Part 56

The variable tariff of _dona_ hits most heavily just those counties which have been too favourably treated; Kent and Devon must make large 'gifts' because they pay little geld. Yorkshire, which once more is becoming prosperous, heads the new list, though it pays less geld than Surrey; and, on the other hand, Wiltshire, which makes the largest of all contributions to the ancient tax, is leniently treated. When men have acquired a vested right in an iniquitous assessment, the fertile politician neither reforms nor abolishes the old, but invents a new impost.

[Acreage of the fiscal hide.]

And now, after all these inconclusive meanderings, we will state our cheerful belief that the hide of Domesday (_A_) is always[1549] composed of 120 acres and that the carucate for geld of Domesday (_A_) is always composed of 120 acres. We are speaking only of a fiscal system. Let us forget for a time that the terms that we are using can be employed to describe masses of land. Let us treat them as red and white counters. In the game played at the Exchequer the red counter called a hide is the equivalent of 120 white counters called acres.

[Equation between hide and acres.]

If Domesday Book is to serve its primary purpose, if it is to tell the king's officers how much geld is due, it is absolutely necessary that by some ready process they should be able to work sums in hides and acres and in carucates and acres. They must understand such statements as the following:--'it defends itself for 2 hides and 5 acres[1550]': 'it gelded for 3 hides, 1 virgate and 1-1/2 acres[1551]': 'he has 5 bovates, 13 acres and 1 virgate for geld[1552].' Now it is conceivable that the treasury contains a book of tables which will teach the clerks that a hide has _a_ acres in Surrey and _b_ acres in Devon; but this seems highly improbable. As we have already said[1553], the variations between the numbers of 'real' acres that go to make 'real' hides are not provincial, they are villar variations. That the financiers at Winchester should consider villar variations is out of the question. Therefore if we can prove that in one district they employed a given equation, there is a strong presumption that they used it in other districts. And unfortunately our proof has to be of this kind, for in many counties acres are rarely mentioned and we get no sums that are worked in acres and hides. But further, if we see one equation holding good in a considerable number of cases, we shall still believe that this is the one true equation, though other cases occur in which it breaks down. We have to remember the possibility of mistranscription, the possibility of bad arithmetic, the possibility of a haughty treatment of small numbers: the actual existence of all these dangers can be amply proved. Therefore if once we have inductively obtained an equation which serves in many instances, we shall hold by it, unless the instances in which it fails point either to some one other equation or to the conclusion that the equation varies from parish to parish.

[Evidence from Cambridgeshire.]

Now the Cambridgeshire Inquest professes to give us the total hidage of a vill and then proceeds to allot the hides among the various tenants in chief. Sometimes when it does this it speaks of virgates and acres and thus gives us an opportunity of seeing how many acres are reckoned to the hide or to the virgate. The equation 1 H. = 4 V. is implied in many entries. But further, there are at least ten cases which assume one or both of the following equations: namely, 1 H. = 120 A. and 1 V. = 30 A. On the other hand, there are some cases in which the sum that is put before us is not rightly worked if these equations be correct; but in some of these cases the Inquisitio and Domesday Book contradict each other and in some a small quantity is neglected. The very few remaining cases point to no one rival equation, and are not too numerous to be ascribed to carelessness[1554].

[Evidence from the Isle of Ely.]

A similar test can be applied to a part of Cambridgeshire that is not included in the Cambridgeshire Inquest but is included in the Inquisitio Eliensis. We speak of the Isle of Ely. There are entries which, having told us how many hides a manor contained, proceed to allot these among their various occupants, and, as in some of these cases a calculation by acres is mixed up with a calculation by hides, they hold out a hope that we may be able to discover how many acres were reckoned to the hide. We will begin with Ely itself. 'Ely defends itself for 10 hides.... In demesne there are 5 hides ... and there are 40 villeins with 15 acres apiece ... and 18 cottiers and 20 serfs[1555].' Now if from the total of 10 hides we subtract the 5 that are in demesne, this leaves 5 others, and if we divide these 5 among the 40 villeins this gives to each villein 1/8th of a hide; but we are told that each villein has 15 acres; therefore it follows that 120 acres make a hide. We reckon that in eight other cases[1556] the same method of computation is followed, though in one of these a hide divided among 17 villeins is said to give them 7 acres apiece and this shows us how a single acre may be neglected in order to avoid a very ugly fraction[1557]. Against these cases must be set seven which give less pleasing results[1558]. In at least one of these no possible theory will justify the arithmetic of our record as it stands[1559], and there is no accord between the remaining five.

[Evidence from Middlesex.]

