15, 55, 67, 89, 119, 128-9, 137-8, 155, 166, 192, 195, 208,
219. A system which leaves half the land idle in every year
is of course quite compatible with the growth of both winter
and spring corn. When, as is not uncommon, the villeins have
to do between Michaelmas and Christmas twice as much
ploughing as they will do between Christmas and Lady Day,
this seems to point to a scheme which leaves one field idle
and divides the other between winter and spring corn in the
proportion of 2:1. Even in the fourteenth century a
three-field system seems to have been regarded in some places
as 'high farming.' Larking, Domesday of Kent, App. p. 23:
Extent of Addington, A.D. 1361: 'Et sunt ibidem 60 acrae
terrae arabilis, de quibus duae partes possunt seminari per
annum, _si bene coluntur_.' For evidence of the three-field
system, see Nasse, Agricultural Community, Engl. transl. 53.
[1235] Meitzen, op. cit. ii. 592.
[1236] Turton, Forest of Pickering (North Riding Record Society),
148 ff. Twenty years ago A. E. enclosed an acre; sown eight
times with spring corn; value of a sown acre 1_s._, of an
unsown, 4_d._ Twenty-two years ago E. C. enclosed a rood;
sown seven times with oats, value 6_d._ a year; value, when
unsown, 1_d._ a year. In the same book are many instances of
a husbandry which alternates oats with hay.
[1237] Scrutton, Commons and Common Fields, 118, citing a Report to
the Board of Agriculture.
[1238] Ine, 63-68, 70. See above, p. 238.
[1239] A very fine instance is found on the north coast of
Norfolk:--Burnham Deepdale, B. Norton, B. Westgate, B.
Sutton, B. Thorpe, B. Overy. As to this see Stevenson, E. H.
R. xi. 304.
[1240] Index Map of Ordnance Survey of Norfolk. Six inch Map of
Norfolk, LVI. Another instance occurs near Yarmouth along the
banks of the Waveney. Even if the allotment was the result of
modern schemes of drainage, it still might be a satisfaction
of very ancient claims.
[1241] See above, p. 355.
[1242] Fines (ed. Hunter) i. 242: 'sex acras terrae mensuratas per
legalem perticam eiusdem villae [de Haveresham].'
[1243] Acts of Parliament of Scotland, i. 309.
[1244] Schmid, Gesetze, App. XII.: 'three feet and three hand
breadths and three barley corns.'
[1245] Acts of Parliament of Scotland, i. 309. Compare Statutes of
the Realm, i. 206: 'Tria grana ordei sicca et rotunda faciunt
pollicem.' This so-called Statute of Admeasurement has not
been traced to any authoritative source. Probably, like many
of the documents with which it is associated, it is a mere
note which lawyers copied into their statute books.
[1246] Hoveden, iv. 33: 'et ulna sit ferrea.'
[1247] Britton, ii. 189.
[1248] Magna Carta is careful of wine, beer, corn and cloth; not of
land.
[1249] Gloucester Corporation Records, ed. Stevenson, p. 80. Near
the year 1200 a grant is made of land in Gloucester measuring
in breadth 30 feet 'iuxta ferratam virgam Regis.' Ducange, s.
v. _ulna_, gives examples from the Monasticon. The iron rod
was an iron ell. Were standard perches ever made and
distributed? Apparently the only measure of length of which
any standard was made was the _ulna_ or cloth-yard.
[1250] See the apocryphal Statute of Admeasurement, Stat., vol. i.
p. 206.
[1251] If the jurors had superficial measure in their heads and were
stating this by reference to two straight lines, they would
make the length of one of these lines a constant (e.g. one
league or one furlong). This is not done: the space is 6
furlongs in length by 3 in breadth, 14 furlongs in length by
4 in breadth, 9 furlongs and 1 perch in length by 5 furlongs
and 2 perches in breadth (instances from Norfolk) or the
like. They are endeavouring to indicate shape as well as
size. See the method of measurement adopted in K. 594 (iii.
