PART I TERRITORIAL STUDIES (continued 3)

It is consequently worse than lost labour to examine these two inquests, based as they are on opposite systems, and giving us as they do a cross-division as if they were but successive editions of the national register or rate-book.

Although there is great diversity in the form of return adopted—a diversity which imparts to the cartae a pleasant flavour of character—it may fairly be assumed that, as in similar cases, they were called for throughout the realm by one uniform writ. If we may deduce the purport of that writ from the collation of those returns which refer to it most explicitly, we must infer that the information asked for was to be given under four heads:

(1) How many knights had been enfeoffed before the death of Henry I?

(2) How many have been enfeoffed since?

(3) How many (if any) remain to be enfeoffed to complete the 'service' due from the fief. Or, in other words, what is the balance of your 'service' remaining chargeable to your 'demesne'?

(4) What are the names of your knights?

In support of these statements I append the whole of the relevant returns.

Bishop of Exeter Archbishop of York Bishop of Durham

Praecepistis mihi quod mandarem vobis per breve meum sigillatum et apertum, non quot servitia militum vobis debeam, sed (1) quot habeam milites feffatos de tempore Regis Henrici avi vestri, et (2) quot post mortem ipsius, et (3) quot sint super dominium meum.

Praecipit dignitas vestra omnibus fidelibus vestris clericis et laicis, qui de vobis tenent de capite in Eboracsira, ut mandent vobis per literas suas, extra sigillum pendentes (1) quot milites quisquis habeat de veteri feffamento de tempore Regis Henrici avi vestri, scilicet de die et anno quo ipse fuit vivus et mortuus, et (2) quot habeat de novo feodamento feffatos post mortem bonae memoriae avi vestri ejusdem, et (3) quot feoda militum sint super dominium uniuscujusque, et (4) omnium illorum nomina, tam de novo feffamento quam de veteri feffatorum quae sint in illo brevi scripta, quia vultis quod si aliqui ibi sunt qui vobis nondum fecerunt ligantiam, et quorum nomina non sunt scripta in rotulo vestro, quod infra dominicam primam xl

ae

ligantiam vobis faciant (p. 412).

Praecepit nobis, domine, vestra sublimitas, quod literis nostris sigillatis, extra sigillum pendentibus, vobis mandaremus (1) quot milites feffatos haberemus de veteri feffamento et (2) de novo, scilicet, anno et die quo Rex Henricus fuit vivus et mortuus et de [

sic

] post mortem ejus ... (3) super dominium vero nostrum, de quo similiter mandare præcepistis, etc. (pp. 416, 418).]

Herbert De Castello Engelard De Strattone Robert De Brintone

Michi et comparibus meis mandastis ut vobis per breve nostrum pendens extra sigillum, mandaremus (1) quot milites antiquitus feodatos de tempore Regis Henrici avi vestri habeamus et (2) quot de novo feodamento.... Et hii omnes ligantiam et homagium vobis fecerunt (pp. 275-6).

Michi et ceteris comparibus meis qui de vobis tenemus in capite per litteras vestras mandastis ut vobis per breve nostrum pendens extra sigillum mandaremus (1) quot milites habeamus de veteri feodamento de tempore Henrici Regis avi vestri, et (2) quot habeamus de novo feodamento (p. 276).

Michi et aliis comparibus meis per litteras vestras innotuistis ut per fidem et ligantiam quam vobis debemus per breve nostrum pendens extra sigillum mandaremus (1) quot milites haberemus de veteri feodamento de tempore Henrici Regis avi vestri, et (2) quot milites haberemus de novo feodamento post tempus Regis Henrici avi vestri, et (3) quot milites habeamus super dominium nostrum.... Et vobis quidem et filio vestro ligantiam et homagium fecerunt (p. 277).

Let me here break off for a moment to consider one of the most important points suggested by this great inquest, namely, the issue of the writs under which it was held. It has been generally assumed that each tenant received his writ direct from the crown; and a casual reading of the cartae might, perhaps, favour such a view. I have, however, been led to the conclusion that a general writ was issued to the sheriff of each county, and that its terms were communicated by him to the several tenants-in-chief, whose capita baroniæ lay within his jurisdiction.