At first sight the survey of Middlesex seems to offer materials similar to those that come to us from Cambridgeshire. Very curious and instructive they are. A Middlesex entry will usually give us the number of hides (_A_), the number of teamlands (_B_), the number of teams (_C_), and also certain particulars which state the quantity of land that there is in demesne and the quantities held by divers classes of tenants. The sum of these particulars we may call _P_. Now we begin by hoping that _P_ will be equal to _A_, and, since the particulars often contain acres as well as hides and virgates, we hope also to discover the equation that is involved in the sum. As an example we will take a case in which all goes well. At Cowley a manor defends itself for two hides; in demesne are one and a half hides; two villeins have a half hide. Here _A_ = 2 H. and _P_ = 1-1/2 H. + 1/2 H.; so all is as it should be. But we soon come upon cases in which, though we make no assumption about the relation of the acre to the hide, our _P_ refuses to be equal to our _A_. Then perhaps we begin to hope that _P_ will be equal to _B_: in other words, that the sum of the quantities ascribed to lord and tenants will be equal to the number of teamlands. But this is more fallacious than the former hope. We will put a few specimens in a table[1560].

Hides Teamlands Sum of particulars Harrow (Abp. Canterbury) 100 70 46-1/2 H. + 13 V. + 13 A. Stepney (Bp. London) 32 25 18-1/2 H. + 48-1/2 V. Fulham (Bp. London) 40 40 41-1/2 H. + 30 V. Westminster (Abbot) 13-1/2 11 10 H. + 14-1/2 V. + 5 A. Sunbury (Abb. Westminster) 7 6 4 H. + 10-1/2 V. Shepperton (Abb. Westminster) 8 7 3-1/2 H. + 17 V. + 24 A. Feltham (C. Mortain) 12 10 6 H. + 16-1/2 V. Chelsea (Edw. of Salisbury) 2 5 1 H. + 4 V. + 5 A.

[Meaning of the Middlesex entries.]

We seem to have here three independent statements, and, though throughout the county _P_ shows a tendency to keep near to _A_, still we must not make calculations which suppose that the 'hide' of _A_ is the 'hide' of _P_. Take Chelsea for example. We must not say: 2 H. = 1 H. + 4 V. + 5 A., and therefore four virgates and five acres make a hide. No, it seems possible that in these Middlesex 'particulars' we do at last touch real agrarian arrangements. At Fulham the bishop has 13 hides in demesne; 5 villeins have 1 hide apiece; 13 villeins have 1 virgate apiece; 34 have a half-virgate apiece; 22 cottiers have in all a half-hide; Frenchmen and London burgesses have 23 hides; so there are 41-1/2 hides and 30 virgates. That we take to be the real arrangement of the manor, though we are far from saying that all its hides are equal. But it gelds for only 40 hides. A virgate can not be a negative quantity. Therefore we need say no more of these Middlesex entries, only in passing let us observe that the discrepancy between _P_ and _B_ is often considerable, and this seems to show that the teamland of these Middlesex jurors is not in very close touch with the agrarian and proprietary allotments.

[Evidence in the Geld Inquests.]

To yet one other quarter we have hopefully turned only to be disappointed, namely, to the so-called Geld Inquests, copies of which are placed at the beginning of the Exeter Domesday. They tell us of a geld that obviously is being levied at the rate of six shillings on the hide, and sometimes they seem to tell us expressly or implicitly the amount that an acre pays. For a moment we may think that we are obtaining valuable results. Thus at Domerham we find that 14 hides minus 4 acres pay £4. 3_s._ 8_d._ We conclude that each acre is taxed at one penny and that 72 A. = 1 H.[1561]. Then at Celeberge 20 H. minus 4 A. is taxed at £5. 19_s._ 6_d._ We conclude that each acre is taxed at three-half-pence and that 48 A. = 1 H.[1562]. But we soon come to sums which are absurd and discover that as regards small quantities these documents are for our present purpose quite useless. For the Wiltshire hundreds we have three different documents. They do not agree in their arithmetic. Probably they represent the efforts of three different computers. Indubitably one or more of them made blunders. To give one example:--one of our documents begins its account of Mere by saying that it contains 85 hides, 1/2 a hide and 1/2 a virgate; the other two documents say 86 hides, 1/2 a hide and 1 virgate[1563]. This is by no means the only instance of such discrepant results. But mere clerical or arithmetical errors are not the only obstacle to our use of these accounts. It soon becomes quite evident that small amounts are dealt with in an irregular fashion. Thrice over we are assured that 15 H. 1/2 V. paid the king £4. 11_s._ 0_d._[1564]; but they should have paid £4. 10_s._ 9_d._, if four virgates make a hide. Thrice over we are assured that 64-1/2 H. paid £19. 6_s._ 10_d._[1565]. All suppositions as to acres and virgates apart, 64-1/2 H. should have paid £19. 7_s._ 0_d_ In Somersetshire the calculations do not speak of acres, but they introduce us to the _fertinus_ or farthing, which is certainly meant to be the quarter of a virgate. Numerous entries show us that 4 _fertini_ = 1 virgate, and yet when a mass of land expressed in terms of hides, virgates and farthings is said to pay a certain sum for geld, we find that the odd farthings are reckoned as paying, sometimes 3_d._, sometimes 4_d._, sometimes 4-2/3_d._, sometimes 5_d._, sometimes 6_d._ per farthing[1566]. So again, when additions are made, odd acres are ignored. We are told that in a certain hundred the barons have 20 hides in demesne, and then that this amount is made up by the following