129): 'and ðær ðæt land unbradest is ðer hit sceol beon
eahtatyne fota brad.'
[1252] The league of 12 furlongs has dropped out of modern usage; it
is very prominent in D. B., where miles, though not unknown,
are rare.
[1253] Our foot is ·30479 meters. Our perch is very close to 5
meters. Our acre 40·467 ares. A hide of 120 acres would be
48·56 hectares.
[1254] Statutes of the Realm, i. 206: 'Tres pedes faciunt ulnam.'
Though this equation gets established, the _ulna_ or
cloth-yard seems to start by being an arm's length. See the
story that Henry I. made his own arm a standard: Will.
Malmesb. Gesta Regum., ii. 487. Britton, i. 189, tells us
that the _aune_ contains two cubits and two thumbs (inches).
Our yard seems too long to be a step.
[1255] Second Report of Commissioners for Weights and Measures,
Parliamentary Papers, 1820, Reports, vol. vii.
[1256] As to all this see Meitzen, op. cit. i. 272 fol.
[1257] The ratio 10:1 is not the only one that is well represented
in Germany. The practice of making the acre four rods wide is
more universal. As we shall see below, length must take its
chance.
[1258] Morgan, England under the Normans, 19.
[1259] Pollock, E. H. R. xi. 218.
[1260] Morgan, op. cit. 19, citing Monasticon, iv. 421.
[1261] Second Report of the Commissioners for Weights and Measures,
Parliamentary Papers, 1820, Reports, vol. vii. The
information thus obtained might have been better sifted. When
it is said that a certain customary perch contains 15 feet 1
inch, these feet and inches are statute feet and statute
inches. Probably this perch had exactly 15 'customary' feet.
So, again, it is likely that every 'customary' acre contained
160 'customary' perches.
[1262] See below, p. 382.
[1263] Compare Meitzen, op. cit. ii. 560.
[1264] Morgan, op. cit. 22.
[1265] Anonymous Husbandry, see Walter of Henley, ed. Lamond, p. 69.
[1266] K. 296 (ii. 87): 6 _virgae_ in length and 3 in breadth.--K.
339 (ii. 149): 28 roda lang and 24 roda brad.--K. 507 (ii.
397): 12 gerda lang and 9 gerda brad.--K. 558 (iii. 229):
'tres perticas' = 'þreo gyrda.'--K. 772 (iv. 84): 12
_perticae_.--K. 787 (iv. 115): a _pertica_ and a half.--K.
814 (iv. 160): dimidiam virgam et dimidiam quatrentem.--K.
1103 (v. 199): 75 gyrda.--K. 1141 (v. 275): 6 gyrda.--K. 1087
(v. 163): 3 furlongs and 3 mete-yards = an unknown quantity +
12 yards + 13 yards + 43 yards and 6 feet + 20 yards and 6
feet + 7 yards and 6 feet + 5 yards. This charter is
commended to geometers. We see, however, that the 'yard' in
question is longer than 6 feet; it is connected with our
perch, not with our cloth yard. Schmid, App. XII.: 3 miles, 3
furlongs, 3 acre-breadths, 9 feet, 9 hand-breadths and 9
barley-corns.
[1267] Meitzen, op. cit. ii. 554. This _virga regalis_ is set down
at 4·70 meters; our statute perch stands very close to 5
meters.
[1268] Meitzen, op. cit. i. 278.
[1269] Ellis, Introduction, i. 116.
[1270] The use of _quarentina_ for furlong may be due to the
Normans.
[1271] Delisle, Études sur la condition de la classe agricole en
Normandie, 531-2.
[1272] We find from D. B. i. 166 that there was a royal _sextarius_;
but (i. 162, 238) other _sextarii_ were in use.
