Part 16

In King Edward's day, the occupiers of the soil might, so it seems to us, be divided by the financier into three main classes. In the first class we place the man who has a manor. He has, that is, a house at which he is charged with geld. He may be a great man or a small, an earl or a peasant; he may be charged at that house with the geld of a hundred hides or with the geld of fifteen acres. In the second class we place the villeins, bordiers, cottiers. The geld apportioned to the land that they occupy is demanded from their lord at his manor, or one of his manors. How he recoups himself for having to make this payment, that is his concern; but he is responsible for it to the king, not as guarantor but as principal debtor. But then, at least in the east and north, there are many men who fall into neither of these classes. They are not villeins, they are sokemen or 'free men'; but their own tenements are not manors; they belong to or 'lie in' some manor of their lord. These men, we think, can be personally charged with the geld; but they pay their geld at their lord's hall and he is in some measure bound to exact the payment.

[Proofs of connexion between the manor and the geld.]

Any thing that could be called a strict proof of this theory we can not offer; but it has been suggested by many facts and phrases which we can not otherwise explain. In the first place, our record seems to assume that every holding either is a manor or forms part of a manor[516]. Then we are told how lands 'geld' at or in some manor or at the _caput manerii_. Thus lands which lie many miles away from Tewkesbury, but which belong to the manor of Tewkesbury, 'geld in Tewkesbury[517].' Sometimes the same information is conveyed to us by a phrase that deserves notice. A piece of land is said to 'defend itself' in or at some manor, or, which is the same thing, to have its _wara_ or render its _wara_, that is to say, its defence, its answer to the demand for geld, there[518]. 'In Middleton two sokemen had 16 acres of land and they rendered their _wara_ in the said Middleton, but they could give and sell their land to whom they pleased[519].' When we are told that certain lands are _in warnode Drogonis_ or _in warnode Archiepiscopi_, it is meant that the lands belong to Drogo or the Archbishop for the purpose of 'defence' against the geld[520]. It is not sufficient that land should be taxed, it must be taxed 'in' some place, which may be remote from that in which, as a matter of physical fact, it lies[521]. One clear case of a free tenant paying his geld to his lord is put before us:--'Leofwin had half a hide and could withdraw with his land and he paid geld to his lord and his lord paid nothing[522].' Besides this we have cases in which the lord enjoys the special privilege of collecting the geld from his tenants and keeping it for his own use[523]. A remarkable Kentish entry tells us that at Peckham the archbishop had an estate which had been rated at six sullungs, and then that 'of the land of this manor a certain man of the archbishop held a half-sullung which in King Edward's day gelded with these six sullungs, although being free land it did not belong to the manor save for the purpose of the scot[524].' Here we have land so free that the one connexion between it and the manor to which it is attributed consists in the payment of geld--it gelds along with the other lands of the manor. In the great lawsuit between the churches of Worcester and Evesham about the lands at Hamton, the former contended that these lands should pay their geld along with the other estates of the bishop[525].

[Land gelds in a manor.]

Let us observe the first question that the commissioners are to ask of the jurors. What is the name of the _mansio_? Every piece of geldable land is connected with some _mansio_, at which it gelds. Let us observe how the commissioners and the jurors proceed in a district where the _villae_ and the _mansiones_ or _maneria_ are but rarely coincident. The jurors of the Armingford hundred of Cambridgeshire are speaking of their country vill by vill. They come to the vill of Abington[526]. Abington, they say, was rated at five hides. Of these five hides the king has a half-hide; this lies in Litlington. Earl Roger has one virgate; this lies in his manor of Shingay. Picot the sheriff has a half-virgate; this lies and has always lain in Morden. In what sense important to the commissioners or their master can a bundle of strips scattered about in the fields of Abington be said to lie in Litlington, in Shingay, or in Morden? We answer that it gelds there.

[Geld and hall.]

Hence the importance of the hall. It is the place where geld is demanded and paid. A manor without a hall is a thing to be carefully noted, otherwise some geld may be lost[527]. A man's land has descended to his three sons: if 'there is only one hall,' but one demand for geld need be made; if 'each has his hall,' there must be three separate demands. When we are told that two brothers held land and that each had his house (_domus_) though they dwelt in one court (_curia_), a nice problem is being put before us:--Two halls, or one hall--Two manors or one manor[528]?