Further, I believe that as the 'barons' received their instructions from the sheriffs, so they also sent in their returns through those officers. The memorandum, for instance, on the missing carta of Osbert fitz Hugh informs us that it was brought to the exchequer by William de Beauchamp. Now, William de Beauchamp was sheriff of the shire. This would account for the grouping of the returns 'per singulos comitatus', as Swereford expresses it, and indeed this arrangement would but follow the existing practice of collecting the scutage shire by shire.

Returning now to the terms of the inquiry, it is obvious that the tenant (baro) to whom such queries were addressed must of necessity have belonged to one of these three classes—

(a) Those who had created the exact number of knights' fees sufficient to discharge their 'service'.

(b) Those who had created more than sufficient.

(c) Those who had created less than sufficient.

Having made this point clear, I now pass to the immediate object of the inquest of 1166. What that object was, no one has as yet discovered. Dr Stubbs, for instance, in his preface to the Pipe-Roll of 1166, writes: 'On the immediate purpose for which the inquiry was made—and it can scarcely be doubted that it was for the collection of a scutage—we shall look for further information in the rolls of the succeeding years.' My own researches enable me to assert that this inquest formed part of a financial revolution hitherto ignored, which deserves to be compared with those other innovations in administration and finance that characterized the latter half of the twelfth century in England.

The main point, however, on which I propose to insist, is that these returns were intended to provide, and, as a matter of fact, did provide a new feudal assessment, wholly superseding the old one, in no case to the advantage of the tenant, but in many to the advantage of the crown. The modus operandi was as follows. Instead of either adhering to the old assessment (servitium debitum), or uniformly substituting a new one based on the fees actually created, the crown selected in every case whichever of these two systems told in its own favour and against the tenant of the fief. If he had enfeoffed fewer knights than his servitium debitum required, the crown retained that servitium as the irreducible minimum of his assessment; but if he had created an excess of fees, the crown added that excess to his pre-existing assessment and increased the 'service' due from him pro tanto. This discovery is no conjecture, but is capable of arithmetical demonstration.

Two points strike one strongly in the preparation of these returns. The first of these is the difficulty experienced in compiling a correct list of under-tenants and their holdings; the second is the employment of the 'Inquest' as a means of ascertaining the particulars.

Taking the former of these, we find Hugh Wac writing, 'si amplius inquirere possim, notificabo vobis'; and Guarine 'de Aula', 'si plus possim inquirere, faciam vobis scire'; so too the Bishop of Ely, 'de hiis vero certi sumus, et si amplius inquirere poterimus libenter vobis significabimus'; and the Bishop of Bath, 'si certiorem inquirere poterimus veritatem, nos illam vobis significabimus'; and Alfred of Lincoln, 'si plus inquiri potest, inquirere faciemus'. The Bishop of Exeter makes his return, 'sicut eam diligentius inquirere potui'; the Abbot of Tavistock, 'quantum inde sollicitius inquirendo scire potuit'. Hugh de Lacy, in a postscript to his return, adds a fee 'quod oblitus sum'; while the Earl of Clare has to send in a subsequent rider, containing an entry, 'quod ego postquam misi cartam ... recordatus sum'.

From this difficulty it is a short step to the inquests which it seems in some cases to have necessitated. The Abbot of Ramsey heads his return, 'Haec est inquisitio'; the Earl of Warwick similarly commences, 'Hoc est quod inquisivi per homines'. Earl Patrick makes his return, 'secundum quod de probis et antiquis hominibus meis inquirere potui'. 'Fecimus inquirere,' writes the Bishop of Bath, 'per legales homines meos.... Haec autem per eos inquisivimus.'

This brings us directly to the very important inquest referred to in the carta of the Earl of Arundel:

Dominus noster Rex Henricus quadam contentione quae surrexit inter milites de honore de Arundel de exercitu quodam de Walliis, elegit iiij. milites de honore, de melioribus et legalioribus, et antiquioribus ... et fecit eos recognoscere servitia militum de honore, et super legalitatem et sacramenta eorum inde neminem audire voluit.