[1273] Meitzen, op. cit. ii. 564. Thus in Köln, the Morgen is 31·72
ares, the Waldmorgen 38·06 ares. In Brunswick the Feldmorgen
is 25·02 ares, the Waldmorgen 33·35 ares. So in Sussex the
common acres are small; the forest acre = 180 (instead of
160) perches. So in Herefordshire the common acre is put down
at two-thirds of the statute acre, but an acre of wood is
more than an acre and a half of statute measure.
[1274] Registr. Honor. Richemund., Ap., p. 11, Agard says: 'In the
Arrentation of Assarts of Forests made in Henry III.'s and
Edward I.'s times, for forest ground the commissioners let
the land _per perticam xx. pedum_,' though by this time the
16·5 foot perch was the established royal measure for
ordinary purposes. In a Buckinghamshire Fine levied in John's
reign (Hunter, i. 242) we find acres of land which are
measured 'by the lawful perch of the vill,' while acres of
wood are measured 'by the perch of the king.' Ibid. 13, 178:
a perch of 20 feet was being used in the counties of Bedford
and Buckingham, though Bedfordshire is notorious for small
acres. The obscure processes that go on in the history of
measures might be illustrated from the report cited above, p.
374, note 1261; the length of the 'customary' perch varies
inversely with the difficulty of the work to be done. In
Herefordshire a perch of fencing was 21 feet, a perch of
walling 16·5. And so forth.
[1275] Morgan, op. cit. 27, suggests a double goad. The _g[=a]d_ of
modern Cambridgeshire has been a stick 9 feet long; but the
surveyor put eight into the acre-breadth, reckoning two of
these _g[=a]ds_ to the customary pole of 18 feet. See Pell,
in Domesday Studies, i. 276, 296. A rod that is 18 feet long
is a clumsy thing and perhaps for practical purposes it has
been cut in half. Meitzen, op. cit., i. 90: Two
hunting-spears would make a measuring rod. See also Hanssen,
Abhandlungen, ii. 210.
[1276] Seebohm, op. cit. 119. Welsh evidence seems to point this
way.
[1277] K. 529 (iii. 4): '12 æceras mædwa.'--K. 549 (iii. 33).--K.
683 (iii. 263).
[1278] When Walter of Henley, p. 8, is making his calculations as to
the amount of land that can be ploughed in a day, he assumes
that the work will be over a _noune_. The 'by three o'clock'
of his translator is too precise and too late. At whatever
hour nones should have been said, the word _noon_ became our
name for twelve o'clock. See also Seebohm, op. cit. 124.
[1279] Meitzen, op. cit., ii. 565. The rods known in Germany range
upwards from very short South German rods which descend from
the Roman _pertica_ to much longer rods which lie between 4
meters and 5. Our statute perch just exceeds 5 meters. Then
the ordinary (not forest) _Morgen_ rarely approaches 40 ares,
while our statute acre is equivalent to 40·46 ares. However,
the Scandinavian _Tonne_ is yet larger and recalls the big
acres of northern England. In France perches of 18 feet were
common, and in Normandy yet longer perches were used, but we
do not know that the French _acre_ or _journal_ contained 160
square perches.
[1280] Seebohm, op. cit. 166.
[1281] Seebohm, op. cit. 19.
[1282] Thus e.g. Glastonbury Rentalia, 68: 'if he has eight oxen he
shall plough every Thursday [during certain seasons] three
roods [_perticatas_].'
[1283] Walter of Henley, 9.
[1284] Tour through the Southern Counties, ed. 3 (1772), pp.
298-301.
[1285] Tour through the Southern Counties, p. 127.
[1286] Walter of Henley, 9.
[1287] Young, View of Agriculture of Oxfordshire, p. 104. In
Oxfordshire in the early years of this century many ploughs
with four horses 'go out for 3 roods,' after all improvements
in ploughs and in horses.
[1288] Meitzen, op. cit. 88. Dr Taylor in Domesday Studies, i. 61,
gives a somewhat different explanation. The ploughman walked
backwards in front of the beasts, and, when near the end of
the furrow, used his right arm to pull them round.
