Note 182 — PART I TERRITORIAL STUDIES (continued 3)

'Ad hoc solicitius animum direxi ut per regna Angliæ debita Regi servitia militaria quatinus potui plenissime percunctarer.'182 So writes Swereford, who proceeds to explain that neither the famous Bishop Nigel himself, nor his successor, Bishop Richard, nor William of Ely (ut supra) had left any certain information on the subject; while he (Swereford) could not accept the common belief that the Conqueror had created servitia of knights to the amount of 32,000.183 The cause of his failure is found in the fact that he confused two different things: (1) the debita Regi servitia, which formed the only assessment of fiefs down to 1166; (2) the assessment based on the cartae of 1166, which superseded the debita servitia, and is not evidence of their amount.184 But then, as I have already explained above, the exchequer official was concerned only with the actual claims of the crown; for him the original 'service due' had a merely academic interest.