[The petty manors.]

The petty _maneria_ of Suffolk, what can they be but holdings which geld by themselves? The holders of them are not great men, they have no tenants or just two or three bordiers; sometimes they can not 'withdraw' their lands from their lords. But still they pay their own taxes at their own houses.

[The lord and his man's taxes.]

In supposing that forces have been at work which tend to make the lord responsible for the taxes of his men, we are not without a warrant in the ancient dooms. 'If a king's thegn or a lord of land (_landrica_) neglects to pay the Rome penny, let him forfeit ten half-marks, half to Christ, half to the king. If a "townsman" withholds the penny, let the lord of the land pay the penny and take an ox from the man, and if the lord neglects to do this, then let Christ and the king receive the full _bót_ of 12 ores[529].' The right of doing justice is also the duty of doing justice. It is natural that the lord with soke should become a tax-gatherer, and he will gladly guarantee the taxes if thereby he can prevent the king's officers from entering his precinct and meddling with his justiciables. At no time has the state found it easy to collect taxes from the poor; over and over again it has been glad to avail itself of the landlord's intermediation[530].

[Distinction between villeins and sokemen.]

Our theory that while the lord is directly and primarily responsible for the geld of his villeins, he is but subsidiarily responsible for the geld of those of his sokemen or 'free men' who are deemed to belong to his manor, is founded in part on what we take to have been the wording of King William's writ[531], in part on the form taken by the returns made thereto. The writ draws a marked line between the villein and the sokeman. The king wishes to know how much land each sokeman, each _liber homo_, holds; he does not care that any distinction should be drawn between the lord's demesne lands and the lands of the villeins. And, on the whole, his commands are obeyed. A typical entry in the survey of East Anglia will first describe in one mass the land held by the lord and his villeins, will tell us how many carucates this land is rated at, how many teams there are on the demesne, and how many the men have, then it will enumerate sheep and pigs and goats, and then, as it were in an appendix, it will add that so many sokemen belong to this manor and that between them they hold so many carucates or acres[532]. In Suffolk even the names of these humble tenants are sometimes recorded[533]. And then, we have seen[534] that there is some doubt as to whether or no these men are or are not to be reckoned as part of the manor for all purposes. We have to say that the manor 'with the free men,' or 'without the free men' is worth so much.

[The lord's subsidiary liability.]

After all, we are only supposing that the fashion in which the danegeld was put in charge resembled in some of its main outlines the fashion in which a very similar tax was put in charge under Richard I. In 1194 the land-tax that was levied for the payment of the king's ransom seems to have been assessed according to the hidage stated in Domesday Book[535]. Then in 1198 a new assessment was made. We are told that the king ordained that every baron should with the sheriffs aid distrain his men to pay the tax cast upon them, and that if, owing to the baron's default, distresses were not made, then the amount due from the baron's men should be seized from the baron's own demesne and he should be left to recoup himself as best he could[536]. Now it is a liability of this sort that we are venturing to carry back into the Confessor's day. The lord is responsible to the state as principal, and indeed as sole, debtor for so much of the geld as is due from his demesne land and from the land of his _villani_, while as regards any lands of 'free men' or sokemen which are attached to his manor, his liability is not primary nor absolute; he is bound to take measures to make these men pay their taxes; if he fails in this duty, then their taxes will become due from his demesne[537].

[Manors distributed to the Frenchmen.]