[1289] Among the land-books those that most clearly indicate the
intermixture of strips are K. 538 (iii. 19),--648 (iii.
210),--692 (iii. 290),--1158 (v. 310),--1169 (v. 326),--1234
(vi. 39),--1240 (vi. 51),--1276 (vi. 108),--1278 (vi. 111).
[1290] As to the names of _culturæ_ the Ramsey Cartulary may be
profitably consulted. Such names as Horsepelfurlange,
Wodefurlonge, Benefurlange, Stapelfurlange (i. 307),
Mikellefurlange (321), Stanweyfurlange, Longefurlange (331)
are common. We meet also with _-wong_: Redewonge (321),
Langiwange, Stoniwonge, Schortewonge, Semareswonge (341-2).
Also with _-leuge_ (apparently O. E. _léah_, gen. dat.
_léage_): Wolnothesleuge, Edriches Leuge. Often the _cultura_
is known as the Five (Ten, Twenty) Acres. Sometimes in Latin
this sense of _furlong_ is rendered by _quarentina_: 'unam
rodam in quarentina de Newedich': Fines, ed. Hunter, i. 42.
[1291] Glastonbury Rentalia, 180, 195, 208.
[1292] Sixteen Old Maps: Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1888.
[1293] The rod, however, must have been very short; perhaps it had
as few as 12 feet.
[1294] For many reasons this must not be taken as a typical map. We
refer to it merely as showing the relation of 'estimated'
(that is of 'real') acres to an acre-measure.
[1295] Instructive evidence about this matter was given in a
Chancery suit of James I.'s reign. The deponent speaking of
the fen round Ely says 'it is the use and custom ... to
measure the fen grounds by four poles in breadth for an acre,
by a pole of 18 feet ... and in length for an acre of the
said grounds as it happeneth, according to the length of the
furlong of the same fens, which is sometimes shorter and
sometimes longer.' Quoted by O. C. Pell in Domesday Studies,
i. 296.
[1296] For an explanation of this mode of ploughing, see Meitzen,
op. cit. 84.
[1297] Meitzen gives 6 feet as a usual width for the beds in
Germany. I think that in cent. xiii. our selions were usually
wider than this.
[1298] The Gloucester Corporation Records, ed. Stevenson (1893),
should be consulted. When small pieces of land were being
conveyed, the selions were often enumerated. Thus (p. 124):
'and 13 acres of arable land ... whereof one acre lies upon
þistelege near Durand's land ... an acre and a half being
three selions ... half an acre being two selions ... an acre
of five selions ... an acre being one selion and a gore ...
four selions and two little gores ... an acre being three
selions and a head-land.' In Mr Seebohm's admirable account
of the open fields there seems to me to be some confusion
between the selions and the acre or half-acre strips.
[1299] On Mr Mowat's map of Roxton a quarter-acre strip is a
_yeard_.
[1300] D. B. i. 364: 'In Staintone habuit Jalf 5 bovatas terrae et
14 acras terrae et 1 virgatam ad geldum.' This virgate is a
quarter-acre. The continuous use of _virgata_ in this sense
is attested by Glastonbury Rentalia, 27. So in Normandy:
Delisle, Études sur la condition de la classe agricole, 535.
So in France: Ducange, s. v. _virgata_ from a Register of the
Chamber of Accounts: 'Quadraginta perticae faciunt virgatam:
quatuor virgatae faciunt acram.' Meitzen, op. cit. i. 95: in
Kalenberg a strip that is one rod in breadth is called a
_Gert_ (our _yard_).
[1301] In the Exeter Domesday _virga_ not _virgata_ is the common
word. In the Exchequer book an abbreviated form is used; but
_virga_ appears in i. 216 b.
[1302] So again, if a _iugum_ is quartered, its quarter can be
called a virgate. See Denman Ross, Hist. of Landholding, 140;
Round, Feudal England, 108.