Mr Eyton argued elaborately on genealogical grounds that this inquest must have taken place under Henry I, but indeed it is quite obvious from the language of the carta itself that this was so. It is, consequently, worthy of notice for its bearing on 'the sworn inquest'. While on this subject, attention may be called to the unique entry in the Pipe-Roll of 12 Henry II (1166): 'Alanus de Munbi debet xl. s. quia non interfuit Jurat' feodorum militum' (p. 8). Investigation proves (through what is known as the Lindsey Survey) that Alan was an under-tenant of the honour of Brittany, the successor of that Eudo who held in Mumby temp. Domesday. This fact throws light on the entry, by suggesting that the inquest referred to concerned the honour of Brittany, the number of fees in which was then and subsequently doubtful.

II. THE SERVITIUM DEBITUM

The essential feature we have to keep in view when examining the growth of knight service is the servitium debitum, or quota of knight service due to the crown from each fief.

Let us then apply ourselves directly to the quotas of military service due from the 'barons' to the crown, and see if, when ascertained, they throw any fresh light on the real problem.

No attempt, so far as I know, has ever been made to determine these quotas, and indeed it was the utter want of trustworthy information on the subject that led Swereford to undertake his researches in the thirteenth century. Those researches, unfortunately, leave us no wiser, partly from his defective method and want of the requisite accuracy; partly from the fact that what he sought was not abstract historical truth, but practical information bearing on the existing rights of the crown. We must turn therefore to the original authorities: (1) the cartae baronum, (2) the annual rolls. These were the two main sources of Swereford's information, as they must also be of ours. In the next part of this paper I shall deal with the evidence of the rolls, as checking and supplementing the cartae baronum.

I shall analyse the church fiefs first, because we can ascertain, virtually with exactitude, the servitium debitum of every prelate and of every head of a religious house who held by knight service. The importance of these figures, together with the fact that they have never, so far as I know, been set forth till now, has induced me to append them here in full detail.

See Service Due See Service Due

knights knights

Canterbury 60 Bath 20

Winchester 60 London 20

Lincoln

60

Exeter

17½

Worcester 50 [60] 'Chester' 15

Norwich 40 Hereford 15

Ely 40 Durham 10

Salisbury 32 Chichester 4 [2]

York 20 [7]

In the above list the figures in brackets refer to the assessments previous to 1166. Three changes were made at, or about, that date. The Bishop of Worcester, in accordance with the protest he had made from the beginning of the reign, obtained a reduction of his quota from sixty knights to fifty; while the Archbishop of York's servitium was raised from seven knights to twenty, and that of the Bishop of Chichester from two knights to four. These changes are known to us only from the details of the prelate's scutages; there is nothing to account for them in the relevant cartae, and we can only infer from the formula quos recognoscit that the two bishops whose servitia were increased acquiesced in the justice of the crown's claim.

Proceeding to the 'service' of the religious houses:

House Service Due House Service Due

knights knights

Peterborough 60 Wilton 5

Glastonbury 40 [60] Ramsey 4

St Edmundsbury 40 Chertsey 3

Abingdon 30 St Bene't of Hulme 3

Hyde

20

Cerne

2 [3]

St Augustine's 15 Pershore 2 [3]

Westminster 15(?) Malmesbury 3

Tavistock 15(?) Winchcombe 2

Coventry 10 Middleton 2

Shaftesbury 7 [10] Sherburne 2

St Alban's 6 Michelney 1

Evesham 5 Abbotsbury 1

The changes of assessment on religious houses were few, and are thus accounted for. Glastonbury, which paid on sixty knights in the first two scutages of the reign, paid on forty in the third and in those which followed. Pershore paid on three in the first scutage, protesting that it was only liable to two, and from 1168 it was only rated at two. Shaftesbury, which had paid on ten knights in the first scutage, was assessed at only seven in the third scutage and those which followed. Cerne also succeeded in getting its assessment reduced from three knights to two. With these changes should be compared the letter of Bishop Nigel of Ely to Ramsey Abbey certifying that it was only liable to an assessment of four knights. Two cases remain which require special treatment—Tavistock and Westminster.

The case of Westminster presents considerable difficulty, the entries relating to its payments of scutage being very puzzling. The abbey's fees lay chiefly in Worcestershire and Gloucestershire—especially Worcestershire—and it is under this county that we find it ultimately (i.e. from 1168 onwards) assessed at fifteen fees, an assessment which the abbot himself seems to have claimed, in the first scutage, as the right one.

