
now if the author means to make this assertion he
must be postulating that he conceived his day and
generation equally as credulous, as some of the
writers on agriculture in the 19th century. The
6o,coo knights and fees of King William (ap-
parently still in repute, see " Social England ") and
the 45,000 parish churches supposed to exist in
1 37 1, are errors one can understand, but why such
exceeding mystery as to an art daily in operation
before our eyes, should appear in the productions
of scholars who honor (?) Agriculture with their
notice, is not easily conceivable.

Returning to Walter de Henley it may be sug-
gested that he intended to convey that if the above
evidently unreal programme took place, then would
the amount tilled by each plough in the year be
such a quantity of land, as is termed a carucate : in
addition the author is supposed to have flourished
in the first ^ of the 13th century, and is describing
cultivation of demesne land, which it must have
been known, was to a considerable extent tilled by
the tenantry — this he says nothing about.

Before proceeding to discuss ancient evidences. Agriculture
a contrast of the agriculture or 1086, 1696, and and 1897
1897 may not be out of place ; the crops of 1086 «^°°"^'«^-
were ''^Wheat, Barley, Oats, Rye, Beans, Peas, and
perhaps Vetches ; of 1696 in ordinary rotation,
the same including Vetches; for 1897 ^^"^ such

* D. B. Wheat \\a, 32/?, 176^, Oats 214//, Rye 257^.

113 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

ENGLAND AND WALES (KING) 1696.

Arable at 5s. lod. per acre ...
Flax, Woad, etc., at 5s. lod.

per acre ...
Pasture and meadow at 9s.

per acre ...
Woods, coppices at 5s. per

acre
Forests, parks, commons at

3s. 6d. per acre ...
Heaths, moors, etc., at is. per

acre ...

Houses, gardens, orchards, etc.
Rivers, lakes, meres at 2s.

per acre ...
Roads, ways, waste land

1696,

1897,

Acres.

Acres.

10,000,000 ^

I 12,505,049

1,000,000

10,000,000

15,122,121

3,000,000

1.847,351

3,000,000

10,000,000

3.363,281

1,000,000

500,000

4,480,181

500,000

39,000,000

37.317.983

ENGLAND AND WALES, 1897 (excluding tidal
water and foreshore).

Arable

Pasture

Mountain, heath, etc.
Orchards ...
Woods and plantations
In inland waters, say
Towns, houses, waste
grounds, say

England in acres.

11,602,191

13,191,789

2,208,844

218,261

1,665,741

180,000

3,477.258
32,544,084

Wales in acres,
902,858

1,930.332

1. 154.437

3,707

181,610

600,955
4,773,899

Agricultural Statistics

114

TEAMLANDS AND CROPS (2i COUNTIES),

A.D. 1086- 1 897.

Counties.

1086,
Team-
lands.

1086,

lao Acre

Theory ;

Arable

Acres.

1897,
Grain
Crops,
Acres.

vltc^es,
Acres.

F^ow,
Acres.

1897,

Total of

Crops grown

1086,

Acres.

Arable,
Acres.

Devon

Lines

Somerset ...

Wilts

Northants...

Hants

Oxon

Cornwall ...

Dorset

Wanvick ...

Bucks

Berks

Herts

Cambs

Beds

StaflEi

Notts

Surrey

Hunts

Derby

Middlesex...

7.972
S.043
4.858
3.457
2.931
2.847
2,639
2,377
2,303
2,276
2.244
2,087
1,716
1,676
I.5S7
1.398
1.25s
1,172
1,120
762
664

52. 354

956,640
605,160
582,960
414,840
351.720
341,640
316,680
285.240
276,360
273.120
269,280
250,440
205,920
201,020
186.840
167,760
150.600
140,640
134,400
91,440
79.680

6,282,480

243.165

560,195
98,692

149.449

127,234

192,286

124,096

124,504

83,184

93.927

94.439

106,049

124.894
221,693

89.425
84,088
121.300
57.681
73.863

47.974
10,606

3.581
9,014
3.960

16,591
3.918

17.159

6836

518

5,260

2.263

4.371
6,946

3.937
4,687

3.25s
1,841
2,492
3.521
2,225

1303
1.24s

7.67s

25.692

3.348

7.676

10,502

15.898

5. 477

5.105

3.671

6.587

8.564

9.403

14.007

15.341
11,700

1.765
9.780
8.546
9.27s
2.570
1.374

245.421
594.901
106.000
173,716
141.654
225.343
136,409
130,127
92.115
102,777

107.374

122,398

142.838

241.721

104,380

87,694

133.572

59.748

85.363

51.847

13.225

3.098,623

588.639

1,018,886

209,618

318.719
213.605

443.759
224.424
366.178
187,108
168,511
165.001
202,558
218.115
372,765
152.574
173.744
241.092
131,041

123.531
97,602

32.95s

Total ...

5.650,425

N B. — In above 21 counties the teams in 1086 are 43,932, i.e., 83 per cent, of the
teamlands ; the arable 1897 being 90 percent, of that in 1086 by 120 acre theory,
as above.

ARABLE OF ENGLAND, 1897 (11,602,191 acres).

Grain and pulse crops (all grown 1086)

Vetches

Bare fallow

Acres.
5,780,782
186,604
369.254

Green crops (excluding vetches), mostly the food of stock, 1897,
almost or entirely uncultivated 1086 ... ... ...

Clover, sainfoin and rotation grasses, in arable rotation, partly for
hay and partly fed off — entirely the food of stock

Flax, hops, small fruit

Total

Acres.
6,336.640

2.263,879

2,885,863

115.809

11,602,191

1 1 5 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

crops as Potatoes, Cabbage, Rape, Mangolds,
Turnips, Clover, Sainfoin, and Grasses in arable
rotation, so that the present Agriculture is far
more remote from that of 1696, than the latter
from 1086, and for aught I can discover there was
little of food importation T. R. W. I. or T. R. W.
III. For 1086, take the population of England at
1,800,000 (Ellis' count X by more than 6), and
for 1696, 5-^ millions (incl. Wales) from King's
estimate from the Hearth Tax (also reckoned at
7 millions ; the houses were 1,300,000 at the
Revolution, which shows King's cast to have
been low) ; the Lancaster Herald (King) allowed
10 million acres in 1696 in ordinary rotation, the
same amount in pasture and meadow, allotting
to heaths, moors, woods, and forests more than
3- their now extent, and less than 3" the present
amount of land in towns — a reference to the 1897
Agricultural Returns shows \\\ million acres
arable, and 13 millions in pasture and meadow in
England. King gives a total produce of 90,000,000
bushels, of which 17 millions for seed; he estimates
3,200,000 acres barley land, of which one-third
(say I million) fallow, so 'tis plain he is thinking
of a 3 course shift, which allows from 6,666,666
acres under crop, some 73 million bushels for use
for 5^ million folk ; this amounts to 1 3 bush,
per head, and between 13 and 14 bush, per sown
acre yield, (of which about 3 bush, for seed), so
that deducting from the sown acres some 1,166,666
acres for seed, there would be about i acre per
head, — in other words some 5^ millions (of the
10,000,000 arable) actually feeding the same
no. of folk as found. King's estimate of yield
is 13-14 bush. p. ac. (no items save barley at
1 5 bush.) all round ; in 1333-5 from 8 estates of

Agricultural Statistics 1 1 6

Mertun College {over i,oco acres for 3 years
in different parts of England) Wheat yielded 10,
Barley 16, Dredge 14, Rye 11, Oats 10, Peas 11,
and Beans 10 bush., or an average of 10-12 bush. ;
these results have been wrought out from Prof
Rogers' Tables (Hist, ^gr.) presumably derived
from the actual Bailiffs' A/". At this period
(1333-5) varying amounts were sown, but from
the figures it would appear that about i quarter
(8 bush.) might be stated as the all round yield
(after deduction for seed); against about 10 bush,
in 1696. There seems to be no evidence of yield
per acre T. R. W. ; and no reason to suppose the
agriculture of the nth century (1086) much more
futile than that of 1333-5 — hence the statement of
a supposed yield of 6 bush.* p. ac. (of which 2 b.
for seed) can be supported by nothing unless its
author's wish to prove the existence of a fanciful
ploughland at any cost (p. 438 D, B. and Beyond).

Now no assertion is made as to the correctness
of King's figures, but let it be remembered he was
a notable statistician living at the period of the
Revolution ; that an estimate of 4^- people per
house is less than medium, and that his method or
calculating the fallow of the barley area, would
suggest that rather more than | of the land in tillage
was sown.

In 1086, in 30 counties of England there were

* D. B. and Beyond^ p. 438, says this hypothesis is taken Average
from Walt, dc Henley : what that writer actually says is that vlru^ ^
a yield of 6 bush. p. ac. means a loss of l|d. p. ac, in addi- acre:
tion to the land being rent free (suppose 4d. to 6d. p. ac.) : in neither
the same vol. cited by Prof. Maitland, the anonymous ai^d ^^j. p"^'^
coeval w^riter on Husbandry gives the returns from wheat as bility in
5 times the seed sown, i.e., 10-12 bush. p. ac, from 2 or 2f placing it
bush, seed, which yield is similar to the actual figures of the bushels
Bailiffs' a/", ut sup.

1 1 7 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

Agricul-
tural data,
1086.

Consump-
tion of
Beer.

70,606 ploughs (8 oxen), with an average of yc^G
folk as recorded per team; in 34 counties (includ-
ing, however, most of Lanes, and parts of Cum-
berland and Westmorland) the recorded population
was 283,242; assuming 300,000 as the total for
the 40 modern counties, and ploughs in proportion
then would there have been a total of 84,000
teams; for a moment, allow 120 acres of tillage
per plough, then would there have been over
10,000,000 acres arable in 1086, keeping alive
some 1,800,000 folk as against a lesser amount
(10,000,000 ac.) for more than 3- that number
{i.e. 5,500,000 people) in 1696.

Of the 2,200,000 acres sown to barley (yield
1 5 bush, per ac), King estimates to malt f of the
yield, /'.(?., 2t-| million bush, (of 33,000,000), to
return a total of 12,400,000 barrels of beer (weak
and strong), which allows rather under i| pints
per day per head of population, v^hich amount
(about 78 barrels) would be produced from \ of
that acre, per head, found by taking the statistics
of 1696: a result differing largely from Prof.
Maitland's -|^ gallon per day for every man, woman,
and child, amounting to some 2^ gallons per re-
corded man, which princely munificence might
well cause the modern labourer to envy his ante-
cessor in the days of King William. Again, take
the 21 counties* whose teamlands are set forth on
p. 401 (D. B. and Beyond^ and multiply them by
120, with a result of 6,282,480 ac. arable, against
5,650,425 in the present decade, of which latter
but 3,098,623 are in the crops of T086 (the
balance mainly being food for stock) : and were
one to apply 1 80 acres (Canon Taylor in " Domes-
day Studies "), arithmetic would be set at defiance

Vide^ p. 114.

Agricultural Statistics i i 8

in some of the shires, whose total area would be
unable to furnish the acres required — which result
would also sometimes occur if the actual teams (in
place of the teamlands) were taken.