## particulars, 8 H. + 1 V. + 3 H. + 3 V + 4-1/2 H. - 4 A. + 3-1/2 H. It is

obvious that these particulars when added together do not make 20 hides, though they may well make 20 hides and 4 acres[1567]. A study of these Geld Inquests has brought us reluctantly to the conclusion that, though they amply prove that 4 V. = 1 H., they afford no proof as to the number of acres that are reckoned to the virgate[1568].

[Treatment of small quantities.]

One word to explain that the apparent rudeness with which small figures are treated is not due to any persuasion that they may be safely disregarded, but is rather the natural outcome of a partitionary method of taxation. Little quantities are lost in the process. It is known that a certain hundred should have, for example, 80 hides and a certain vill 5 hides: but when you come to add up the particulars you can not bring out these round figures, perhaps because many years ago a small error was made by some one when an estate of 2-3/4 hides was being divided into 7 shares. If a mistake be made, it can never be corrected; the landowner who has once or twice paid for 47 acres will refuse to pay for 48 and will tell you that the deficient acre does not lie on his land.

[Result of the evidence.]

The ignes fatui which dance over the survey of Middlesex and the Geld Inquests of the south-western counties have for a while led us from our straight path. We have seen that in Cambridgeshire the equation 1 H. = 4 V. = 120 A. is employed on at least twenty occasions. Now as to the rest of England it must at once be confessed that we have no such convincing evidence. In many counties acres of arable land are but rarely mentioned; parcels of land which geld for less than a hide are generally expressed in terms of hides and virgates; we read, for example, not of so many acres, but of the ninth part of a hide or of two third parts of a virgate. Thus we are compelled for the more part to fall back upon the presumption that the treasury has but one mode of reckoning for the whole of England.

[Evidence from Essex.]

But we would not rest our case altogether upon probability. In Essex we find one fairly clear case in which our equation is used[1569]. Sometimes, again, we read that a tract of land is, or gelds for, or defends itself for _x_ hides and _z_ acres, or for _x_ hides, _y_ virgates and _z_ acres. Now in any entry which takes the first of these forms we have some evidence that _z_ acres are less than one hide, and from any entry which takes the second of these forms we may infer that _z_ acres are less than one virgate. Of course from such a statement as that '_A_ holds 90 or 115 or 240 acres' we draw no inference. It is common enough in our own day to speak of things costing thirty shillings or eighteen pence. But we never speak of things costing one pound and thirty shillings, or one shilling and eighteen pence, and we should require much proof before we thought so meanly of our ancestors as to suppose that they habitually spoke in this clumsy fashion.

Let us use this test. Happily in Essex we very frequently have a tract of land described as being _x_ hides and _z_ acres.

Now we read of

a half hide and 30 acres[1570], a hide and a half and 31 acres[1571], a half hide and 35 acres[1572], a half hide and 37 acres[1573], a hide and a half and 40 acres[1574], a hide and a half and 45 acres[1575], a half hide and 45 acres[1576], two hides and a half and 45 acres[1577], a half hide and 48 acres[1578], _x_ hides and 80 acres[1579], nine hides and 82 acres[1580].

We have here cited twenty instances in which, as we think, the hide exceeds 60 acres (we might have cited many others) and twelve in which it exceeds 80 acres. We might further adduce instances in which our record speaks of a virgate and 10 acres, a virgate and 15 acres, and even of a virgate and 20 acres[1581], and when we read of two hides less 30 acres and two hides less 40 acres[1582] we infer that a hide probably has not only more but considerably more than the 30, 40 or 48 acres that are allowed to it by Kemble and Eyton. Our argument is based on the belief that men do not habitually adopt extremely cumbrous forms of speech. From a single instance we should draw no inference, and therefore when we just once read of 'three hides and a half and 80 acres' we do not infer that 80 acres are less than half a hide[1583].