When we read that in Nottinghamshire the relief of the thegn who had six manors or less was three marks, while his who had more than six manors was eight pounds[538], this may seem to hint that some inferior limit was set to the size of the manor. If so, it was drawn at a very low point in the scale of tenements. Possibly some general rule had compelled all men who held less than a bovate or half-virgate to 'add' themselves to the manor of some lord. But the Nottinghamshire rule is rude and arbitrary. He who has seven houses against which geld is charged is a big man. On the other hand, it is probable that the Norman lords brought with them some notion, and not a very modest notion, of what a reasonably sufficient _manerium_ should be. The king has in some cases rewarded them by a promise of ten or twenty manors without specifying very carefully what those manors are to be like. He has promised Count Eustace a hundred manors[539]. Thus we would explain a not uncommon class of entries:--'fourteen free men commended to Wulfsige were delivered to Rainald to make up (_ad perficiendum_) this manor of Carlington[540].'--'in Berningham a free man held 20 acres of land and this was delivered to Walter Giffard to make up Letheringsett[541].'-- 'Peter claims the land which belonged to seventeen free men as having been delivered to him to make up this manor[542].'--'This land was delivered to Peter to make up some, but his men do not know what, manor[543].' The small 'free men' of the east have been 'added to' manors to which they did not belong in King Edward's day. A few of the free men of Suffolk still 'remain in the king's hand' ready to be delivered out to complete the manors of their conquerors[544]. Here too we may perhaps find the explanation of the entry which says that Hugh de Port held Wallop 'for half a manor[545].' The king has promised him a dozen or score of manors; and this estate at Wallop worth but fifteen shillings a year, really no gentleman would take it for a manor.

[Summary.]

Such then is the best explanation that we can offer of the _manerium_ of Domesday Book. About details we may be wrong, but that this term has a technical meaning which is connected with the levy of the danegeld we can not doubt. It loses that meaning in course of time because the danegeld gives way before newer forms of taxation. It never again acquires a technical meaning until the late days when retrospective lawyers find the essence of a manor in its court[546].

FOOTNOTES:

[428] D. B. ii. 21, 26, 37 b, 59 b.

[429] D. B. i. 21.

[430] D. B. i. 45.

[431] D. B. i. 6 b.

[432] D. B. i. 27.

[433] D. B. i. 163.

[434] So in the Exeter record, D. B. iv. 390: 'Tenuerunt 3 tegni pro 4 mansionibus, et Robertus habet illas pro 1 mansione.'

[435] D. B. i. 169 b. Similar interlineations in i. 98.

[436] D. B. i. 148; on f. 149 is a similar case.

[437] D. B. i. 45 b.

[438] D. B. i. 280 b.

[439] In several passages in D. B. the word seems to be _manerius_.

[440] D. B. ii. 96 b: 'Huic manerio iacebant 3 liberi homines, unus tenuit dim. hidam et potuit abire sine licentia domini ipsius mansionis.'

[441] D. B. i. 149, Wicombe.

[442] D. B. ii. 38 b, Hersam.

[443] D. B. i. 174 b, Poiwic.

[444] D. B. i. 268, Gretford.

[445] D. B. ii. 350 b.

[446] D. B. ii. 263: 'sed fuerunt in aula S. Edmundi.'

[447] D. B. i. 337 b.

[448] D. B. ii. 408 b: 'cum soca et saca super dominium hallae tantum.'

[449] D. B. i. 45, Wicheham, Werste.

[450] D. B. i. 20, Waliland.

[451] D. B. i. 11 b, Acres.

[452] D. B. i. 26 b, Eldretune.

[453] D. B. i. 27, Percinges.

[454] D. B. i. 284 b, Ættune.

[455] D. B. ii. 29 b, 30 b.

[456] D. B. i. 307 b, Burghedurum; 308, Ternusc.

[457] D. B. i. 63: 'Ipse quoque transportavit hallam et alias domos et pecuniam in alio manerio.'

[458] D. B. i. 338 b: 'Ad huius manerii aulam pertinent Catenai et Usun 4 car. terrae ad geldum. Terra ad 8 carucas. Ibi in dominio 2 carucae et 20 villani et 15 sochemanni et 10 bordarii habentes 9 carucas. Ibi 360 acre prati. Ad eundem manerium iacet hec soca:--In Linberge 4 car. terrae etc.'

[459] Throughout Yorkshire the phrase is common, 'Totum manerium _x._ leu. long. et _y._ leu. lat.'

[460] D. B. i. 128.

[461] D. B. i. 128 b.

[462] D. B. i. 127.

[463] D. B. i. 128 b.

[464] D. B. i. 180.

[465] Compare the cases in Seebohm, Village Community, 267.

[466] D. B. i. 163.

[467] If we mistake not, the Osleuuorde of the record is Ashleworth, which, though some miles to the north of Gloucester, either still is, or but lately was, a detached piece of the Berkeley hundred.

[468] D. B. i. 163.

[469] D. B. i. 163 b: 'Hanc terram dedit regina Rogerio de Buslei et geldabat pro 4 hidis in Tedechesberie.'