How much of the acre per head as thus found
from King's tables would be subtracted for stock,
there is no material to determine, but Fitzherbert
writing t. Hen. VIII. (probably a Derbyshire
squire and farmer) does not, if I remember rightly,
allow any very considerable proportion of corn
for the working oxen. King's estimate for the
consumption of Bread, Bread Corn, Cakes, Biscuit, Consump-
Pastry, Pudding, and all things made of meal and Bread-
flour is 1 5s. 8d. per head* p. a., and 'tis clear he ^'"^^' ''"'
calculates practically all the Wheat and Rye, and
part of the Barley, Oats, Beans, and Peas under
this item, presumably the produce (by his mode
of estimation) of ^^^ acre, as roughly by King's
figures 14 bush. p. acre (rather less) was the
yield from some 5 of 10,000,000 acres under the
plough in 1696, and as in iZZZ'S-) some 11 bush,
p. acre (rather more) are found in practice ; then
should there be, by these figures, some 8^- million
sown acres in 1086 for an assumed population Population
of 5-^- millions (as in 1696); but as the popula- °rebKhat
tion in 1086 cannot be shown to have exceeded 1 of 1086.
that amount (/.(f., about 1,800,000), then would
2,830,000 sown acres have sufficed, and therefore
it is hard to imagine a total exceeding 6,000,000
arable acres, which allows for much of the plough-
land being under a 2 course shift,f and some of it

* In the anon. Husbandry {c. t. Hen. HI.) farm servants
have an allowance of i qr. of corn per 12 weeks.

t There is a great deal about 2 and 3 course shifts in
Yorkshire (with reference to gheld rate) in Canon Taylor's
" Ploughland and the Plough," the furrows of which systems

9

1 1 9 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

Terra
dupliciier
ad
arandtim.

Meadow,
1086.

in a rotation partly grass,* but counted as arable,
which presumably would occur in other counties
than Cornwall. Hence some 70 acres per plough
would follow, and but three score or less might be
calculated if the land in grass (in rotation, and
estimated as arable) were excluded ; and this
amount (60 acres) seems to have been Agarde's
estimate of a ploughland in Q. Elizabeth's days.f
The well-known Poll Tax Returns 1377, 1379,
and 1 38 I bear on the matter \\ the population at

are yet to be discovered by the zealous antiquary, and tlie
rotations identified ; these arguments (which seem to have
little support from D. B.) appear to arise from certain entries
(even better represented in Lines.), where the jurors roughly
estimate the teamlands as in proportion to the gheld rates ;
thus 364^, 2 1 bovates for gheld, land to 2- as many oxen ;
364^, 13!^ bovates for gheld, terra dupliciter ad arandum ;
compare 352^, z\ bovates iox gheld, land to 5 oxen, which
is similar to the last named, but that it would have seemed
singular to write, land to 27^ oxen; see also 350^7, 35l<7
{ter), 3511^ and 352^ (^bis) ; for cases where the teamland equates
the gheld 343-^, Z\\b {bis), 348^ {bis), 350/^, 351/7 {quinquies),
351/^, 353^, 358/7, 362^; where the Teamlatid is half the gheld
349^ ; and other simple proportions occur in this county.

* Not of course meaning "rotation grasses"; see note,
p. 22 ; also as illustrating meadow, etc., vide 7). B. zb ;
as much meadow as pertains to 10 ac. of land ; 38/^ ; 46s. of
herbage; \'^\b ; land to \ pi. ; meadow to |^ pi., and los.
over, a mill of 3s. and 200 eels, the whole worth 20s. ; \\'iby
Meadow 6s. and 4s. of hay ; 143^, Mea. to 3 pis., and 20s.
over ; 143^, Pasture to stock, and hay to farm of Archbp. for
8 days ; 156^, of hay los. ; 183/7, Of mea. 5s., besides pasture
to oxen ; and 376^ ; the men of N. detain l6s. of the
customs of the pastures.

t A Ploughland, which is about Three Score Acres ; p. 10
App. Reg. Hon. de Richmond.

X For 1377, refer to " Archaeologia," vol. vii., which gives
a more extended return than that published in Powell's

1 9th cent. Model

i,ooo Englaml.

Men wed

••• 273-3

Women wed

••• 273-3

Over 1 6, unwed

••• 453-4

1,000

Agricultural Statistics 120

this period seems to have been 2-^ millions or more, Poii Tax
and the following figures taken from the detailed fjt)" ancT^
returns of Claro Wapentake (Yorks) in 1379 '379-
suggest omissions :

Per I,cxx3 of Popu-
lation, Claro, 1379.

358 ...
358 ...
284 ...

1,000

the inference being that many over 16 years of
age were not taxed as they should have been ; and
further, so far as the imperfect returns at the
Record Office (of 1377 for Claro) allow com-
parison, there were in 1379 found to be actually
more folk living over 16 than in 1377 over 14,
which would seem to point to a not altogether
extinct desire on the part of taxpayers to escape
payment, rather than to any particular catastrophe
in that district. The total of 1377 furnished
^22,607 2s. 8d. by 1,356,428 groats from 37
counties from all over 14 years of age, excluding
Mendicants, and the Clergy (about 30,000 ; see
Clerical Subsidy 51 Ed. III.); by allowing for
Monmouth, Chester, and Durham, the total popu-
lation over 14 might be 1,500,000. But as what
was true of Claro might be applicable to all Eng-
land (a recorded excess in 1379 of those over 16,
over those over 14 in 1377), it may be reasonable
to estimate the 1,500,000 as over 16 and not over
14. On the assumption that there would be 37%

" Rising in East Anglia," which should also be consulted for
1 38 1, and separate clerical subsidies are to be found in both vols.

9—2

1 2 1 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

of the total population under 1 6, then would there
have been 2,^80^000 persons in all England ; but
presuming 35% of the total population wed (and
noting that in Claro of 1,000 recorded, 716 are
found as married), then would there be approxi-
mately 1,074,000 wed folk of i-^ millions as above,
which being -^-^ (taking 35% of whole community
as married) of the total, would bring the popula-
tion in 1377 to JjO^PjOOO, so that the true total
should lie between these estimates, say some
2,700,000, called i\ millions. Unless the chroni-
clers are to be regarded as mere relaters of fables,
there must have been enormous mortality in
Death''''''' 1348-9 (the Black Death); given at \ to more
than \ the population, so that in the i- half of
the 14th century the English population might
very well be estimated at 4 millions. As the
postulators of the 120 acre theory are burdened
with an arable of over 10,000,000 acres in 1086
for some 1,800,000 people, it easily follows that
20,000,000 (on the same theory) would not be an
excessive amount for 4,000,000 folk temp. Ed. III.
prior to 1348-9, and (still on that theory) some
30,000,000 of arable, what time the Saxon esti-
mate* of 242,700 Hides was made ; after this, it
would be but little astonishing to hear that the
whole country at one time consisted of a vast
ploughed field, and that traces of terrace cultiva-
tion had been discovered on Scawfell Pike itself.
Ploughs Prof Maitland has counted J 0,606 ploughs

Population in 30 of the recorded counties of D. B., which
^°^^' answers to an estimate of S^^ijo for the 40
modern shires of England by as follows : —

* f^ide, p. 28.

Agricultural Statistics 122

J 2, ^4^,084 total acres of which 3,759,671 in
5 counties (Cumberland, Durham, Monmouth,
Northumberland, and Westmorland,) not in
D. B., assuming Lancashire as returned ; total
recorded population 28^^242 (Ellis), expanded
to joo.poo for the missing shires, giving 5,586
ploughs for their supposed " recorded folk." Of
the 4 counties Prof. Maitland. does not give
Yorkshire has some 2,959, Rutland 239 teams,
and I have assumed 940 for Cheshire, and 3,800
for Suffolk, which with the 5,586 (above) and
70,606 adds to 84,1^0. The population for
Lines, Norfolk, and Suffolk seems quite untrust- Fallacy of
worthy (see note, p. 12), and to estimate the^^^^^sm
number of oxen possessed by the average villein, counties,
it is therefore necessary to omit them, and take
statistics from the 31 remaining counties of D. B. :
empirically divide the population into 4 classes,
yl, villans, sokemen, liber i homines, coliberts, and
censarii ; B, bordars, cottars, and coscez ; C,
Homines, radknights, Frenchmen, milites, thanes,
and drenghs ; D, the balance, including lords,
mesne lords, burgesses, priests, swineherds, Welsh-
men, reeves, etc. ; and assume Class y/ at 3 per
plough, 5 at 8, C at I, £) at no teams save the
demesne ones of mediate and immediate lords.
This is of course incorrect, as many of the bur-
gesses, priests, etc., had ploughs, but one assump-
tion to a certain extent balances another, and the
erudite supporters of the villeins should allow this
mode of computation rather increases (unduly
perhaps) their status : taking the recorded popu-
lation of the 34 counties. Class A consists of some

123 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

i^^^oog folk, B of Sp,^^j, C of 2,j6o, and D of
the balance needful to total 28^,2^2 ; as explained
in the note on p. 12, Lines, Norfolk, and Suffolk
would mar the calculation, (and unduly depreciate
the villani)^ so it is necessary to subtract their
totals, leaving 100^66'/ in Class A, 6g^i82 in 5,
2,021 ^^ ^' ^'^^ ^ total recorded number of
2io,j^g in these 31 counties.

The demesne ploughs are about -^^ of the total
(see p. 145), and as there are some O^^iyg teams in
these counties, the lords thus have ig^^^/j.^ and the
ploughs not in demesne would be ^^,62^, /.(?,,
33,5S6 in Class A, 8,6^8 in 5, and 2,02"/ in C,
leaving a balance of i^jgj which would not cover
the omissions, as for burgesses, etc. In other
words, suppose 1,000 acres arable in aforesaid
31 counties, thus

Scheme of
j,ooo acres
arable
1086.

Acres*

Ploughs.

Servi.

Class A, /.if ,
Villans, etc.

Class B, i.e.,
Bordars, etc.

Class
C.

Demesne

400

4f

4^

Tenantry

510

H

25 at 20—

21 acres

each

3»

50

4

17 at some

3 acres

each

)>

40

-1

\

Totals

1,000

c. 16

4i

25

17

h

leaving 4J recorded folk as against 16 ploughs,

* For very precise information as to the modern statute
acre, ride tables at end of Chron. W. Thorn (St. Augustine's),
where over 50 variations are given, all conforming to present
measures ; the above history terminates a.d. 1397.

Agricultural Statistics 124

which is agreeable to the addition of Classes
y/, 5, C, together with the 22->2^2 Servi (of 31
shires) ; viz., ig^,i28 for 65, //p teams, the re-
maining 15^2^1 (of 2io,j^g total recorded) not
being necessary to the example, but of course
supported by above ploughs, and bringing up the
number of people (as found) to the correct figure.
This estimate presents the classes in due propor-
tion to each other, and assumes each villan plough
will average about half an acre per week, on the
lord's land for 10 months, tilling some 15-16 acres
p. a., as by Walter de Henley's scanty aration.