[1303] See above, p. 372.
[1304] K. 205 (i. 259): 'circiter 30 iugera.'--K. 217 (i. 274): '30
iugera.'--K. 225 (i. 290): 'hoc est 30 iugerum' ... 'hoc est
85 segetum.'--K. 234 (i. 308): '150 iugera.'--K. 241 (ii. 1):
'24 iugeras.'--K. 259 (ii. 26): '19 iugera.'--K 264 (ii. 36):
'unum dimidium agrum ... healve aker.'--K. 276 (ii. 57): '10
iugera.'--K. 285 (ii. 70): '80 æcra.'--K. 339 (ii. 150):
'sextig æcera earðlondes ... oðer sextig.'--K. 586 (iii.
118): '30 æcra on ðæm twæm feldan.'--K. 612 (iii. 159): '2
hida buton 60 æcran.'--K. 633 (iii. 188): '3 mansas ac 30
iugerum dimensionem.'--K. 695 (iii. 295): '40 agros.'--K. 759
(iv. 59): '30 akera.'--K. 782 (iv. 106): 'fiftig æcera.'--K.
1154 (v. 303): '36 ækera yrðlandes.'--K. 1161 (v. 315): 'ter
duodenas segetes' = '36 æcera yrðlandes.'--K. 1211 (v. 393):
'25 segetes.'--K. 1218 (vi. 1): '14 hida and ... 40 æcera.'
[1305] Probably it occurs in Ine 67; certainly in Rectitudines 4, §
3, and in the late document about Tidenham (above, p.
330).--K. 369 (ii. 205): Boundary of a _gyrd_ at Ashurst
which belongs to a hide at Topsham (A.D. 937).--K. 521 (ii.
418): Edgar grants 'tres virgas.'--K. 658 (iii. 229):
Æthelred grants '3 mansas et 3 perticas.'--K. 1306 (vi. 163):
Æthelred grants land 'trium sub aestimatione perticarum.'--K.
772 (iv. 84): Edward Conf. grants '5 perticas.'--K. 787 (iv.
115): He grants 'unam perticam et dimidiam.'--K. 814 (iv.
160): He grants 'dimidiam virgam et dimidiam
quatrentem.'--Crawford Charters, 5, 9, mortgage in 1018 of a
yard of land.--K. 949 (iv. 284); 979 (iv. 307): two other
examples from the eve of the Conquest.--It is more likely
that these 'yards' and 'perches' of land are quarter-hides
than that they are quarter-acres; 'square' perches seem to be
out of the question. There are of course many instances in
the charters of a _pertica_, _virga_, _gyrd_ used as a
measure of mere length. See above, p. 375, note 1266, where a
few are cited.
[1306] Meitzen, op. cit. 74. In Germany the _Hufe_, _hoba_, _huoba_,
_huba_, _etc._ is the unit. This word is said to be connected
with the modern German _Behuf_, our _behoof_; it is the
_sors_, the portion that behoves a man. In Sweden, the unit
is the _Mantal_, a man's share. The last word about the
_tenmannetale_ of Yorkshire has not been said.
[1307] K. 633 (iii. 188).
[1308] K. 612 (iii. 159): 'landes sumne dæl, ðæt synd 2 hida, buton
60 æcran ðæt hæft se arcebisceop genumen into Cymesige to his
hame him to hwætelande.'
[1309] Rot. Hund. ii. 575. After going through the whole
calculation, I have satisfied myself that the sum is worked
in this way.
[1310] Hence in our law Latin the word _terra_ means arable land. To
claim _unam acram terrae_ when you meant an acre of meadow
(_prati_) would have been a fatal error.
[1311] K. 1222 (vi. 12); T. 508: 'And ic Æðelgar an an hide lond ðes
ðe Æulf hauede be hundtuelti acren, ateo so he wille.'
Kemble, Saxons, 117.
[1312] See above, p. 386, note 1304.
