NORMAN VILLAGES AND THE _DOMESDAY BOOK_
The coming of the Normans--_Domesday Book_--Its objects--Its contents--
Barkham in _Domesday_--Saxon families--Saxons who retained their
estates--Despoiled landowners--Village officers and artisans--
Villeins--_Bordarii_--_Cottarii_--_Servi_--Socmen--Presbyter--Names
of Normans--The teaching of _Domesday_.
There was a great stir in our English villages when the news was brought
to them that William of Normandy had landed in England, and intended to
fight for the English Crown. News travelled very slowly in those days.
First the villeins and the cottiers who were not fighting with their
lord heard that a great battle had been fought at Stamford Bridge, in
Yorkshire, in which their gallant King Harold had defeated his own
brother Tostig, aided by the King of Norway, Hardrada, and a large army.
Then the news reached them that William of Normandy had arrived, and
that Harold was marching night and day to meet him. Then they heard of
the fatal battle of Hastings; and when it was told them that their brave
King Harold was slain, and that William, the Norman, was the conqueror
of England and the acknowledged king of the country, all England groaned
to hear the fatal news. And then, after a few years, they found that
their old lord had been deprived of his estates, and a new, haughty,
proud Norman, who talked like a Frenchman, and laughed at their dear old
Saxon language, came and ruled over them. He brought Norman servants
with him, who took the best of the land, and made the Saxons do all the
hard work on the farm, treating them like slaves.
And now we must examine a most valuable document which throws a
wonderfully clear light on the condition of England just before and
after the Conquest. I refer to the _Domesday Book_, or survey of the
country which William caused to be made. The Anglo-Saxon chronicler
tells us that after a great Council at Gloucester the king "sent his men
over all England, into every shire, and caused to be ascertained how
many hundred hides were in the shire, or what land the king himself had,
and cattle within the land, or what dues he ought to have in twelve
months from the shire. Also he caused to be written how much land his
archbishops had, and his suffragan bishops, and abbots, and earls; and
though I may narrate somewhat prolixly, what or how much each man had
who was a holder of land in England, in land, or in cattle, and how much
money it might be worth. So very narrowly he caused it to be traced out,
that there was not one single hide, nor one yard of land, nor even, it
is shame to tell, though it seemed to him no shame to do, an ox, nor a
cow, nor a swine was left that was not set down in his writ. And all the
writings were brought to him afterwards."
The commissioners appointed by the king, among whom were Remigius,
Bishop of Lincoln, and Walter Giffard, Earl of Buckingham, were to
inquire the following details concerning each parish:--
Its name. Who held it in the time of King Edward the Confessor. The
present possessor. Number of hides in the manor, number of ploughs, of
homagers, villeins, cottars, free tenants, tenants in socage; how much
wood, meadow, and pasture; number of mills and fishponds; the value in
the time of the last king; and its present value.
Such a survey was of immense value. Its object, according to the king,
was that every man might know and be satisfied with his rightful
possessions, and not with impunity usurp the property of others. But it
was also of great service to the king, so that he might know who were
his vassals, the amount of taxation which he could draw from them, and
the actual strength of his new kingdom.
The commissioners performed their work with much care and exactness. The
survey is wonderfully complete, and was compiled in a very short time.
It is of great value to the historians of subsequent ages. The writing
of the book is very clear and beautiful, the abbreviations alone
presenting some difficulty to an unaccustomed reader. No illuminations
adorn the text. At the head of each page the name of the county is
written in red ink. The book is preserved in an ancient chest in the
Public Record Office, where it was removed from the Chapter House at
Westminster.
As an example we may take the _Domesday_ description of the parish of
Barkham, which runs as follows:--
"IN CERLEDONE HD.
"Rex ten in dnio Bercheha. AElmer Tenuit de rege. E. Te 7 m iii hid.
Tra e iii car. In dnio e una, 7 vi uilli 7 iiii bord cu iii car. Ibi
v. ac pti. Silua de XL pore. Valuit iiii lib. T.R.E. 7 m: iii. lib."
TRANSLATION.
"In the hundred of Charlton.
"The king holds Barkham in demesne. AElmer held it of King Edward. Then,
as now, it was rated for three hides. The land is three ploughlands. In
demesne there is one ploughland. There are six villeins, four borderers
with three ploughs. There are five acres of pasture. Wood for the
pasturage of forty hogs. It was worth 4l. in the time of King Edward,
afterwards, and now, 3l."
King Edward here mentioned was Edward the Confessor. A hide, when it is
used as a measure of land, may be taken at about one hundred and twenty
acres. A ploughland was as much land as one plough with oxen could
plough in a year. The villeins were men who tilled their lord's land,
and in return for certain services had holdings under him. The borderers
were cottagers who also worked for their lord and held smaller holdings,
from one to ten acres. In other entries we find the number of serfs
recorded, and also mention of the hall of the lord of the manor, where
the manorial courts were held, the church, the priest's house, the names
of landowners and tenants, the mill, and of the various officers and
artisans who made up the village community.
_Domesday_ tells us of the old Saxon families, many of whom lost their
estates when the Conqueror came, and were supplanted by the favourites
of the new king. Some of them contrived to weather the storm and retain
their lands. Almer, or Almar, the lord of Barkham, who succeeded his
brother Stigand as Bishop of Elmham in 1047, when the latter became
archbishop, was among the number of the dispossessed, and probably found
shelter with many of his compatriots in the cloister. Several of
William's Norman adventurers married the heiresses of the old Saxon
gentry, and thus became possessed of great estates. Thus Robert D'Oili
married the daughter of Wigod, lord of Wallingford, and soon gained
possession of his father-in-law's property.