Prof. Maitland (p. 430 D. B. and ^0'^"^)ca£iaies
seems to create and then admire j^F)t he difficulties «o/ Team- X.
of the Norfolk and SufFolk " Hid^es;' with Tittle !t"Htdes°'
success in solving them ; he rightly observes " that '^f ^^^„
there are upon an average about 2 teams to every but mainly
carucate is apparent on page after page of the es^nates
record," and therefore concludes these carucates ^^n^"^^^'^
are not teamlands, falling back on the supposition
that they may be units of assessment. There
should be little room to suppose they are either
Hides or Teamlands (as Prof. Maitland under-
stands a ploughland, i.e.^ 120 acres), — to demon-
strate the former the Hundred of Thingo is ample,
occurring on fos. 286, 289, 349, 356-8, 381, 391,
401, 425, and 435 of D. B. ii., where the vills are
assessed to gheld in no proportions whatsoever to
the number of carucates they contain, as the follow-
ing approximate list [given in the order in which
the vills occur on p. 100, Feudal England (Round)]
demonstrates : 7^ carucates, yd. ; i car. 6d. ; 5;^
c, 6d. ; 61 c. 2od. ; 5 c. yd. ; 2| c. yd. ; 3J c.
6-^d. ; 3| c. icd. ; 3 c. lod. ; 3. c. y^d. ; 6^ c.

I 2 5 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

64d. ; 4 c. yd. ; 2^ c. yd. ; 3^ c. yd. ; i c. 6d. ;

6^ c. 2od. ; 4^- c. I3jd. ; 4-I c. 6^d. ; 6 c. 2od. ;
y and 5 c. 6od. Prof. Maitland, with needless
candour, states that to a knowledge of Agricul-
ture, he does not attain — but founds his historic
theories on conceptions (or rather misconceptions,)
of that necessary Art, his admissions notwithstand-
Proofof ing ; the Abbot of Ely plainly informs (p. 122
statement. /. E. in Hamilton's /. C. C.) that (c. 1086) he
has 8j (6y + 16) carucates of land plus 23 acres,
land to /p/ ploughs, of which 122^ there, in
Norfolk ; and log (69 + 40) car. of land plus 42
(32 + 10) acres in Suffolk, where land to ^^c?
ploughs, and 219^ there, which is good evidence
that the teamlands are better than twice the
number of carucates. That these carucates are
not the usual Jiscal Hides has just been shown ;
besides the assessment to danegeld, etc., is given
in quite an unusual form in these counties ; as a
rule the carucates of Norfolk and Suffolk seem to
be the amount of land that might be under the
plough, together with perhaps the appurtenances
(several meadow and pasture), of a teamland, each
carucate computed at 120 acres ; the idea that
this amount of land is the work of one plough
is unknown to experience, and however practicable
it may appear to any ex cathedra theorist, he is
here confronted by the fact that such a calculation
is refiited on " page after page " of his record, and
by the singular appearance of the statistical conse-
quences of such a surmise. If the carucates of the
Ely Manors in either Norfolk or Suffolk are
divided by the Teamlands, the quotient in both

Agricultural Statistics 126

cases lies between ^2 and ^j acres — a result which
any agriculturist would allow to be reasonable ;
working from these figures, and estimating for the
excess of population as recorded in these counties
{yideno\:G. p. 12), the difficulties named on p. 430,
D. B. and Beyond disappear, and the ratio of
Teamlands to Population appears as it should : see
also D. B. ii., 169, where the estate of 18 sokemen
(always 2 ploughs) is delivered for a land ; and ii.,
171, where i Manor delivered for 5 carucates seems
to consist of 2 car. plus odd acres adding to 362.

Passing to the evidence of Domesday Book and
later records, in 1086 (D. B.) it sometimes happens
that a rough approximation of the area of a Manor
or district is given in leugae, each of which have Leitgce.
been taken to represent i^ statute miles. Thus a
Manor one leuga in length by as much in width
(by this computation) would contain 1,440 modern
acres ; no exactness of dimensions can be expected,
and of course the reality of rectangular blocks of
lands is not postulated. Sometimes one imagines
that greatest length and breadth is alluded to ;
at other times an average, and in most cases the
figures seem a rough estimate (the above remarks
follow after testing Yorkshire examples byJefFery's
1770 i" maps); now 3 of the Ripon " ;«/7^ " Ripon
crosses (Sharow, Bishopton, and Littlethorpe) are crosses.
about or within 1,760 yards of the Minster (D. B.,
fo. 303^, about the church one leuga), and in the
Manor of Hackness (D. B., fo. 32 3^), a modern
mile would seem an excessive quantity. A very
telling example is given on fo. 303/^, as to the
berewicks of Ripon (6 leugas in length by as many

127 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

in breadth) ; here it may be stated with absolute
certainty that the leuga was nothing approaching
"Liberty^ i-i miles ; for the whole liberty of Ripon would
'^°"' not comprise 51,840 acres, and the portion of it
included in the Domesday berewicks would well
answer to a leuga of a modern mile or a trifle
less;* at the same time by taking the greatest
length and the greatest breadth a leuga of i-|- miles
would be found. An example like this on the
large scale enables a statement of some certainty
that here the leuga was either the modern mile, or
else that (if i^ miles) the greatest and not average
length and breadth was taken ; and is of far
greater worth than rash calculations from assumed
perches of 1 8 to 20 feet, which by the way might
reasonably be expected to be derived from the

* Ripon and its Berewicks as given correspond to about
How esti- half the Liberty of Ripon, the whole of which is considerably
mated in less than the area comprised in 6 leuga long x 6 1. broad,
omes ay. (.gj^^jj^g j leuga as i^ miles linear measure ; by the area of
the modern townships with additions the leuga works out
just under i statute mile; a like explanation may then be
reasonably postulated for such entries as would give enormous
ploughlands of up to 360 acres on a rectangular block
calculation. For the berewicks of Ripon do extend 9 miles
by 9 miles (6 leuga x 6 1.), but that is their greatest length
and breadth, from which nothing can be asserted, and as
demonstrated the actual area was but about ^ of such as
would be found by multiplying the greatest linear measures ;
in addition to this it may be held a ploughland contained in
itself both pasture (not common of pa.) and meadow of the
tenantry, at least for the plough oxen, of which numerous
instances may be noted in the Yorkshire I. P. M.'s. (Yks.
Record Series), and the Hundred Rolls (vol. ii.) ; also some-
times houses were on the "ploughland."

Agricultural Statistics i 28

extremities of the " mesurabill " man (Ancient
Scotch Laws), and therefore very well short of
12 inches. It may be noted that the marks (some
yet in existence) representing the Banleuca of
Ripon are locally known as mile crosses, neverthe-
less on what authority I know not, the York-
shire Arch, and Top. Soc. have produced a modern
ancient map of the county, with a scale rating the
leuga at i^ miles, which I venture to think will
not be found applicable for areal measurement :
however the following examples are wrought from Yorkshire
that calculation, estimating a leuga in length by as '^^°°'^-
much in width, as equivalent to a rectangular block
of 1,440 acres. It will be observed that a piece
of ground of the shape of a right-angled triangle
by this computation would contain nothing unless
720 acres, and the nearer the approach to an
L shape, the lesser the extent ; in many of the
cases (below*) the impossible assumption that the
whole Manor was under the plough has been
made, for it is not always stated how much of its
extent was in wood, meadow, and common of
pasture ; where given, it is deducted from the total
manorial area as shown. For example in Little
Smeaton the Manor is given at i leuga long by
Jj as much wide, and unspecified underwood con-
tained therein ; this cannot be deducted and it is
calculated as a rectangular block of land entirely
tillage of 720 acres, and 13 teamlands of ^^ acres
each, or less per actual plough (14 pis,). In the
2nd entry (Berg, i.e., Barugh) no ploughs are

• See table, p. 129.

1 29 Dofnesday and Feudal Statistics

named by reason that the Manor was waste ;
omitting this the total amounts to less than 5,1 15
acres, containing 103 teamlands and 121^3 ploughs,
on an estimate from rectangular blocks raised from

Examples
therefrom.

» AVERAGE PER TEAMLAND, 1086 (U. B.), ASSUMING THE

SQUARE LEUGA EQUAL TO 1,440 ACRES, AND

RECTANGULAR AREAS.

Grig. fo.

299/'

Extent

in
leugffi.

Acres.

Plough-
lands.

Acres per
plough-
land.

No'.es.

Dewsbury

160

2

80

4 ploughs
there.

Barugh, etc.

SOj'^

l^\

180—7

3

58

7 acres
meadow
p/us un-
specified
waste.

Welleton, etc.

304/^

I-A

840

20

42

21 pis. there.

Bulmer

306a

i-iV

580—20

8

,0

10 pis.;
mead 0 w
20 acres.

Farlirgton

306a

*-3V

2CO — 1 2

4

47

2 pis. ; mea-
dow 12
acres.

Fleetham

Scruton

Burton

2,10b
2,\ob
312a

I xi

720
360

35f'-(?)

IS
10
8

48

36

less th.Tn

44i

9h pis.

5 pis.

14 pis. ; un-
specified
under-
wood.

Sutton Ilon-

312/'

1%XJ

200

3

67

4 pis.

grave
Mid diet on
Quernhowe

312(5

T'-rxi

>5o

3

5"

3 Pl*-

Foston
Smeaton
Little

SIS'!
316a

ixi

270
720- (?)

4
13

67h
55

6 pis.

14 pis. ; vn-
specified
under-
wood.

Tanshelf

316/'

i-i

3^0-3

9

40

22 pis. ; 3
acres
meadow.

Tadcaster

321^

1^ X t\

250—16

4

59

7 pis. ; 16
acres

meadow.

Agricultural Statistics i 30

linear measurements of the leuga (i^ miles), which
does not greatly flatter the 1 20 acre theory. Again
on fo. 165^ D. B, is a clear instance of a teamland
of 64 acres ; here is i Hide which when ploughed \ ^^^™ ^°

, 1^0 ot acres in

contains not unless than 64 acres, and there is one Domesday,
plough ; truly a small Hide (for their average
areal scope is 300 acres and more), but nothing to
show it is a small ploughland, as it is worked not
by 2, 4, or 6 oxen, but by one plough.*

Very similar results follow from an examination
of the lands held by the tenantry of the Bishop of
Ely, for which reference should be made to the Ely
Inquisitio Eliensis as well as D. B. ; thus under
Cambridge to each plough of the tenants are in
Wittleseia J2 acres, Doddintona 60, Litelport ^5,
Stoneteneia jo, Stratham, 50, Wilbertona 5^,
Lyndona 80 or ^8, Heilla ^o, Wisbeach 5^5, Ely
42\, Dunham ^5, Winteworda 48, Wickham 68^
Sutton 50, and Wicheforda ^5, and in Herts,
Haddam 28, Hatfield 58, and Chilleshelle 40, but
here a difficulty arises, for the areas ascribed to
the tenantry may be rather rateable than real, and
also each villein plough will owe to till some of
the land of the lord. Now certainly Seebohm,

* It is interesting to note how this passage has been
twisted, for in the Rev. Bawdwen's translation he renders it
that there arc 64 acres when the land is not ploughed ; the
point seems to be that when you plough the land, you roughly
know its measure ; but perhaps the most singular misappre-
hension of any writer on D. B. occurs on p. 71 of Morgan's
"England under the Normans," where, referring to 63^,
ipse quoque transport avit hallam et alias domos et pecuniam in
alio rnanerio the writer suggests this would not be difficult, as
the buildings were constructed of wooden boards, etc.