[Evidence from Essex continued.]

But more can be made of these returns from Essex. We will take a large number of tracts of land described in the formula '_x_ hides and _z_ acres'; we will observe the various numbers for which _z_ stands, and if we find some particular number frequently repeating itself we shall be entitled to argue that this number of acres is some very simple fraction of a hide. We will take at hazard 100 consecutive entries which contain this formula--'_x_ hides + _z_ acres,' where _x_ is either an integral number or 1/2. The result is that in 37 cases _z_ is 30, in 12 it is 15, in 8 it is 40; then 35 and 20 occur 5 times; 80, 50, 45, 37, 18, 10 occur thrice, and 38 and 15-1/2 twice; eleven other numbers occur once apiece. There can we think be but one explanation of this. The hide contains that number of acres of which 30 is the quarter, 40 the third, 15 the eighth[1584].

[Further evidence.]

But Essex, it must be confessed, lies next to Cambridgeshire, and for the rest of England we have less evidence. Still there are entries which make against any theory which would give to the hide but 30, 40 or 48 acres. In Hertfordshire we read of 'a hide and a half and 26 acres[1585].' In the same county we read of 'a half virgate and 10 acres,' and this seems to tell of a hide of at least 88 acres[1586]. In Gloucestershire we read of a manor of one hide and are told that 'in this hide, when it is ploughed, there are but (_non sunt nisi_) 64 acres of land,' whence we may draw the inference that such an acreage was unusually small[1587]. We pass from Mercia into Wessex. In Somersetshire we read of 'three virgates and a half and 5 acres[1588],' in Dorset of 'three virgates and a half and 7 acres[1589],' in Somerset of 'one and a half virgates and 8 acres[1590].'

[Acreage of the fiscal carucate.]

To prove that the fiscal carucate was composed of 120 (fiscal) acres is by no means easy. If, however, we have sojourned for a while in Essex and then cross the border, we can hardly doubt that in East Anglia the carucate bears to the acres the relation that is borne by those hides among which we have been living. Norfolk and Suffolk are carucated counties, but while in the other carucated counties it is usual to express the smaller quantities of land in terms of the bovate (8 bovates making one carucate) and to say nothing of acres, in East Anglia, on the other hand, it is uncommon to mention the bovate--in Suffolk we may even find the virgate[1591]--and men reckon by carucates, half-carucates and acres. We allow the description of Suffolk to fall open where it pleases and observe a hundred consecutive cases in which a plot of land (as distinguished from meadow) is spoken of as containing a certain number of acres. In 22 cases out of the hundred that number is 60, in 8 it, is 30, in 7 it is 20, in 5 it is 40, in 5 it is 15; no other number occurs more than 4 times, and yet the numbers that appear range from 100 to 2. We have tried the same experiment on two hundred cases in Norfolk; in 28 cases the number of acres was 30, in 16 cases it was 60, in 13 it was 40, in 13 it was 16, in 12 it was 20, in 10 it was 80, in 9 it was 15, though the numbers ranged from 1 to 405. Surely the explanation of this must be that 60 acres are half a carucate, that 30 acres are a quarter, that 40 acres are a third, 20 a sixth, 15 an eighth. We have made many similar experiments and always with a similar result; wherever we open the book we find plots of 60 acres and of 30 acres in rich abundance. We use another test. When land is described by the formula '_x_ carucatae et _z_ acrae,' what values are assigned to _z_? We find 40 very commonly, 42, 45, 50, 60 (but this is rare, for it is easier to say '_x_-1/2 carucates' than '_x_ carucates and 60 acres') 68, 69, 80 (at least four times), 81, and 100[1592]. On the one hand, then, we have a good deal of evidence that the carucate contains more than 80 acres, some evidence that it contains more than 100 acres, and some that it does not contain many more, for no case have we seen in which _z_ exceeds 100. Perhaps in Norfolk the figure 16 occurs rather more frequently than our theory would expect, but 16 is two-fifteenths of 120, and the figures 32 and 64 occur but rarely. Also it must be confessed that in Derbyshire we hear of 'eleven bovates and a half and eight acres,' also of 'twelve bovates and a half and eight acres[1593].' These entries, to use an argument which we have formerly used in our own favour, seem to imply that half a bovate is more than eight acres and would therefore give us a carucate of at least 144. We can only answer that, though men do not habitually use clumsy modes of reckoning, they do this occasionally[1594].

[Acreage of the fiscal sulung.]