[470] D. B. i. 87 b; iv. 161.

[471] Eyton, Somerset, ii. 34.

[472] D. B. i. 101 b; iv. 107.

[473] D. B. i. 41.

[474] D. B. i. 230.

[475] D. B. i. 338-9.

[476] D. B. i. 220, Tingdene.

[477] D. B. ii. 15 b, 17 b.

[478] D. B. ii. 385 b.

[479] The form _bereuita_ is exceedingly common, but must, we think, be due to a mistake; _c_ has been read as _t_.

[480] D. B. i. 38 b, Edlinges. Some of the 'wicks' seem to have been dairy farms. D. B. i. 58 b: 'et wika de 10 pensis caseorum.' On the Glastonbury estates we find persons called _wikarii_, each of whom has a _wika_. Glastonbury Rentalia, 39: 'Thomas de Wika tenet 5 acras et 50 oves matrices et 12 vaccas ... Philippus de Wika tenet unum ferlingum et 50 oves matrices et 12 vaccas.' Ibid. 44: 'A. B. tenet unum ferlingum et 50 oves matrices et 12 vaccas pro 1 sol. pro wika.' Ibid. 48: 'Ricardus de Wika tenet 5 acras et 50 oves matrices et 12 vaccas. Alanus de Wika eodem modo.' Ibid. p. 51

[481] D. B. i. 350: 'In Osgotebi et Tauelebi 2 bo[vatae] inland et 1 bo[vata] soca huius manerii.' D. B. i. 338 b: 'Hiboldeston est bereuuita non soca et in Grangeham sunt 2 car[ucatae] inland et in Springetorp dim. car[ucata] est inland. Reliqua omnis est soca.'

[482] When therefore, as is often the case, we find that the occupants of 'the soke' are not sokemen but villeins, this seems to point to a recent depression of the peasantry.

[483] D. B. ii. 330 b: 'In illo manerio ... sunt 35 liberi homines.... Tunc valuerunt liberi homines 4 libras. Manerium cum liberis hominibus valet modo 24 libras.'

[484] D. B. ii. 358 b: 'Hoc manerium exceptis liberis tunc valuit 30 solidos.'

[485] D. B. ii. 289 b.

[486] D. B. ii. 285 b.

[487] D. B. iv. 397; i. 93 b, Ichetoca.

[488] D. B. iv. 411; i. 94 b, Tocheswilla.

[489] D. B. iv. 398; i. 93 b, Pilloc.

[490] D. B. iv. 341; i. 96, Sordemanneford.

[491] D. B. iv. 355; i. 116 b, Labera.

[492] D. B. iv. 367; i. 112 b, Oplomia.

[493] D. B. iv. 338; i. 95 b, Aisseforda.

[494] D. B. iv. 395; i. 93, Terra Colgrini.

[495] D. B. iv. 394; i. 93, Rima.

[496] D. B. iv. 338; i. 95 b, Aisseforda.

[497] As the term _manerium_ is often represented by the mere letter _M_ or _m_, we will refer to some cases in which it is written in full. D. B. ii. 295 b: '40 acras pro uno manerio'; Ibid. 311 b: 'In eadem villa est 1 liber homo de 40 acris et tenet pro manerio.'

[498] The question whether the acreage stated in the Suffolk survey is real or rateable can not be briefly debated. We hope to return to it.

[499] D. B. ii. 322 b, 323.

[500] D. B. ii. 323.

[501] D. B. ii. 288.

[502] D. B. ii. 309.

[503] D. B. ii. 297 b.

[504] D. B. ii. 377.

[505] D. B. ii. 333.

[506] D. B. ii. 423.

[507] D. B. ii. 316: 'In Aldeburc tenuit Uluricus sochemannus Edrici T. R. E. 80 acras pro manerio.' Ibid. 353: 'Nordberiam tenuit Eduinus presbyter sochemannus Abbatis 30 acras pro manerio.'