Domesday and Feudal Statistics

ia more cautiously Prof. Maitland, accept such
entries as areal extents, and thereby attach con-
Midriiesex siderable holdings to the villeinage of Middlesex

Villeins, . o D _

and their (the average villan here holds i virgate, cases of
io86."^~^' I villan with 2 Hides at Hanwell and W. Bed-
font) ; now a test case can be found in the Manor
of Heruluestune (Harlesden Green, fo, ii']b^ and
but once noted in D. B,), belonging to St. Paul's,
where are 4 Teamlands, 2 ploughs in demesne,
and "I plough held by 22 villeins, of whom 12
hold virgates and 10 half virgates. The total
in villeinage (assuming each virgate = 30 acres)
amounts to 510 acres, against which set 4 oxen,
or if the land were fully stocked 2 ploughs, and
whether or not 510 acres could be tilled either by
4 oxen, or a couple of ploughs must be left to
the sober judgment of any in the least acquainted
with practical agriculture. To them it must be
clear either that the acres here are rateable, or that
I they consisted largely of pasture (not improbable
' owing to proximity to London), or that the vir-
gate in this Manor actually contained but a small
number of acres.
Peierboro' Concerning the appended'" tables^ the virgate has
and^thei'r been taken as 30 acres arable (save Alwoltuna,
IT™ 8 where 25 ac, see Rot. Hund., vol. ii., p. 638),
though ancient evidences do not establish it to
have been entirely in tillage ; and it may be seen
that in 1086 there were 109^ teamlands, 104
teams, and 348 recorded folk, against 139 teams
and 434 pop. (recorded) in 11 25-8, and at the

* See tables, pp. 132, 133, and note that Estona has 12 fiscal
carucates in 1086, and 3 hides ad in Waram, 1 125 ; co. Leics.
being rated both by Hides and Carucates : see note, p. 39.

1125-8

Agricultural Statistics

132

latter date the ploughs of the sokemen have been
added In brackets — the average acres per villein
plough (including work on demesne) being 64.

Now it would seem to be an extremely obvious
rule that as folk increase more food is required, Population
and consequently more land tilled and ploughs p^ioughs^
used, but this simple fact would appear to have
escaped the attention of philosophers : an argu-
ment based on the theory that because in certain
Manors in 1222 a mixture of tenants holding by
rent and villein services cultivate X acres, their
predecessors in 1086 also arated the said X acres,
and that therefore the acreage per plough in 1086
may be discovered by dividing the X acres of 1222

*1 125-28,

LIBER NIGER DE MON. SANCT

. PETRI DE BURGO.

7, M

c
•B

id

Ci-I

e«

c

3

.5

>

1
>

1
0

<

.11

Jo,

> 4

<

Ploughs i
Demesne, 1

Kettering ...

N•ant^

40

40

22

1, 200

314

1.434

6s

4

300

Tingwell ...

i»

33

2-J

12

795

.34

820

63

2

no

Oundle ...

25

20

9

600

144

708

78

3

20s

Pilesgete ...

„

8

5

2

150

16

162

81

i + (8)

Colingham

Notts

20+50

6-1- 10

14

480

90

548

39

2

208

Cotingham

N'ant?

17

IS

6

450

45

484

80

2

153

Estona

Leics

21

21

12

630

50

667

55

2

102

Wermintona

N'ants-

49

344

16

1.035

117

1.123

70

4+(6)

210

Turlebi ...

Lines

8

4

2 at least

120

12

120

6=;

I

ssi

Alwoltuna

Hunts

29

18

7

450

9

4S9

66

2

Totals ...

IC2

5.910

6.524

64
aver-
age.

23+114)

N.B. — The 6.524 acres is obtained by adding J of the work on demesne to the tenants'
acres, as the demesne is counted as but one ploughing— according to Sir Walter de
Henley, in a 3-course shift each acre had J ploughings : the demesne arable of 1321, is
of course but an indication of same in 1125, liable to increase or diminution — in 1321 are
460 ac. ar. at le Bigginge under Oundle, 260 being frisca.

133

Domesday

and Feudal Statistics

OMESDAY, 1086, CONTRASTED

WITH

L.N.P.

Place.

.

JZ

3
0

E

a!

_3

>

.0

S
"3

%

Details

3F Poi'ULATION.

-0

X

•a

s

H

c
>

Bord. and
Cott.

Servi.

Collation
of some
Peterboro'

Kettering

1086
1125

10
10

16

I + IO

4 + 22

II li.
26 li.

34
52

40

8 —

1 ftncilla, 2 mills

2 herds, i freeman,
I miller

Manors,

II2S-8.

with

Tingwell

1086
1125

11

8

2+ 7
2+12

il

37

43

24
33

II —
4 —

2 mills

4 ht rds, 2 millers

Domesday

Oundle

1086
1125

6
4

9

3+ 9
3+ 9

II li.
II li.+

37
43

23

25

10 3
10 —

1 mill

2 freemen, 6 herds

Pilesgete

1086
1125

6
3

6

i+ii

l+(8)+2

411:

39

57

?

2

I

I

26 sokemen, i mill
44 sokemen, 2 herds,
I mill

Cotingham

1086
1125

^i

14

2+10
2+ 6

3]!.

12 h.

44
30

29
17

10

7

4

I mill

I mill, 5 freemen

Estona

1086
1125

I2C.

3

16

2+ 8
2+12

sii.

12 li.

27
34

lO
21

5

—

12 sokemen
I homo, 2 mills, 11
sokemen

Wermintona

1086
1125

7i
8

16

4+ 8
4+(6)+i6

II li.

10 li.+

36
60

32

49

—

3

I mill

I mill, 8 sokemen,
I elk, I freeman

Alwoltuna

1086
1125

5
5

9

2+ 7
2+ 7

7li.
4li- +

22

36

20

29

6

—

2 mills
I renter

Colinghara

1086
1125

43'i
4tV

14

2+14
2+14

gli.
20 li.

67
70

8
20

20

—

37 sokemen, 2 mills
50 sokemen

Turlebi

1086
1 1 25

i^

I
1 + 2

ili.
3li-

5
9

I
8

4 —

I priest

Eccentric
views of
philo-
sophers.

by the ploughs in Domesday may at first sight
appear plausible, but if one finds the recorded
population in 1086 Y and in 1222 2Y, or 2Y
plus^ one can be of no other opinion than that
their ingenious author has not mastered the above
plain idea as to increase of population, etc. Such
an illustration is set forth in a table on p. 288,
English Historical Review^ 1897 (composed by

Agricultural Statistics 134

F. Baring), and the patient reader is gravely in-
formed " he can thus arrive at the exact acreage
of holdings 1086," that is, like a modern Charon,
by tr an sf retting the villans and their ploughs of
1086 on to the acres (by no means all in villein-
age) of 1222. Just to exhibit this happy method
of enlivening the " bald details " of Domesday, take
the cases of Runewell and Cadendone (Domesday
St. Paul's, 1222), as cited by our author on p. 288
(E. H. R., 1897) ; one is told of 240 acres in 1 222
(best part of them set to a rent by the way) de-
scribed as 8 tenants' virgates, and of 8 villans and
8 bordars with i\ ploughs here (Runewell) 1086,
and invited to believe that therefore the D. B. villans
each had 30 acres, working 1 20 acres per plough.
On referring to the Camden Society's vol. (D. B., Examina-
St. Paul's) the jurors of Runewell state the Hide their
was formerly computed at 80 acres, but now '"®'^°^^-
(1222) it is 120, and that on account of the
poverty of some of the villein tenants their hold-
ings had been taken into the demesne ; on adding
up the occupants of the Manor 1222 one finds
34-38 tenants (not eight as our author suggests,
supported by nothing unless his endeavour to tie
a virgate to each D. B. villan at all hazards)
against 16 in 1086. Turning to Cadendon, by
some process of adding up divers sorts of holdings
in 1222 what are styled 1\\ "tenants virgates" of
28 acres each (686 ac.) are discovered for 22 D. B.
villans (1086)^'' who had 6 ploughs, hence 112 acres

* The writer seems to have been unaware there is further
notice of this Manor of St. Paul's on fo. 211/7, hence his

10

135 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

Utility of
the philo-
sophic
treatment,

per team ; but referring to the records the popu-
lation noted in 1086 is 29 against over 100 (not
24I-), of which some are probably named twice
over, so that one certainly cannot credit that
where the population had doubled (and more) in
1222, there had been no increase of ploughs over
the number given in Domesday.

After such glaring examples of our author's
manipulations, it must be left to the judgment of
the candid reader whether or not this mode of
work is an abuse or use of Records, but if instruc-
tive comparisons are to be made, it is important
that none of the essential particulars be omitted.
From the following the reader may form his own
inferences, and by referring to the originals make
any additions of matter bearing on the point ; not
wishing, however, to emulate the pea and thimble
tactics of a certain school, nothing has been
suppressed in the first instance, with a view to
prejudice the case.

The Manor of Alwalton is illustrated 1086
^ith!'i2th. (D. B.), 1 125-8 (L. N. P., Camden Soc.) and
centuries 1 278-9 (Rot. Hund., vol. ii.) ; by turning to the
tables above,* it may be seen that in 1086 are
recorded 9 teamlands, 9 ploughs (7 in villeinage)
and 22 folk (bordars and servi perhaps omitted) ;
in 1 1 25-8, 9 ploughs and 36 people, and in
1278-9 (H. R. no ploughs given) are 5^ Hides
and l^ Virgates of land, the virgate 25 acres, at
5 to the Hide ; of which the details account for

-rC

Manor of

figures are incomplete — nevertheless are used here as they
serve well enough to illustrate his statistical methods.
* See pp. 132, 133.

Agricultural Statistics 136

726 acres, i.e., 5^ Hides, i^^ Virgates plus one
acre, as under :

200 acres arable in demesne

450 „ land by 18 villans of 25 acres each

^^2 " " " 5 » » ^^2 " '>
^l\ „ „ „ 34 cottars

726 acres

In addition 2 free tenants hold 28^ acres, and
belonging to the demesne ^ acre of court and
garden, i ac. of several pasture with 8 of meadow,
and of course (tho' unnamed) presumably some con-
siderable amount of common of pasture, and wood,
which if extra manorial the tenants had access to ;
the writer is of opinion that several pasture and
meadow is included in the villein holdings (the
plough oxen would require hay), but has made
no deduction on that ground. There are 59
tenants, but 4 are '2-) named, and 5 widows in "^
cottages, and as the extent seems a full one, I do
not think the record population should be put
higher than 50; the 18 virgates (450 ac.) seem
to appear as the same amount in 1 125-8, held
then by 7 full and 22 semi-villani, and the 62^ acres
of 1278-9 might well have been assarted for the
support of increasing population since 1 125-8, in
which there is no mention of them. But I cannot
find that one has right in saying that the 756 acres
(keeping some 50 recorded folk) in 1278-9 were
in cultivation therefore in 1 125-8, (keeping
36 people), and that therefore 9 ploughs worked
746 acres then and in 1086 ; even if after the
most ingenuous manner of the English Historical

10 — 2 .