[1313] There can be little need of examples. Glastonbury Rentalia,
152: 'S. tenet unam virgatam terrae et dimidiam, quae
computantur pro una virgata.' Ibid. p. 160: 'H. tenet unam
virgatam et 5 acras, quae omnia computantur pro una virgata.'
Worcester Register, 62: A virgate consists of 13 acres in one
field and 12-1/2 in the other; the next virgate of 16 acres
in one field and 12 in the other. In other cases the numbers
are 16 and 14; 14-5/8 and 11; 13 and 12-1/2; 14 and 11;
14-3/4 and 11-1/4. Yet every virgate is a virgate.
[1314] At the date of Domesday we are a long way from the first
danegeld and a very long way from any settlement of
Cambridgeshire; still if we analyze a symmetrical hundred,
such as Armingford, we shall find that the average ten-hide
vill is just about twice as rich as the average five-hide
vill in men, in teams and in annual _valet_, though there
will be some wide aberrations from this norm.
[1315] See above, p. 336, note 1160.
[1316] See above, p. 237.
[1317] This is proved by 'The Burghal Hidage' of which we spoke
above, p. 187, and shall speak again hereafter.
[1318] See the Gerefa published by Dr Liebermann in Anglia, ix. 251.
Andrews, Old English Manor, 246.
[1319] The manner in which the old hides have really fallen to
pieces but are preserving a notional existence is well
illustrated by Domesday of St. Paul's, 41-47. In one case a
hide forms nine tenements containing respectively 30, 30, 15,
15, 5, 5, 7-1/2, 5, 7-1/2 acres. See Vinogradoff, Villainage,
249.
[1320] Vinogradoff, Villainage, 242; Maitland, History of an English
Manor, Eng. Hist. Rev. ix. 418.
[1321] See Pell, in Domesday Studies, i. 357. Almost at one and the
same moment, but in two different 'extents,' the same
tenements are being described as containing 15 and as
containing 18 acres. Domesday of St. Paul's, 69: 'In this
manor the hide contains 120 acres; the old inquest said that
it used not to contain more than 80; but afterwards the lands
were sought out and measured (_exquisitae sunt terrae et
mensuratae_).'
[1322] Cart. Rams. iii. 208. See also the table given by Seebohm,
op. cit. 37.
[1323] A 'double hide' of 240 acres plays a part in Mr Seebohm's
speculations. His instances of it hardly bear examination. On
p. 37 he produces from Rot. Hund. ii. 629 the equation 1 H.=6
V. of 40 A. apiece. This apparently refers to the Ramsey
manor of Brington; but Cart. Rams. ii. 43 gives 1 H.=4 V. of
40 A., while Cart. Rams. iii. 209 gives 1 H.=4 V. of 34 A.
Then Mr Seebohm, p. 51, cites from 'the documents of Battle
Abbey given by Dugdale' the equation 1 H.=8 V.; but this
seems to refer to the statement now printed in the Battle
Cartulary (Camd. Soc.) p. xiii., where 1 H.=4 V. As to the
supposed _solanda_ of two hides, see Round, Feudal England,
103.
[1324] The virgates on the Gloucestershire manors of Gloucester
Abbey contain the following numbers of acres: 36, 40, 36, 38,
48, 48, 48, 48, 50, 48, 40, 64, 64, 64, 48, 50, 60, 48, 48,
64, 18 (?), 44, 80, 48, 48, 72. See Gloucester Cartulary,
vol. iii. Of the taxation and wealth of the various counties
we shall speak hereafter.
[1325] Napier and Stevenson, Crawford Charters, p. 47: The O. E.
_sulh_ (plough) is 'cognate with Lat. _sulcus_.'