[508] We have taken our examples of small manors from the east and the south-west because Little Domesday and the Exeter Domesday give details which are not to be had elsewhere. But instances may be found in many other parts of England. Thus in Sussex, i. 24, two free men held as two manors land rated at a hide and sufficient for one team; it is now tilled by four villeins. In the Isle of Wight, D. B. i. 39 b, five free men held as five manors land sufficient for two teams; it is now tilled by four villeins. In Gloucestershire, D. B. i. 170, is a manor worth ten shillings with two serfs upon it; also a manor rated at one virgate. In Derbyshire, D. B. i. 274 b, land sufficient for four teams and rated as four carucates had formed eight manors. In Nottinghamshire, D. B. i. 285 b, land sufficient for a team and a half and valued at ten shillings had formed five manors for five thegns, each of whom had his hall.

[509] D. B. ii. 380: 'In Thistledona tenet 1 liber homo Ulmarus commendatus S. Eldrede 60 acras pro manerio et 5 liberi homines sub se.'

[510] D. B. i. 127 b: 'Wellesdone tenent canonici S. Pauli.... Hoc manerium tenent villani ad firmam canonicorum. In dominio nil habetur.'

[511] D. B. i. 235 b: Billesdone, 'In dominio nil fuit nec est.' Ibid. 166 b, Glouc.: 'Isdem Willelmus [de Ow] tenet Alvredestone. Bondi tenuit T. R. E. Ibi 3 hidae geldantes. Nil ibi est in dominio, sed 5 villani et 3 bordarii habent 3 carucas.'... 'Isdem Willelmus tenet Odelavestone. Brictri filius Algari tenuit. Ibi nil in dominio nisi 5 villani cum 5 carucis.' D. B. iv. 396: 'Rogerius habet 1 mansionem quae vocatur P...et reddit gildum pro dimidia virgata; hanc potest arare 1 carruca. Hanc tenet Anschetillus de Rogerio. Ibi habet Anschetillus 4 bordarios qui tenent totam illam terram et habent ibi 1 carrucam et 1 agrum prati, et reddit 10 solidos.'

[512] D. B. ii. 31.

[513] D. B. ii. 59 b.

[514] I leave this sentence as it stood before Mr Round had published in his Feudal England the results of his brilliant researches. Of the 'five hide unit' I already knew a good deal; of the 'six carucate unit' I knew nothing.

[515] Round, Domesday Studies, i. 109.

[516] D. B. i. 35: 'In Driteham tenet Ricardus [filius Gisleberti] 1 hidam et dimidiam. Ælmar tenuit de Rege E. pro uno manerio.... In eadem Driteham est 1 hida et dimidia quam tenuit Aluric de Rege E. pro uno manerio, et postea dedit illam terram uxori suae et filiae ad aecclesiam de Certesy, sicuti homines de hundredo testantur. Ricardus [filius Gisleberti] calumniatur. Non iacet ulli manerio, nec pro manerio tenet, set liberata fuit ei et modo 3 hidae geldant pro una hida et dimidia.' To say of the second of these two plots that it neither is a manor nor yet belongs to a manor, is to say that it is shirking the geld. D. B. i. 48: 'Walerannus tenet Dene.... Ista tera non adiacet ulli suo manerio.' Here _suo_ = _Waleranni_. Waleran seems to be holding land without good title.

[517] D. B. i. 163 b, Clifort. D. B. i. 58 b: 'In Winteham tenet Hubertus de Abbate 5 hidas, de terra villanorum fuerunt 4, et geldaverunt cum hidis manerii.'

[518] The word _wara_ means defence; it comes from a root which has given us, _wary_, _warrant_, _warn_, _guarantee_, _weir_, etc. See Vinogradoff, Villainage, 243.

[519] D. B. i. 212.

[520] D. B. i. 340, 366, 368. Is not the last part of the word A.-S. _notu_, (business, office)?

[521] D. B. i. 132 b: 'Hoc manerium tenuit Heraldus Comes et iacuit et iacet in Hiz [Hitchin, Herts] sed wara hujus manerii iacuit in Bedefordscire T. R. E. in hundredo de Maneheue.' D. B. i. 190, 'Haec terra est bereuuicha in Neuport [Essex] set wara ejus iacet in Grantebrige.' When in the survey of Oxfordshire, i. 160, it is said, 'Ibi 1 hida de _warland_ in dominio,' the taxed land is contrasted with the inland, which in this county has gone untaxed.

[522] D. B. i. 28.

[523] See the cases of the monks of Bury and the canons of S. Petroc, above, p. 55.