137 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

Review^ you suppose population may increase or
double without a corresponding cultivation, the
calculation would work out at nothing unless 83
acres per team.

Attention is also called to the following interest-
ing references from D. B. and the Hundred Rolls
(Vol. 2, well indexed) :

HISTON.
Manor of D.B. Cambridgeshire ; Lands of Bp. Lincoln, fo. i<:)0 a and b.

Histon Hides. Teamlands. Teams. Villans. Bord. Cott. Servi. '^°^^^

1086, and Pop.

1278. 8 + 8f 3 + 10 2 + 9 18 18 4 4 44

9I 2+4 1+2 10 19 — — 29

26I 5 + 14 3 + II 28 37 4 4 73

Villani,etc. (612 ac. (12 each) by 51 men

\.°'i% ^c. by 14 men
Crofters no land named ...

1279. Hundred. Rolls. Vol. II. [pp. 411-13),' rough Summary.-

The Abbot of Eynsham holds 15 J Hides of the Bp. of
London.

Pop. Acres.

Demesne 20if acres arable, 10 ac. mea. ... — 21 1|^

Liberi 46|- ac. by 7 men ... ... 7 46^

51 612

H 83f

35 —

^°7 953|
Philip de Coleville holds 1 1 Hides of the Bp. of Lincoln.

Pop.

Demesne i Hide 10 ac. mea. — i Hide 10 acres.

Liberi 69 ac. by 10 men ... 10 69 „

Villani 300 „ 30 „ (10

each) ... ... 30 300 „

Cottars 20 ac. by 28 men ... 28 20 „

* Military tenant subinfeuded ... 20 160I „

88 I Hide 5 59I acres.

Items of this holding on p. 138.

Agricultural Statistics 138

Details P'^"^""^: 40 ac.(? i ac. yard) 40-1 ^
r 1 1 ac. by I free tenaat ... 1 I Koi

of above \ J .„ . )■ yS

f. ■, 110 ac. by II villani no or 1604 ac»

ioo:i ac. y gj ^^ ^^ ^ ^^^^^^g g^j

The Hidage at both periods totals 26^, but
whereas 73 folk are on record 1086 ; 195 are
noted in 1278, and the Inquisition then finds by
detail i Hide and 15 13 ac. of land, — so that there
is presumably a balance of land in common of
pasture, waste, etc., which inference the D. B.
entry (fo. 190^) seems to confirm, for in demesne
there were 2 Teams, 3 Teamlands, and 8 Hides ;
supposing the Hide (not recorded in acres) in 1278
contained 120 acres, then would there have been
1633 (less, as some described as meadow) acres
arable, and yet in 1086, with less than, half the
recorded population, there were 19 Teamlands and
14 Teams.

The Hundred Rolls often set forth the total ^^^^^^""^^
Hides* and proceed to give them in detail approxi-
mately agreeing at the rate of 120 acres per Hide
(or some other stated no. of acres), but in the
above the fiscal Hidage of D. B. is given as a
heading ; and lest the view that such Hides might
be answered from land not all arable be thought
fanciful, I append the followingf :

* In some cases, however, the Hides of the Hundred
Rolls do not seem to correspond with the cultivated area of
the Manors described.

t Assumptions that tVz fiscal Hide is of necessity rated on
arable alone, merely discovers their authors' lack of acquaint-
ance with Domesday, and that such are of a certain class or
historic writers, the brightness of whose genius enables them
to expound that record without having read it ; but though

139 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

Manor of
Coatham,
ro86, and
1297.

D. B. 1086. Cambridgeshire, Coatham, Abbot
Croyland (fo. 192(3) ; 6 + 5 Hides ; 2 + 6 Team-
lands ; 1+6 Teams ; 1 2 Villans, 8 Bordars,
I Servus, that is 2 1 recorded folk, also meadow to
8 plough teams, and pasture for the vill stock,
and a marsh rated at 500 eels.

Here again are 6 Hides set against 2 demesne
teamlands giving rise to suspicion that the marsh

Genius of
the

Romantic
School.

X

Fiscal
Hides do
not always
denote
Arable
land.

our fountains of learning inspire their votaries with some-
thing of the " divine afflatus," those subtle qualifications may,
by the simple, easily be mistaken, for the mere manipula-
tions of the prestidigitateur ; and at any rate the dull path of
History is too confined a sphere for talents so impatient of
necessary bounds and limits, and better adapted to the more
sympathetic regions of Romance, for which their alma mater
has so adequately equipped them. There are of course
genuine students of History, even within the precincts of
learning, and one in especial, who -^^z shed a particular lustre
on a School which stood greatly in need of it, of whom
every Yorkshire and English scholar may well be proud, and
whose works may justly rank with those of Brady, Dods-
worth, Dugdale, Madox, and Rymer. By way of illustra-
tion of Hides other than arable in D. B. ; for wood see \%ob,
205/7, 2l2tf, 216/7, 228/7, and 244/7; for castles, 62!?, 248^;
for pasture, 49^ (defends for ^^, the King claims § as pa. for
his oxen), 65/7, 96/7, and 104/7; for gardens, 298/7 ; as in the
forest, 32/7, and 263^ ; as in meadow, ja {\ jugum at farm,
nothing there but 2 ac. mea., worth los.), 2%b (" and scots for
it, but only 10 ac. mea. worth 5s.),- and 377^ (Warnode of
10 ac. mea.) ; as between wood and plain, 164/7 and 175*^
(numbered for 15 H. between wood and plain); the County
of Torks generally, where the areas and values of whole
Manors, and the woods in them, are often separately com-
puted, the latter as part of the former ; also see the J.P.M.
of Elizabeth Moubrai, where the Manor of Kirkby Malesart
contains no arable land, but 2 carucates, the herbage of
which, etc., 38 Ed. HI.

Agricultural Statistics

was both rateably and really within the Hide, ,^*?uj
which inference is established beyond any reason-
able doubt as in 1279 (p. 409, vol. ii., H. R.)
" they say that the abbot and convent of Croyland
hold and defend in the vill of Coteham 1 1 Hides
as in lands, meadows, pastures, and marshes," and
" they hold in demesne of the said 1 1 Hides,
2 Hides arable, and 5 Hides in meadows, pastures,
and marshes'"" pertaining to the said vill," and in
tenants 3^ Hides arable.

Now \ Hide is unaccounted for, and it may be
that the tenants held it as in meadow, pasture, and
marsh, or rated against a couple of windmills : of
the 3^^ Hides arable, 9 free tenants hold 59 acres
plus (the 2nd best by rent being undescribed as to
acres), 44 villeins have 335 acres, and 5 men pay
house rent, so possibly the omitted acreage was 26,
the amount necessary to bring up the total to
420 acres (3^ normal Hides). If the 5^- Hides of
arable are taken at 660 acres, it may be observed
there were 8 Teamlands and 7 Ploughs in 1086
with a recorded population of 21, which now

* In 1086, arable land wzi perhaps worth 2d. (id. to 3d.) Values of
per acre ; see D. B., 165*7 (64 ac. ar. worth i6s,, formerly ^^|?^'^'
20s.); 197^ (10 ac. land, 8d.), ii. 3, 118, 260, and 341 ;
also ii. 275 (120 ac. land, and 5 ac. mea. worth 30s.) ; ii. 94
(80 ac. ar. and 200 ac. marsh worth 20s.) ; as to nieadotv,
"ja (2 ac. worth los.) ; 28;^ (10 ac, 5s.), and sec note, p. 139;
wood, 228^, worth los. ; 244/7, worth 3li. Perhaps land, as
per team would be worth i6s. (or less), if. the Northern
counties were included, but not more than los. of this should
be set against each plough (8 oxen), leaving the balance
against meadow, pasture, woods, and other sources of profit,
as jurisdictions, mills, fisheries, etc.

141 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

(1278-9) has increased to 58 : according to the
statistics from D. B. (Ploughs to Recorded Pop.)
there would be 16 Teams in the Manor at the
later date.

Now these are not isolated instances, as the fol-

other lowing if worked out would show : Wodestone, co.

Examples. Hunts, Abbot of Thomey ; Fletton, co. Hunts,
Abbot of Peterboro' ; Newton, co. Hunts, Abbot
of Thorney ; Drayton, St. Paul's, Middlesex ;
referring to D. B. and the Rot. Hund., and in the
last case to St. Paul's Domesday (Camden Soc.).*

It often occurs that the Hundred Rolls estimate
the arable demesne in carucates (as where it was
out of the Hide), and this may be 1 20 acres ;
indeed Seebohm has given an instance of one of
2CO acres, (Eng. Vill. Comm.) but on turning to
the record (p. 328 H. R.) it runs " i carucate of
land which contains 10 score acres of land, meadow,
and pasture," and I believe the following are all
the entries in co. Beds.

160 acres. i2oac. loo ac. 80 ac. 60 ac. Total Average.

\ car. 5i c. 6 c. 8 c. 5 c. 25 car. \ gii acres

Bedford- 80 ac. 660 ac. 6cxd ac. 640 ac. 300 ac, 2280 ac./ per carucate.

Ica^ates. Thus it will be seen the carucate was a variable
quantity, hitherto ingeniously explained by the

* The Hundred Rolls are useful for 5 counties only, and
of these Church Lands are most suitable for comparison,
owing to the great changes in ownership and partition of
lands since 1086, in addition summing up the items in
1278-9 is a troublesome process, and likely to be interrupted
by gaps : it is of course open for any one to demonstrate the
120 acre theory by the same method, if they have luck
enough to find the least confirmation of it by a just com-
parison.

Agricultural Statistics

142

relative lightness or heaviness of the soil ; this I
believe has little to do with the matter, as fewer
or more oxen and horses would be used, instances
of which can be seen generally in the fields nowa-
days, and occur so numerously in custumals, etc.,
as to need no specification. In a certain sense the
ploughland was 120 acres, that is examples are
taken from the demesne not from the land in
villeinage, and as the Bedford table shows the
greatest no. of acres hit that amount (660 acres in
1 20 acre lots), but this is nothing to the point, for
the variability of the carucate alone should indi-
cate its meaning (missed by at least every modern
writer), i.e.^ that these demesne ploughlands were
such varying amount of land as one plough of the
lord tilled with the assistance of his tenants ; for
proof of which the following may be taken, all Proof that
from the Ramsey Cartulary (Rolls Series), 1251 caraJ/w
contrasted with Rot. Hund. 1279, and other J^,^g^^°*
records, being the only'''^ returns which I have been o^e Team,
able to discover, where the aid of the villein teams
is estimated in ploughs per annum, and all here
set down :

Inquisitions 125 1-2

Ramsey Cartulary.

1279 Hundred

Demesne

Assistance.

Rolls.

St. Ives ... 3 ploughs
Halliwell ... 2 ,,

equal to 3 ploughs
„ I pi. plus

3 carucates in dem.
2

Wardeboys ... 4 ,,
Ripton Abbas 5 ,,
Broughton ... 4 „
Upwode ... 7 ,,
Wistowe ... 4 ,,

,, 2 ploughs
,. 2 »
., 2i „

» 3 »
,, 2 ^\. plus

say 16 pis.

3 >> )>
5 .. ,.

4 »» »«
not found.

4 carucates in dem.