Taking then the servitium debitum of all the church fiefs, at their earliest ascertainable assessment, we obtain this result:

Bishops 458½

Heads of religious houses 318

Capellaria de Bosham 7½

——

Grand total

784

Far more difficult is the calculation of the servitium debitum from the lay fiefs. The list which follows is constructed from the evidence of the cartae and the rolls, and, though substantially correct, is liable to emendation in details. It only comprises those fiefs the servitium of which I have been able to ascertain with certainty or probability.

Robert 'filius Regis'

100

Earl Ferrers

80 (? 60)

Honour of Totness 75

Honour of Tickhill

60 (?)

Robert de Stafford 60

Count of Eu

60 (?)

Earl Warrenne

60 (?)

Lacy of Pontefract 60

Roger de Mowbray

60

Earl of Essex 60

Walter fitz Robert (of Essex) 50

Honour of Richmond

50

Gervase Paynell 50

Reginald de St Valery

50 (?)

Patrick, Earl of Salisbury 40

Walter de Aincurt 40

William de Montfichet 40

Payn de Montdoubleau

40

William de Roumare

40 (?)

Hubert de Rye 35

Hubert fitz Ralf (Derbyshire) 30

Walter de Wahulle 30

William fitz Robert (Devon) 30

William de Traci

30

Robert de Valoines

30

Maurice de Craon

30

William de Albini (of Belvoir)

30

Bernard Balliol

30

Roger de Arundel

30

Walter de Mayenne

30 (?)

Robert de Albini (Bucks) 25

Robert fitz Hugh 25

Alfred of Lincoln 25

Ralf Hanselin 25

William de Braose

25

Oliver de Traci

25

Gerard de Limesi

25 (?)

Walter Waleran 20

Richard de Hay 20

Honour of Holderness 20

William de Windsor 20

Hugh de Bayeux 20

William de Vesci

20 (?)

Daniel de Crevecœur

20 (?)

Thomas de Arcy

20 (?)

Hugh de Dover 15

Walter Bret 15

Baderon de Monmouth 15

Earl Richard de Redvers

15

Adam de Brus 15

Hamo fitz Meinfelin 15

Osbert fitz Hugh

15 (?)

? Hugh de Scalers

15

? Stephen de Scalers 15

Gilbert de Pinkeni 15

Geoffrey Ridel 15

Robert Foliot 15

Robert de Choques 15

Robert de Caux 15

William Paynell 15 (?)

Richard de Reimes 10

Roger de Buron 10

Richard fitz William 10

William fitz Alan 10

Richard de Cormeilles 10

Roger de Kentswell 10

William Trussebut 10

Nigel de Lovetot 10

Manasser Arsic 10

Richard de Montacute 10

Wandrille de Courcelles 10

Walter de Bolebec (Bucks) 10

Robert de Hastings 10

Lambert de Scotenni 10

Drogo de Montacute

10 (?)

William de Reimes

10 (?)

William de Helion

10 (?)

The same principle applies to the relation between the tenant-in-chief and his under-tenant. Thus the very first entry in the cartae runs as follows:

Willelmus de Wokindone iiij. milites et dimidium; et praeter hoc, ex testimonio curiae meae, dimidium exigo, quem ipse se non debere defendit.

Of another tenant on the same fief we read: 'praeter hoc, ex testimonio curiae meae, adhuc j. militem exigo'. Here, we see, appeal is made not to record evidence, but to oral testimony. So, too, the Bishop of Exeter adds this clause to his return:

Et praeter hos omnes, sicut a multis audivi, comes Gloucestriæ, et comes Hugo, et comes de Clare debent tenere de Exoniensi Episcopo; sed nullum ei servitium faciunt vel recognoscunt.

Surely in all such cases as these the obvious inference is that the tenant had been enfeoffed sine carta, or in the very words of the Provisions of the Barons (1259) 'feofatus sine carta a tempore conquestus vel alio antiquo feofamento' (§ 1).