However, the names of the fortunate Saxons who retained their estates
are few in comparison with those who were dispossessed. We find Edgar
Atheling, real heir to the throne, retaining a small estate; but he was
a feeble prince, and therefore not to be feared by William. His sister
Cristina had also land in Oxfordshire. Bishop Osbern, of Exeter, a
kinsman of the late king, also held his estates; and amongst the list we
find Seward the huntsman, of Oxfordshire; Theodric the goldsmith; Wlwi
the huntsman, of Surrey; Uluric the huntsman, of Hampshire, who were not
deprived of their lands, their occupations being useful to the king.
The list of despoiled landowners is a long one, and need not here be
recorded. One Brictric was very unfortunate. When ambassador to Baldwin
of Flanders he refused to marry the count's daughter Maud. The slighted
lady became the Conqueror's consort, and in revenge for her despised
love caused Brictric to be imprisoned and his estates confiscated, some
of which were given to the queen. The luckless relations and connections
of the late royal house were consistently despoiled, amongst them
Editha, the beautiful queen of King Edward, and daughter of Earl Godwin,
of whom it was written: "_Sicut spina rosam genuit Godwynus Editham_";
and Gida, the mother of Harold; Godric, his son; and Gwith, his brother.
Harold himself--the earl, as he is called, and not the king, who fought
and died at Senlac, if he did not, as the romance states, end his life
as a holy hermit at Chester--had vast estates all over England, which
went to enrich William's hungry followers. Hereward the Wake, the
English hero, also held in pre-Norman days many fat manors. Few of the
Saxon landowners were spared, and it is unnecessary here to record the
names of the Uchtreds, Turgots, Turchils, Siwards, Leurics, who held
lands "in the time of King Edward," but whose place after Domesday knows
them no more.
_Domesday_ tells us also the names of the officers and artisans who
played important parts in the old village communities. The _villani_, or
villeins, corresponding to the Saxon _ceorls_, were the most important
class of tenants in villeinage, and each held about thirty acres in
scattered acre or half-acre strips, each a furlong in length and a perch
or two in breadth, separated by turf balks. The villein thus supported
himself and his family, and in return was bound to render certain
services to the lord of the manor, to work on the home farm, and provide
two or more oxen for the manorial plough-team. He was not a free tenant,
could acquire no property, and his lord's consent was needed for the
marriage of his daughters. But the law protected him from unjust usage;
his holdings were usually regranted to his son. He could obtain freedom
in several ways, and by degrees acquired the rights and privileges of a
free tenant.
Next to the villeins were the _bordarii_, who lived in _bords_ or
cottages, _i.e._ boarded or wooden huts, and ranked as a lower grade of
villeins. They held about five acres, but provided no oxen for the
manorial plough-team. Below them were the _cottarii_, or cottiers, who
were bound to do domestic work and supply the lord's table. They
corresponded to the modern labourer, but lacked his freedom. The lowest
class of all were the _servi_, or serfs, who corresponded to the Saxon
_theows_. In Norman times their condition was greatly improved; they
mingled with the cottiers and household servants, and gradually were
merged with them.
The _sochemanni_, or socmen, our yeomen, who abounded chiefly in the
Danish district of England, were inferior landowners who had special
privileges, and could not be turned out of their holdings, though they
rendered certain services to the lord of the manor, and in this respect
differed little from the villeins. _Domesday Book_ also mentions a class
of men called _burs_ or _geburs_, who were the same as _coliberti_; also
the _commendati_, who received privileges in return for services
rendered to the lord of the manor.
Each village community was self-contained, and had its own officers.
Although _Domesday Book_ was not compiled in order to ascertain the
condition of the Church and its ministers, and frequently the mention of
a parish church is omitted where we know one existed, the _presbyter_,
or priest, is often recorded. Archbishop Egbert's _Excerptiones_
ordained that "to every church shall be allotted one complete holding
(mansa), and that this shall be free from all but ecclesiastical
services." According to the Saxon laws every tenth strip of land was
set aside for the Church, and _Domesday_ shows that in many villages
there was a priest with his portion of land set apart for his support.
Then there was a _prepositus_, bailiff or reeve, who collected the lord's
rents, assisted by a _bedellus_, beadle or under-bailiff. _Bovarii_, or
oxherds, looked after the plough-teams. The _carpentarius_, or carpenter;
the _cementarius_, or bricklayer; the _custos apium_, or beekeeper; the
_faber_, or smith; the _molinarius_, or miller--were all important
officers in the Norman village; and we have mention also of the
_piscatores_ (fishermen), _pistores_ (bakers), _porcarii_ (swineherds),
_viccarii_ (cowmen), who were all employed in the work of the village
community.
_Domesday Book_ enables us to form a fairly complete picture of our
villages in Norman and late Saxon times. It tells us of the various
classes who peopled the village and farmed its fields. It gives us a
complete list of the old Saxon gentry and of the Norman nobles and
adventurers who seized the fair acres of the despoiled Englishmen. Many
of them gave their names to their new possessions. The Mandevilles
settled at Stoke, and called it Stoke-Mandeville; the Vernons at
Minshall, and called it Minshall-Vernon. Hurst-Pierpont, Neville-Holt,
Kingston-Lysle, Hampstead-Norris, and many other names of places
compounded of Saxon and Norman words, record the names of William's
followers, who received the reward of their services at the expense of
the former Saxon owners. _Domesday Book_ tells us how land was measured
in those days, the various tenures and services rendered by the tenants,
the condition of the towns, the numerous foreign monasteries which
thrived on our English lands, and throws much light on the manners and
customs of the people of this country at the time of its compilation.
_Domesday Book_ is a perfect storehouse of knowledge for the historian,
and requires a lifetime to be spent for its full investigation.
[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF A MANOR]