29 pis.

* Rot. Norm. 6 John ; the precations alone worth i plough
(that \i per an.) in Ashby de la Zouche, co. Leic.

143 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

Ramsey Except Upwodc all these places may be found in
^"°°"- the Hundred Rolls under Hunts, and in all of the
6 cases there is complete agreement, save in Warde-
boys, where there were 4 demesne ploughs in 1251
against 3 carucates in 1279 : the total assistance to
29 demesne ploughs in seven Manors is 16 ploughs
(as by villeins), the \ plough being made up
of two cases of et amplius ; now the average
demesne carucate in Beds has been shown to be
91^ acres, which as above would leave about 60
for the plough of the lord, and the rest (31 5) for
that of the tenant. On p. 629 (Rot. Hund.,
vol. ii.) under Westone the Abbot (Ramsey) holds
Assistance in demesne 8 carucates of land together with the
ploughs assistance of his customary tenants which said
'cu^^m demesne contains 548 acres, which can mean
tenants, nothing unless that his own ploughs together with
the assistance of his tenants equal 8 ploughs and
suffice for 548 acres, or else that there were in
demesne 8 ploughs in addition to assistance from
the villeinage. The Manor of Weston (as cited
above 1279) contained the hamlets of Brington
and Bitherne in which were 4 demesne teams 1086
(D. B,), and as many as 7 temp. Hen. I. (Ramsey
Cart.) and unfortunately there are no further
records of the ploughs there till 1279.

Of the 7 Hunts Manors in the table, all (save
Broughton perhaps) were out of Hide in io86, at
St. Ives^ 3 demesne ploughs, 1086, at Haliwell 2,
and 2 temp. Hen. II., at Warboys 3 and 3 temp.
Hen. II., at Ripton Abbas 2, at Upwode 1 and
4 temp. Hen. II., at Broughton 4 and 4 temp.
Hen. II. and at Wistowe 2, and 3 temp. Hen. II.
In 1232 {ex Rot. Mai. Archiep. Gray. In dorso

Agricultural Statistics 144

No. 64) the Archbishop of York leased to the Lease of
Prior and Convent of Hexham the demesnes there "emS,
for a term of 1 5 years, to be returned in the same ^232-
condition as received as to crops and fallow ; the
total being 179^ acres of arable land in 9 fields or
portions of fielcfs (all specified), of which 78 acres
in Oats, 51^ in Wheat, and 50 in bare fallow
{terra warrecandd), together with the precations
of ploughs and harrows of the tenantry, and with
pasture for 1 6 oxen, and ploughbote for the draught
of 2 ploughs — so that here were 90 acres per
demesne plough, part of which 90 acres the
villeinage would cultivate.

Again in 1292 (Malmesbury Reg. Rolls Series) l^ of /«
a lease was made by the Abbot to the cook 1292,
20 Ed. I. April of le Blakelound consisting of
105 acres sown (fallow not named) to wit 62 of
wheat, 1 1 barley, beans, and vetches, and 32 of
oats, together with los. of pasture, los. of custom-
ary works, 16 oxen, 2 horses, ploughs {caruc)^ and
2 harrows, etc.*

Further, in 47 Hen. III. (I.P.M. Yorks Record
Series), in the I.P.M. of Baldwin de Insula, there
are at his Manor of Harewood 279 acres arable in Manor of
demesne worked by 3 teams, nevertheless ivnxnt- ^j Hen. 11 1.
diately follow the plough services of the tenantry
on those acres equal at least to tilling 130 of them
once over, so that tho' he may have 3 ploughlands
of 93 acres each, and 3 ploughs in demesne, this is
nothing to the purpose in the matter of actual
work of one plough. Also in the same vols.

* The deed cited in the Malmesbury Reg. just before this
one makes clear that caruc' means ploughs here — and not a
plough — presumably two.

145 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

in another inquisition 'tis noted that each sokeman
must bring to the work of the lord at the rate of
one plough for every 4 bovates held in socage.
Not that a carucate of land in demesne always
means the amount of land which corresponds to
the number of ploughs the lord holds, for in the
Reg. Roff. on cross-examination the bailiffs of the
Manors state the number of dominical teams, and
Rochester also that they have not as many carucates of land,
carucaies. j^ecause there are not in those Manors the number
of acres which by custom of the district would
make corresponding carucates, and further it must
be remembered that this word is sometimes used
for fiscal (not areal) units, as in the carucated
counties in Domesday, and in Kirkby's Quest,
the Books of Knights' Fees, and of Aids for
Yorkshire, also sometimes in I.P.M.s.

A.D. 1086, NINE COUNTIES TABLE FROM D. B.

Proportion
of teams in
demesne,
1086.

Teams.

Lords'.

Tenants'.

Percentage
of latter.

Villeins,* etc
per Plough.

Bucks

2056!

689i

1367J

581

2-1

Dorset

1826

754

io73i

2-5

Glos'ter(T.)

3909

1058^

2850^

72

I '37

Herts

1369^

475

894I

65

2*0

Kent

3Hif

697f

24431

77f

27

Middlesex

546

152

394

72

3-0

Oxon

2461

818^

1642I

66f

2"2

Rutland ...

238!

43t

195

82

375

Yorks ...

2958I

782I

2176I

73J

2*33

* The result arrived at by dividing the number of villeins
in the county by the tenants' ploughs, as the latter are owned
by as well villani as others, the quotients of course are usually
far too low.

Agricultural Statistics 146

Seebohm appears to have made a nice approxi-
mation to cultivated England in 1086 at 5 million
acres for the recorded counties, which if I under-
stand the Village Community rightly is as under :

108,407 villans with 2,250,000 acres and ploughs. Estimate of

23,000 sokemen with 500,000 „ „ fdslShe

12,000 liberi homines with 500,000 „ „ Village

In demesne 1,500,000 „ „ Com-

89,000 bordars and cottars 250,000 „ and no ploughs, "*"''*^*

5,000,000 acres.

counting \ as many ploughs of 4 oxen as villans,
and at that rate, the normal villan holding 30 acres
and having 2 oxen (p. 85), altho' he allows his
average villan of D. B. with 2 1 acres the same (?)
number, but more or less on a scheme of 8 oxen
to 120 acres. This infallibly breaks down in detail in some
when tested, for as evidenced by the figures for 9 u^nreUabie.
counties, the lord had at least \ of the total ploughs
in demesne, and in the recorded counties were
some 78,000 ploughs (see pp. 12 1-2) ; supposing
therefore Seebohm's method, which I gather to be
that the demesne ploughs were of 8 oxen, and the
tenants' ploughs of 4,* then would there be 12,500
large ploughs of the lords for 1,500,000 acres, and

* The following examples do not necessarily, but may Oxen per

sometimes illustrate actual husbandry in 1086 : D. B. — teani the

, , /■ 1 , •• r^ standard of

ene ox m plough, 211a ; two oxen, 2za, 20\b, 307^, u. 184. ; Domesday.

two and a half oxen, twice, but in the same place, see 358*7 ;

three oxen, \<)b, wob ', four oxen, $66a (only time found, but

half a plough passim) ; fve oxen^ \\a, 235/^, 278*^, 293^ ; six

147 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

58,333 small ploughs for the 3,500,000 comple-
mental acres; that is, 70,833 (i.^., 4i,666f only
by the method of T). B.) teams for 5,000,000
acres arable, and more particularly 37,500 four-ox
ploughs for 2,250,000 acres held by villeins, at
the rate of about 3 villeins per 4 oxen, which is
not agreeable to what he has written about the
gei^ur and normal villein being stocked with a
couple of oxen.

There seem to be several sources of error, for
the 9 counties table demonstrates the lords' teams
were 30% of the total, and as their scope was more
considerable than that of those of the tenantry,
Bordars there might well be some | of the total arable
°[ou"h^^ in demesne; also the bordars contributed to the
oxen, ic86. ploughs by the witness of Domesday (fo. 303^^.,
two bordars with one plough* — no other tenants
named ; and often together with the villeins), and
as already shown the evidence from it is against the
teams being other than 8 oxen, that is to wit, what-
ever the actual mode of husbandry, the teams seem
to be reckoned in units of 8 oxen.
Method of In the table of 9 counties, Taylor's Domesday
Nine Analysis furnishes Glos'ter, and the rest are on
the author's responsibility ; all ploughs not in
demesne are counted on the other side, so that
ample correction should be made for the villeinsf

oxen, Jia, 206a ; seven oxen, 2%6b ; eight oxen (not found nor
to be expected) ; nine oxen, 359^ ; and ten oxen, ^66a.

* See note on p. 11 for instances selected from 20
counties.

t The following 64 references from D. B, illustrate the
Fillani of io%6 : as equated to sokemen, 209^ ; as under sokemen,

Counties.

Agricultural Statistics 148

per plough, which, as they can seldom be dis-
entangled from bordars and sokemen, cannot be
done with precision. The casts differ somewhat

ii. 392 ; zs paying forfeits, lyb ; as chattels (bore away a rustic Villani

who was remaining on l virg.) 30/7 ; as holding land at farm, 'llustrated

127^ ; as paying tithes, 38^; freeman who had ^ now a villan, Domesday.

ii. I ; as witnesses, \\b {de villanis et vili plehe), and ii. 393 ;

as rent payers, 52^ (los. p. ann.), 182^? (18 villans, 6 bord.,

and I priest render 1 8s.), 263/2 (l villan, 8d.) ; z.% fractional

persons, wob (| a villan), 168^ (7 half vill), 196/7 {l\ vill.),

and 252/7 (4. whole, and 6 half vill.) — the partition seemingly

in reference to amount of services due ; as paying relief on

royal Manors, 30^ (20s.), \%la (an ox) ; 2& paying gheld, 203/7 ;

as rendering custom, ii. 5 (a villan had \ and rendered custom) ;

certain villans quit from all thing of the Sheriff, 30^; as holding

or having held lands, z6b (the villans held it T. R. E.) ; \oa

(the like); 41^ (41 vill. hold and held it) ; \\b (28 vill.

hold and held it ; no hall) ; 73^ (the villans hold it) ; 175/7

(the land was of the demesne of the villans) ; and 273/7

(other 3 carucates of land are of the villans) ; as with specif ed

holdings, 12b (30 vill. held 4 solins, T. R. E.), 29*7 (i vill.

holds and held i virg.), 192/7 (8 vill., 7^ ac. each), 198^

(5 vill. hold 25s. worth of land), ii. 3 (l vill. holds 30 ac,

another 15 ac), ii. 5 (l vill. had §), and in Hanwell and

West Bedfont, co. Midd., are 3 vill. with 2 Hides each, the ^^

highest amount writer has found (see p. 131); as to Status,

4I/7 (a certain prefect held 5f Hides, 2 of them as a villan),

41*7 (Aluric held 3 virg. as a villan), 6Sa (5^ Hides held by

men of the church serving as villans), compare 175/7 (making

services as other freemen), 269^ (thanes working as villans),

and ii. 145 (6 free villans); as to Servile work, 17/7 (the

burgesses worked like vill. at the court), i66a (the reeve has

i^ villans), 182/7 (the men of another vill labor in this one),

246^ (8 burgesses working as other villans), and 291^ (the

work of the villans pertains to Saxebi in Lines.) ; as to

number of plough oxen varying from none to 3^ pis, to 3 villans

(182-$), which may be compared with 180/7(1 bordar, i pi),

— in certain cases it might appear the villan had 2 pis., but

such {z\b, 317/7, and 327/7 — Hugh has i vill. and 2 pis.)