The next step is to show that the Normans were familiar with servitium debitum in terms of the ten-knight unit when they landed in England. For this we have only to refer to Wace. For in the 'Roman de Rou', as quoted by Mr Freeman himself, we find William fitz Osbern assuring the duke as to his barons:

Vostre servise dobleront:

Ki solt mener vint chevaliers

Quarante en merra volontiers,

E ki de trente servir deit

De sesante servir vos velt,

E cil ki solt servir de cent

If to escape from this conclusion the suggestion be made that these servitia debita were compositions effected by English antecessores, it need only be answered that the fiefs acquired were wholly new creations, constructed from the scattered fragments of Anglo-Saxon estates. And though in the case of the church fiefs this objection might not apply, yet we have evidence, as I shall show, to prove that their servitia also were determined by the conqueror's will, as indeed might be inferred from their close correspondence with those of the lay barons.

I am anxious to make absolutely clear the point that between the accepted view and the view which I advance, no compromise is possible. The two are radically opposed. As against the theory that the military obligation of the Anglo-Norman tenant-in-chief was determined by the assessment of his holding, whether in hidage or in value, I maintain that the extent of that obligation was not determined by his holding, but was fixed in relation to, and expressed in terms of, the constabularia of ten knights, the unit of the feudal host. And I, consequently, hold that his military service was in no way derived or developed from that of the Anglo-Saxons, but was arbitrarily fixed by the king, from whom he received his fief, irrespectively both of its size and of all pre-existent arrangements. Such propositions, of course, utterly and directly traverse the view which these passages best summarize:

If my own conclusions be accepted, they will not only prove destructive of this view, but will restore, in its simplicity, a theory which removes all difficulties, and which paves the way to a reconsideration of other kindred problems, and to the study of that aspect of Anglo-Norman institutions in which they represent the feudal spirit developed on feudal lines.

III. SCUTAGE, AID, AND 'DONUM'

Precious for our purpose as are the cartae of 1166, their evidence, as it stands, is incomplete. It needs to be supplemented by the early Pipe-Rolls of Henry II's reign. By collating these two authorities we obtain information which, singly, neither the one nor the other could afford. All those entries on the rolls which relate to scutagia, auxilia or dona require to be extracted and classified before we can form our conclusions. Hitherto, historians have remained content with repeating Swereford's obiter dicta, as extracted from the Liber Rubeus by Madox, without checking these statements by the evidence of the rolls themselves.

Proceeding further, we find him explaining (p. 9) that he omits the aid of 1165, 'quoniam probata summa auxilii propter hoc non probatur numerus militum'. And yet this aid, the last to be taken before the returns of 1166, is of special value and importance for the very purpose he speaks of. It is, indeed, an essential element in the evidence on which I build; and this compels me to discuss the point in some detail.

Those who contributed towards this aid either (1) gave arbitrary sums for the payment of servientes—whose number was almost invariably some multiple of five—or (2) paid a marc on every fee of their servitium debitum. We are only here concerned with those who adopted the latter course. Now let us take the case of those who adopted this alternative in the counties of Notts and Derby, and compare their payments with their servitium debitum as known to us from other sources.

Payments (1165) Service (1166)

marcae knights

Hubert fitz Ralf 30 30

Ralf Halselin 25 25

Robert de 'Calz' 15 15

Roger de Burun 10 10

In this case there is no doubt as to the servitium debitum, for it is ascertained from the cartae themselves. Having then proved, by this test, the exact correspondence of the payments, I turn to the case of Devonshire.

Payments (1165) Service (1166)

marcae

knights

Robert 'filius Regis' 100 (?)

William de Traci 30 (?)

William de Braose 25 (?)

Oliver de Traci 25 (?)

Abbot of Tavistock 15 15

William fitz Reginald 1 1

Ralf de Valtort 1 1

Robert fitz Geoffrey 1 1

Swereford's extraordinary failure to understand this roll aright is possibly due to the fact that most of the relevant payments are entered without mention of their object. He seems to have been very dependent upon the rolls explaining themselves, and to have worked in the spirit of a copying clerk rather than of an intelligent student.

One more example of his errors will suffice. In his abstracts from the aid 'ad maritandam primogenitam filiam regis' (1168), we read:

Abbas Gloucestriæ de promissione, sed non numeratur quid; sed in rotulo praecedenti dicitur:—Abbas Gloucestriæ debet xxxviij. l. ij. s. vj. d. de veteri scutagio Walliae.