[1326] Both terms were in use in Normandy and some other parts of
France: Delisle, Études, 538; also Ducange. In a would-be
English charter of the days before the Conquest these words
would be ground for suspicion. In K. 283 and 455 Kemble has
printed (in documents which he stigmatizes) _caractorum_. But
apparently (see B. ii. 104, iii. 94) what stands in the
cartulary is _carattorum_, and this seems a mistake for the
common _casatorum_. To mistake O. E. _s_ for _r_ is easy.
[1327] See Stevenson, E. H. R. v. 143.
[1328] In D. B. the _iugum_ appears as a portion of a _solin_;
probably as a quarter of the solin. D. B. i. 13: 'pro uno
solin se defendit. Tria iuga sunt infra divisionem Hugonis et
quartum iugum est extra.' The _iugum_ has already appeared in
a few Kentish land-books. In K. 199 (i. 249), B. i. 476, we
find _an ioclet_ which seems to be half a manse
(_mansiuncula_). In K. 407 (iii. 262), B. ii. 572, we find
'an iuclæte et insuper 10 segetes (_acres_).'
[1329] D. B. ii. 389: 'In Cratingas 24 liberi homines 1 carr. terrae
et 1 virg.'
[1330] Yorkshire Inquisitions (Yorks. Archæeol. Soc.) passim. On p.
77 in an account of Catterick we read of 'a capital messuage
worth 5_s._; 32 bovates of arable land in demesne (each
bovate of 6 acres at 8_s._) £12. 16_s._; 31-1/2 bovates held
by bondmen (each bovate of 10 acres at 13_s._ 4_d._) £21; ...
2 bovates which contain 24 acres and 32 acres called Inland
worth 74_s._ 8_d._'
[1331] See above, p. 375.
[1332] A bovate of 13 acres seems to have prevailed in Scotland:
Acts of Parliament of Scotland, i. 387.
[1332] The immediate source is the Seneschaucie. See Walter of
Henley, ed. Lamond, p. 84. Fleta, p. 159.
[1334] Walter of Henley, pp. 6, 8, 44-5. With a three-course system
the figures will be somewhat different. Plough 60 acres for
winter seed, 60 for spring seed, 60 for fallow (total 180) at
the rate of 7/8th of an acre per day:--Total, 205-6/7 days.
In second fallowing plough 60 acres at an acre per
day:--Grand total, 265-5/7 days. Whichever system is adopted,
the plough 'goes' 240 acres.
[1335] Walter of Henley, p. 13.
[1336] Domesday of St. Paul's, 38.
[1337] Meitzen, op. cit. i. 277; Andrews, op. cit. 260.
[1338] Gerefa, 9 (Anglia, ix. 261): 'Me mæig in Maio and Junio and
Julio on sumera fealgian.' Andrews, op. cit. 257.
[1339] Thus e.g. Domesday of St. Paul's, 59, Tillingham. Is it
possible to fallow, when, as in this case, there is no
pasture for the oxen except such as is afforded by the idle
field? 'Non est ibi pastura nisi cum quiescit dominicum per
wainagium.... (69) Non est ibi certa pastura nisi quando
terrae dominici quiescunt alternatim incultae.'
§ 2. _Domesday Statistics._
[Domesday's three statements.]
As a general rule the account given by Domesday Book of any manor
contains three different statements about it which seem to have some
bearing upon the subject of our present inquiry. (_A_) It will tell us
that the manor is rated to the geld at a certain number of units, which
units will in Kent be solins or sulungs and yokes (_iuga_), in
Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire,
Norfolk and Suffolk carucates and bovates (but bovates are, to say the
least, rare in East Anglia), and in the rest of England hides and
virgates; but acres also will from time to time appear in the statement.
(_B_) It will tell us that the manor contains land for a certain number
of teams, or for a certain number of oxen. (_C_) It will tell us that
there are on the manor a certain number of teams, some whereof belong to
the lord and some to the men.
TABLE I. STATISTICS
Recorded Danegeld Hides,
Modern Population circ. ann. Carucates,
Acreage (Ellis) 1150 Sulungs
I II III IV
£ _s._ _d._