149 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

from Prof. Maitland's, who claims no minute

accuracy for his great industry ; at the same time

let not his statement detract from their worth for

practical ends, as his tables are of the utmost value,

and based, so far as 1 have discovered, on a sound

knowledge of Domesday's method, which entitles

his work to the grateful acknowledgment of all

interested in our ancient Record.

Yorkshire An example offers in the 1297 Subsidy (Vol.

frfmThe"^^ 1 6 Yorks Record Ser.) where from the editor's

sidy' Rons, ^pitome in the Introduction are 1,044 oxen and

681 horses, against just under 5,000 qrs. of corn

seem to be instances where the lord is whole or part owner ;
the following show extreme cases as found: 115^ (i vilL,
I pi.), 164^ (15 vill., 15 pis.), 185/7 (l vill., I pi.), 325^?
(l vill., I p!.), 327^ (i vill., I pi.), and 323^ (5 vill., with
\ pi.), 328^7 (10 vill. 2 bord. with l pi.), 353^7 (11 vill. with
I pi.), and frequently with none ; as to sowing the lords^ land
with tkeir own seed, '^l\b {bis\ 179^ (36 vill. 10 bord. plough
and sow 80 ac. wheat, 71 ac. oats), and iSoi? (238 vill.
ploughed and sowed 140 ac. ; now 224 pi. and sow 125 ac),
which Prof. Maitland gives as instances (p. 57, 'D .B., and
Beyond') of the light work of the 1086 villani, omitting to
observe that it is not the fact of ploughing the demesne
(matter superfluous to record),but of sowing the ploughed acres
with their own proper seed, which is worthy of note — thus
in A.D. 1 1 24 (A.S. Chron.) the acre's seed of wheat (2 bush.)
sold at 6s., that of barley (3 bush.) at 6s,, and that of oats
(4 bush.) at 4s. in a very dear year, whereas the cost of
aration would scarcely exceed 2d. per acre. That the
villani did not till as much demesne land in 1086 as in the
thirteenth cent, follows as a matter of mere necessity, by
reason that they had fewer ploughs and less land (actually,
and also relatively in proportion to the demesne) at the
former period ; the demesne ploughs then were probably
some ^5 of the total, and the lords' arable presumably \ — of
course these proportions would be quite inapplicable to the
latter period (see p. 152).

Agricultural Statistics 150

and pulse, when a Michaelmas taxation was ordered
to be made on all the goods in the house and
fields ; taking the oxen alone (on the 1 20 acre
theory), there would be some 15,000 acres tillage,
and if but 8,000 of them had been sown, a return
of 5 bush. p. acre : as some ^ of the crop was
oats, 4 (of 5) bush, would have to be kept for
seed, nor is it very unlikely that some of the
horses were joined in the plough, which would
further increase the area and lessen the yield per
acre. There were but 370 qrs. (say ^^ of sown
crops) of wheat (frumentum), 465 qrs. rye i^siligo)*
and 1 02 1 qrs. of barley, which if all malted would
but yield about 1 8 gallons p. annum per record
man, and makes out but poorly in comparison
with Prof. Maitland's 2^ gallons per day for
same : in conclusion it may well be allowed that
the tax-payers would probably better conceal their
corn than live stock, but scarcely to the enormous
extent needful for the above supposition.

In the E. H. R. (V. 9, pp. 417-439) Prof.
Maitland has very handsomely recorded the results
of a search in divers records relating to the Manor
of Wilburton, with a result of perhaps the best Manor of
article on Mediaevalf Agriculture extant (at any
rate known to the writer) : this paper alone would
prove the unreality of the 120 acre theory, and as

* The accomplished editor (Wm. Brown, B.A.) turns the
rye into wheat, and then explains the absence of the former :
the point is not what a word may sometimes mean, but what
it represents in a particular record, taking into consideration
the sense and date.

t Walt, de Whytleseye's Hist, containing extents of over a
score of Manors, discovers their structure far more lucidly
than the usual modern explication.

II

ture.

1 5 I Domesday and Feudal Statistics

the evidence (quite unconsciously of course) is

given by an author who is at great pains to support

the opposite (D. B. and Beyond)^ an epitome of

y the matter in aforesaid magazine is here appended.

In 1086 (D. B.) the Manor of Wilburton had

3 ploughs in Demesne, in I2yy there were 216
acres arable ; /. Ed. II. 4 ploughmen {i.e.^ 2
ploughs), and 128 acres reaped; in 1^26, 246
acres arable : as to the Villeinage in I2yy were
15^ full lands, of 24 acres each, total 372 acres^
which Prof Maitland particularly notes as being

Details equivalent to statute ones ; /. Ed. I. for winter
refute" ^"*^ Spring ploughing were due from each full land
scholastic one plou?hin2: (the work of one man for one day,

theories of • •

Agricui- but each 2 ploughings reckoned as i diet) per
week for 28 weeks (30 less 2 at Christmas) — total
by theory </J^, and noted as actually done in

4 consecutive years, 420-I, 406, 377, 406, — say
400 winter and spring ploughings p. a. The
amount of ploughing not being given, let it be
supposed that 2 ploughings {i.e., the work of
2 men for i day) yield an acre ; then (/. Ed. I.)
are some 200 acres (once ploughed) performed by
the villein teams alone, taking no account of

5 free tenants, who owe 5 days' tilling each. In
ijSi the full lands each owed i day's Somererthe
(i acre per day), 2 days' TSlederthe (i acre, as
\ acre each day), and all the tenants owed 2 boon
ploughings (bringing all the oxen they had), which
latter with almost certainty they may have been
said to owe /. Ed. I. ; in /. Ed. II. Prof Maitland
states that about 5s. per an. (2d. a plough each day)
was expended as regards^ for the boon ploughers

Agricultural Statistics 152

for their 16 {sic) ploughs : the above can leave no
room to doubt that at least half of the 216 arable
acres of the demesne was completely tilled by the
tenantry, leaving at most 108 acres for the 4 hired
ploughmen named /. Ed. 11.^ and further the
husbandry here must have been far more thorough
than that set forth in Walter de Henley's work on
Agriculture, as each acre at Wilburton would on
an average be ploughed twice or more, instead of
the almost incredibly scanty aration of the bailiff
knight.

The Kentish Manors of Rochester Cathedral Great
(Custumal Reg. RofF. 1290-1320 A.D., publ. IS^^^f^lol
1788) illustrate the note on p. 149 of this vol., '^"^"""y-
and the following table demonstrates that in them
(1290- 1 3 20) the demesne teams are practically the
same as Domesday, whereas those of the villeins
have more than doubled,

Manors
1086, and
c. Ed. I.

P/oug/>s (1086).

Manors.

Ploughs {\

290-1320).

Deni. Ten.

Dem. Villeinage.

I 12

Southflcct

2

18

5 II

Frendcsbcrie ...

.. 4

28

I I

Deintonia

I

3j

2 4

Stokes...

.. 4

4i

2 6

Wldeham

2

4

6 i4 + (?i)

Hcddenham (co. Bucli

s) 7

48

17 + 49 = 56

i7i +

108^=126

and further it may be noted that in Southfleet^

25 juga plough 50 acres, besides 2 precations (of

I acre per plough), total 86 acres ; Frendesberie^ Plough

21 juga plough 21 + 16 acres ; Deintonia, 3 juga, duethere-

3 acres plough 6 acres and 6 quartulas ; Stokes ^ [atter ^*

II 2 period.

153 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

9 j^g^ plough 9 acres ; Wldeham^ lojugas each
2 acres per plough, and 6|- jugas (of the lo) a
further 6^ acres ; precations only noted in South-
fleets but perhaps demandable in the other Manors.
68 juga therefore possess 6o|- ploughs, or / plough
to ^5 acres, and in no case more than 4 acres
recorded as done in addition on the demesne : that
t\\QJugum is computed at 40 acres is obvious from
entries on p. 6, thus — 2 juga pay 8 id. gavel,
|- jugum 2od., %\ acres 8|<i., 3 juga and 14 acres
IIS. 2d.,'"' etc.: from p. 10 it appears the reeve must
be a virgater (Heddenham, co. Bucks), and during
office has ^ oxen in the lord's pasture.
Agricui- I would further submit that tenants of 2 virgates

details of may easily be rated at 8 oxen, of i v. at 4 oxen,
anVnth ^"*^ ^^ lesser quantities, in proportion (more or
■centuries, less), at any rate in the 12th and 13th centuries,
and that these amounts were sometimes exceeded,
in support of which as follows. In the Burton
Chart. A.D. II 14 (p. 30 Wm. Salt Soc. Coll.,
Staffs) a note of 4 virgates inland, that is land of
2 pis. which are there with 16 oxen ; in 1189
custumal of Glastonbury (Roxb. Soc.) men of 3,
5, 10 acres, and \ virgate all plough at precations
(pp. 22, 61-2), a 3 acre man to join his ox if he
has one (p. 28) ; 17 virgaters to plough each
with 8 oxen (p. 123), and in a later custumal of

* The rate is of course id. per acre, but (as may be ob-
served from the note on pp. 8, 9, in this vol.), the most simple
agricultural arithmetic is apt to bewilder the erudite, — hence
an explanation (deemed advisable to clear the morning mists
from the learned mind) which for the ordinary reader would
be esteemed entirely superfluous.

Agricultural Statistics 154

the same Abbey a.d. 1235-61 (Somerset Rec.
Soc.) 17 three acre men are each to come with
their plough and what oxen they have (p. 204) ;
18 live acre men each with one ox or more if
possessed (p. 78); 13 ten acre men each with a
plough and what oxen he has (p. 74) ; 9 half
virgalers are to plough and find 2 oxen each
(p. 130) ; 13 ditto each to join their oxen for
ploughing (pp. 149-150) ; 2 ditto each with 4
oxen if owned (p. 182), and 20 ditto each to
plough with 8 oxen if possessed (p. 210), 21 vir-
gaters each if he has 8 oxen (p. 51), to find 4 oxen
(p. 82), 50 ditto each if he has a full plough to
himself (p. 108) ; 9 ditto each if he has a full
plough (p. 165), with 8 oxen if he has them
(p. 189), to find 8 oxen and himself with a rod
superintend his ploughmen (p. 210); a \ Hide
man (given \ acre man, an obvious slip) to come
with ploughs (p. 133); and one with 2 virgates
plus 10 acres to be beside his plough j at precations
(pp. 83-4). On p. 141 of the 11 89 custumal
occurs as under : " Walter de Hennelea holds
I virgate for 8s., and ought 9 times in the year to
plough on his lord's land, with a whole pi. if he
has it, and with | pi. if he has not unless half, and
with 2 oxen if he has no more " — and three others
likewise hold and work as said Walter. It will
be observed the name is the same as that of the
Dominus whose exposition heads this chapter, and
whom Prof Rogers was the (or one of the) first
to exploit ; this J^nd seems to have had " no luck "
in its exponents, and the discoverer cannot but
have smiled at the discomfiture of his compeers in

155 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

their interpretation of " La Dite de Hosbanderye ";
as himself (p. 75, Six Centuries, etc., Rogers) re-
marks, " By this he means, not that a team is en-
gaged in ploughing all the year round, but that if
it were so engaged, it would cover the space of an
acre a day," and further, the same writer assesses
the Manor of Cuxham, known to have 3 ploughs
at 250 acres or thereabouts (Hist. Agr.), and not
at 160-180 multiplied by three; nevertheless,
after pointing out the remark cited (p. 75, Six
Centuries) I have been informed that certainly
Rogers assumes 240 acres ploughing per team, the
truth of which must be left to the judgment of
any candid reader.