Let us turn, therefore, to the rolls themselves. Now, although the language of the exchequer was not so precise as we could wish, it is possible, more or less, to distinguish and classify these levies. Thus, we have of course a typical 'aid' in the levy for the marriage of the king's daughter (1168), while, on the other hand, we have an equally typical 'scutage' in 1156, in the payments made by the church tenants in lieu of military service.

John of Salisbury implies that scutage was no novelty in 1156 when he writes, not that the king imposed it, but that he 'could not remit it'. This inference is at once confirmed by the appearance of scutage eo nomine in the reign of Henry I.

The following charter is found in the (MS.) Liber Eliensis (Lib. III), No. xxi, and in the Cottonian MS. Nero A. 15:

Et idem Episcopus debet ccxl. li. ut rex clamet eum quietum de superplus militum Episcopatus, et ut Abbatia de Cateriz sit quieta de Warpenna (p. 44).

This entry, moreover, connects the scutagium with the system of knight-service (superplus militum).

The sum is that to which the Ely contribution is reduced by the above charter, and the death of the writer in 1119 proves the early date of the payment.

There is a valuable entry bearing on this point in the roll of 8 Henry II (p. 53). We there read:

Et in liberatione vii. militum soldariorum de toto anno quater xx. et iiii. li. et xviii. s. et viii. d. Et in liberatione xx. servientium de toto anno xxx. li. et vi. s. et viii. d. Et in liberatione viii. Arbalist' viii. li. et xvi. sol. Et in liberatione v. vigilum et i. Portarii vi. li. et xvi. d.

This represents 8d a day to each of the seven knights for a year of 364 days, which, be it observed, corresponds precisely with the statements in the Dialogus: 'Duo milites bajuli clavium quisque in die viii. [den.] ratione militiae; asserunt enim quod equis necessariis et armis instructi fore teneantur', etc. (i. 3). And so, we see, a scutage of two marcs, such as that which was raised for the expedition of Toulouse (1159), would represent, with singular accuracy, 8d a day for the forty days of feudal service, or exactly a knight's pay. Again the pay of the serviens, recorded in this passage, works out at a penny a day for a year of 364 days, which has an important bearing, we shall find, on the roll of three years later (11 Henry II). A similar calculation shows that the porter received 2d a day, and the vigil 1d—the very pay assigned him in the Dialogus (i. 3). There is another similar passage in the roll of 14 Henry II (p. 124):

Et in liberatione i. militis et ii. Portariorum, et ii. vigilum de Blancmost' xviii. li. et v. sol. Et in liberatione xl. servientum de Blancmust' de xxix. septimanis xxxiii. li. et xvi. s. et viii. d. Et xx. servientibus qui remanserunt xxiii. septimanas xiii. li. et viii. s. et iiii. d.

On the roll of 10 Henry II we find: 'Liberatio iiii. militum et ii. servientum de Waletone a festo Ap. Phil' et Jac' usque ad festum S. Luce xxiiii. li. et xx. d.' This works out at exactly 8d a day for the miles, and 1d for the serviens. On the roll of the next year the five knights at Dover are paid £25 for 150 days' service, or exactly 8d a day each. So too on the roll of the thirteenth year we read: 'Liberatio iiii. militum de Waletone xxiii. li. et ix. s. et iiii. d. de clxxvi. diebus.... Et ii. servientibus de clxxvi. diebus xxix. sol. et iiii. d.' Here again the miles gets 8d, the serviens 1d a day. It is needless to multiply instances, but it may be added that similar calculations show the sailors of Richard's crusading fleet to have received 2d and their boatswains 4d a day.

The first levy to which the rolls bear witness is that of 1156. As this was only raised from the church fiefs, Henry II was, as yet, confining himself strictly to the precedent set him, as we know, in his grandfather's reign. This levy was at the rate of one pound on the fee, and was made on the old assessment (servitium debitum).

Miss Norgate, adopting this explanation, writes:

I. (Fixed) A donum of two marcs on the fee from the under-tenants of the church, raised by fiefs on the old assessment (servitium debitum).

II. (Fixed ?) A donum of (it is said) two marcs on the fee from the under-tenants of the lay barons, raised partly by counties and partly by fiefs.

III. (Arbitrary) A donum from the church tenants-in-chief themselves, irrespective of their fees.

IV. (Arbitrary) A donum from some of the non-feudal religious houses (tenants in elemosina, and not by military service).

V. (Arbitrary) A donum from the towns.

VI. (Arbitrary) A donum from the sheriffs.

VII. (Arbitrary) A donum from the Jewries.

VIII. (Arbitrary) A donum from the moneyers.

Of these, the first was strictly regular, being merely a repetition of the scutage of 1156, at the rate of two marcs instead of twenty shillings. The second presents some difficulty. Subject to correction, there are some fifteen cases in which the payment is made separately by fiefs, and in which the rate is clearly two marcs, while there are twenty-two in which the milites of the county pay as a group through the sheriff, and in which, therefore, we cannot actually test the rate of the levy or the manner of raising it. Swereford's ipse dixit as to the rate in these latter cases was probably based on analogy, here our only guide.

With the third and fourth divisions we return to sure ground. To them I invite particular attention, because it is to them (and especially to the third) that apply the complaints of the church chroniclers, and not (as has always, but erroneously, been supposed) to the perfectly legitimate levy of two marcs on the fee. It is necessary to emphasize the fact that the matter has been wholly misunderstood. The bitter complaint of John of Salisbury that Henry, on this occasion, 'omnibus (contra antiquum morem et debitam libertatem) indixit ecclesiis ut pro arbitrio ejus satraparum suorum conferrunt in censum', would have been without meaning had it referred (as alleged) to the latter levy (or even to the insignificant sums contributed ut supra by eight foundations); but when we learn that, over and above this legitimate levy, a far larger sum was arbitrarily wrung from the church, the truth and justice of the protest are at once made evident. I here give two tables illustrative of this exaction. Each is divided into three columns. In the first column I give the number of the knights due from each bishopric and each religious house. In the second column I give the marcs due, and paid on this occasion, on the old assessment (servitium debitum). In the third will be found the exaction complained of, namely, the dona extorted from the spiritual 'barons' themselves.

Sees Knights due Donum of Knights (in marcs) Donum of Tenant (in marcs)

Winchester 60 120 500

Lincoln 60 120 500

Worcester 60 120 200

Norwich 40 80 200

Bath 20 40 500

London 20 40 200

Exeter 17½ 35 150

Chester 15 30 100

Durham 10 20 500

York 7 14 500

Total — 619 3,350

Religious Houses Knights due Donum of Knights (in marcs) Donum of Tenant (in marcs)

Peterborough 60 120 100

St Edmund's 40 80 200

Glastonbury 40 80 —

Abingdon 30 60 60

Hyde 20 40 150

St Augustine's 15 30 220

St Alban's 6 12 100

Evesham 5 10 60

Wilton 5 10 20

Ramsey 4 8 60

St Benet of Hulme 3 6 30

Pershore 3 — 7½

Chertsey 3 6 60

Cerne 3 6 —

Winchcombe 2 4 7½

Middleton 2 4 —

Sherburne 2 — 10

Abbotsbury 1 2 7½

Total — 482 1,092½

The discovery of this exaction identifies, it will be seen, in spite of Swereford's error, the levy accounted for on the roll with the famous 'scutage of Toulouse'. And if even further proof were needed, it is found in an incidental allusion which clinches the argument. Giraldus Cambrensis (iii. 357) refers to Bishop Henry of Winchester assembling all the priests of his diocese 'tanquam ad auxilium postulandum (dederat enim paulo ante quingentas marcas regi Henrico ad expeditionem Tholosanam)'. The sum here named is that which he paid in 1159, as my table shows. Its destination is thus established, as also, it may be noted, the means by which he was expected to recoup himself.

Before taking leave of 'the great scutage', another point demands notice. Gervase of Canterbury sets forth its proceeds in terms of great precision:

Hoc anno rex Henricus scotagium sive scutagium de Anglia accepit, cujus summa fuit centum millia et quater viginti millia librarum argenti (i. 167).