These custumals (Glastonbury as cited) show
Demesne the fallacv of supDOsing that the ploughmen spent

ploughmen , ^ c ^ i j . ^ ° , . ^

had divers cvcry hour ot the week days m 44 weeks m con-
duties. tinued aration ; and also the status of the <:<2r^(r^m
as being often 't,-^ acre men (j>assm), and once
^ virgaters (p. 70 Som. Rec. Soc.) ; and the cessa-
tion of villein services for 3-4 weeks at Christmas,
Easter, and Pentecost, is matter notorious (Ramsey
Chart., Boldon Buke, St. Paul's Domesday), and
further, the teamsters had to work their own land.
Bad weather and frost stopped ploughing (it seems
necessary to make this statement explicitly ; see
Ramsey Chart.; p. 64 Roxb. Soc; pp. 12, 65, 160
Som. Rec. Soc), and in the later Glastonbury
record both holder and driver are noted to have
the private use of the lord's team for one day in
the week, by turns each (pp. 70, 94, 217) ; for
2 out of every 3 Saturdays (p. 63) ; further, the
ploughmen carry hay and prepare the lord's malt

Agricultural Statistics 156

(p. 94), and work in the harvest field (p. 167 ;
also in the appendix to Hatfield's Survey circa
1348, under BailifFs A/*^, and in the Manor of
Gravesend, see Cruden's History of same), and
thresh in the barn (BailifFs A/"' in Hatfield's
Survey, Surtees Soc), and by negative evidence of
the last named reference, harrow and set out and
spread dung, as these items are not burdened on
the account.*

Nowadays broadly speaking every 100 acres imprac-
of land (47 arable, ^2) grass) has some 4 men, but the current
in 1086 there were not unless y^6 of recorded ^''^ry.
population per team ; if each ploughland really
had been 120 acres arable, and if all those noted
were actually manual labourers (an extravagant
postulate), then would there have been but 3 men
per 100 acres all arable, and none whatever for
the work of pasture and meadow. Now altho'
the crops then raised do not compare with the
present yield, it must be borne in mind for each
8 and 4 ox plough 2 men would be engaged (all the
year round as by theory), and if ploughs of 2 oxen
are to be considered, at least at the rate of 4 men
occupied in tillage per each 120 acres, which
exceeds the 3*56 found; whereas at this present
one ploughman would (in the North at least)
usually suffice each team ; and further the mow-
ing machine surpasses the scythe, the reaper the
hook, the steam threshing-machine the flail, and

* Harrowing is sometimes noted, but where not accounted
for, the presumption is that the servants of the Manor per-
formed the operation.

Cuxham.

157 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

so forth as to other labour saving economies un-
known T. R.W. Then supposing y^6 men really
aid work 120 acres a.ra.h\e plus the supplemental
grass land, it is difficult to conceive how at hay
time and harvest the i^ men (for by hypothesis
the other two are ploughing) even with the assist-
ance of women, etc., would get in the crops, and
supervise the stock at pasture; whereas it appears
that in 1348-9 (BaihflF's A/"^ Manor of Quaring-
don) a harvest of some 160 acres was got in in
4 weeks (23 days) by 8 hired men in the ist and
2nd weeks, 40 in the 3rd, and 20 in the last, at a
cost of 5d. and 4d. per day per man, with doubt-
less unnoted assistance from women, etc.

Manor of In the Manor of Cuxham (7 Ed. I., Rot. Hund.,
and 26 Ed. I., Rogers' Hist. Agr. citing Survey)
were 2 carucates of land in demesne with works of
8 half virgaters in 1279, but in 1317 (Bailiff's
A/'^), and 1 332-1 350 (Rogers' Hist. Agr. pre-
sumably from uncited A/^^) were 3 ploughs culti-
vating a varying acreage of some 170 sown acres,
which Rogers has extended by fallow as 232 ac.
(1332-3), and 258 ac. (i 350-1), which of course
is an estimate.

Manor of In the Manor of Cotum (Bailiff's A/", 1348-9,
Hatfield's Survey) were in demesne 27 oxen,
4 horses, 6 ploughmen, and at least 3 pis. (six
or more noted in the A/"), 189 sown acres by
weeding, and by seed A/" 69 ac. Wheat, no ac.
Oa.ts plus some 4 qrs. of Peas sown; in c. 1377-80
(Hatfield's Survey) the total arable is returned as
242 acres.

In the Manor of Quaringdon (same ref. date

Cotum.

Agricultural Statistics 158

1348-9) were in demesne 27 oxen, 3 horses, Manor of
6 ploughmen, at least 3 pis. (others named in Aj") ^""^
with 164 acres by reaping, and by seeding 66 acres
Wheat, 88 ac. Oats, and 9 sown bush, of Barley
but no fallow defined ; the gaps and omissions in
these A/" do not give sufficient data for the other
Manors.

The areal carucate as shown varied from 60 to
160 acres (H. R., 1279) in co. Beds, but in
St. Paul's Domesday (Camd. Soc.) in 1222 are
720 acres in demesne by 3 pis., to wit 3 carucates
of 240 acres each, that extent being possible by
the large services owed by the tenants on some
c,ooo acres on the old Manor of Adulfsnasa, of ^?°orof
which Waleton was a portion, with Thorpe,
Horlock and Kirkby. To the writer on ancient
Agriculture it is perhaps all one whether a plough
goes 60 acres or 240 in the year (or at best
accounted for by lighter and heavier soils);* not so
however in actual practice, nor yet in records, if
read with care and discretion.

There appears formerly to have been consider- Mediaeval
able variation in agricultural measures, and it is of agricui-
probable that a change in the quasi-standard quarter ""*'
occurred t. Hen. III., in which reign it seems to
have had 8 bushels, each weighing (for wheat)
c. 64 lbs, Troy, such pound containing 7,680 wheat
grains t " taken in the midst of the ear." This

* The comparative rainfall has a much greater influence Rainfall,
under this head, as by the number of days in a year in which
land can be worked.

t i'^iefe Statutes cited as ^i Hen. III.; jr Ed. I.; and
/. Hen. I'll.

159 Domesday and Feudal Statistics

lb. W. Chaffers* states to have been used by the
Saxons, and known as the Cologne pound ; whether
or not there was a qr. of wheat in England com-
posed as above prior to Hen. III. I may not pre-
tend to discern, but certain it is that /. Hen. II.
and John, a quasi-standard quarter existed which
was of ^ (or less than ^) the dimensions of that
under notice. Two writers on agriculture (see
Walt, de Henley^ ed. R. H. S., and the more
valuable anonymous Husbandry incorporated in
same vol.), both perhaps /. Hen. III. evidently use
the larger qr. [vide feeding rations and seed sown
in vol., ut sup.) ; and a like one occurs in the
Rules of Robert Grostete (who died /. Hen. III.)
as appears from the statement that i8o loaves
(white and brown together)^ each weighing 5 marcs
(25,600 grains), are made from a quarter of wheat
in his Household ; at this present an average qr. of
Wheat, Barley, and Oats may be taken at 500,
440, and 336 lbs. (avoirdupois, 7000 wheat grains
each) respectively ; this modern pound presumed
to be somewhat heavier than the older one of 64
to the bushel. That the quarter fromf 7680 wheat
grains was not /. Hen. II. and John the quasi-
standard one appears from divers entries on the
Mises Roll (14 John), as to the travels of the
King's cart horses, which are each allowed i bushelj

* Hall Marks on Plate.

t Id est, 7680 X 64 X 8 wheat grains per qr.

\ It is, of course, not intended to convey that either
62 or 31 modern lbs. of corn was consumed fer horse; in
1261-1270, the larger qr, seems to have sold (for oats) at
2s.: there is no particular occasion to suppose an overstrained
morality either on the part of King John's grooms, or on that
of the servants of the hostels.

Agricultural Statistics i6o

of oats (price lod. to is. per qr., and in some cases
provably of 8 bush.); this smaller measure would
appear \yide entries Rot. Pip. 17, 19 and 20
Hen. II. y where quarters are named] to have been
somewhat an equivalent of the contemporary horse-
loady always bearing in mind that the burden of a
sumpter cannot be precisely equated with a measure
of capacity, owing to the differences in weight of
Wheat, Barley, and Oats {ut sup.). Taking the
qr. of Hen. III. onwards as being of like capacity
with .the present (an assumption), its contents
would have had rather less actual weight (the
smaller grains being relatively lighter), and the
other much smaller quarter of Hen. II. — John
would more or less be the actual load of a horse,
which is the *' standard " measure in the Pipe Rolls
of the former reign. The allowance of a destrier
t. Ed. I. {Wardrobe Aj"), is ^ bush, of oats (of
course with sufficient hay), but a war horse it must
be noted might have to carry a considerable weight
of iron armour (up to 361 modern lbs., "^ cited for a
barded horse, 1560, in Scott's Brit. Army); for a
cart horse {IV. Aj") ^ bush., which bearing in mind
that beans were not supplied, and that the bushel
was probably somewhat light (as by modern weight)
is not inconsistent with present practice ; the pro-
fessed antiquary, however, should note that i bush.
of corn per horse (14 John, ut sup.) in the measure
of A.D. 1900, is just as inapplicable as the /^o
acre plough theory^ merely proving the unlikeness
of the quasi-standard (/. John) to our own. Walt.
de Henley's allowance of -J- bush. (/. Hen. III.,
hence rather short of modern weight) of corn with

* This includes the rider.

i6i Domesday and I'eudai Statistics

hay and chafF only, would be a defective winter
ration for an average modern farm horse ; but, the
anonymous writer on Husbandry (in same vol.)
appears to give an intelligent record of the practice
of his own district : his information can be ex-
tended, in matters like the gestation of animals, the
terms in that item being nearly agreeable with
modern averages. There must of course have
been many ancient local variations of measure, not
coincident with the quasi-standard : horse loads and
bushels were used as measures /. Hen. I. \Pipe
Roll and Chron. PeLJ, and a modius in 1086
(Z). 5,), apparently of considerable capacity [/.
Hen. I. app. Chron. Pet.~\ : the rendering of the
term seedlip [1124., A. S. Chron.), as bushel in
the note on p. 149 must not be taken as evidence
of the then existence of a measure so called of like
capacity with a modern |- of a qr., but it seems to
demonstrate there was in 1 1 24 an antecessor of
the modern bush., by whatever name called, of like
dimensions — the curious achersetum (presumably
seed, for one acre), of the Peterboro' Inquisition
(i 125-8) may also be noted.

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