The fifth levy, on the other hand, in 1165 (11 Henry II), affords most valuable evidence, although it is ignored by Swereford and by those who have followed him. It is, however, of a singular character. The money was raised, we gather from the roll, on two different systems:

(I) By a fixed payment at the rate of one marc on the fee (old assessment).

This was the last levy raised previous to the making of the returns (cartae) in 1166. These returns were followed in 1168 by the first levy on the new assessment. I have already dealt with the changes which this new assessment involved, but I would here again insist upon the fact that the church and the lay fiefs were not dealt with alike, the latter being assessed wholly de novo, while the former retained their old assessments, while accounting separately, and under protest, for the fees in excess of their servitium debitum. So far as the lay fiefs were concerned, their servitia, congenital with Norman rule, were now swept away. Here, from the single county of Northumberland, are three cases in point:

1162 1168

Walterus de Bolebec redd. comp. de iiii. marcis et dim. de eodem auxilio.

Idem debet xlviii. s. et v. d. pro tribus Militibus et ii^abus. terciis partibus Mil. de Novo feffamento.

De scutagio Stephani de Bulemer. In thesauro v. marcae. Stephanus de Bulemer redd. comp. de iiii. marcis de eodem auxilio. Idem debet xxiii. s. et iiii. d. de i. milite et dim. et quarta parte Mil. de Novo feffamento.

Radulfus de Wigornio redd. comp. de i. marca de eodem auxilio pro i. milite.

Idem debet xiii. s. de dim. Mil. et de i. tercia et de i. septima parte Mil. de Novo feffamento.

IV. THE TOTAL NUMBER OF KNIGHTS DUE

There are two estimates for the total of which we are in search. One is 32,000 knights; the other 60,000.

Meins de seisante mile, e plus de seisante treis,

Making, therefore, every allowance, we shall probably be safe in saying that the whole servitium debitum, clerical and lay, of England can scarcely have exceeded, if indeed it reached, 5,000 knights.

V. THE NORMAL KNIGHT'S FEE

Much labour has been vainly spent on attempts to determine the true area of a knight's fee. The general impression appears to be that it contained five hides. Mr Pearson, we have seen, based on that assumption his estimate of 6,400 fees, and other writers have treated the fee as the recognized equivalent of five hides. The point is of importance, because if we found that the recognized area of a knight's fee was five hides, it would give us a link between the under-tenant (miles) and the Anglo-Saxon thegn. But, as Dr Stubbs has recognized, the assumption cannot be maintained; no fixed number of hides constituted a knight's fee.

The circumstance of a fee, in many cases consisting of five hides, is merely, I think, due to the existence of five-hide estates, survivals from the previous régime. We have an excellent instance of such fees in a very remarkable document, which has hitherto, it would seem, remained unnoticed. This is a transcript, in Heming's Cartulary, of a hidated survey of the Gloucestershire Manors belonging to the See of Worcester. I believe it to be earlier than Domesday itself, in which case, of course, it would possess a unique interest. Here are the entries, side by side, relating to the great episcopal Manor of Westbury (on Trym), Gloucestershire.

Cartulary Domesday

Huesberie. Ibi fuerunt et sunt l. hidae.... De hac terra hujus Manerii tenet Turstinus filius Rolf v. hidas in Austrecliue et Gislebertus filius Turold iii. hidas et dimidiam jn Contone, et Constantinus v. hidas jn Icetune.... De eadem terra hujus Manerii tenet Osbernus Gifard v. hidae et nullum servitium facit.... Quod homines tenent (valet) ix. libras.

The three five-hide holdings, we find, figure in both alike, but Gilbert fitz Thorold's holding of three hides and a half appears in addition in Domesday. The inference, surely would seem to be that Gilbert was enfeoffed between the date of the survey recorded in the Cartulary and the date of the Domesday Survey. If so, the former survey is, as I have suggested, the earlier; and in that survey we have the three tenants of five-hide holdings described eo nomine as the bishop's milites.

VI. THE EARLY EVIDENCE

We will now work upwards from the cartae to the Conquest.

Further, we have a notable communication to the abbot from Bishop Nigel of Ely, which must refer to the scutage of 1156 or to that of 1159 (probably the former):

Lastly, we have the return in the Black Book (1166):

Homines faciunt iiii. milites in communi in servitium domini regis, ita quod tota terra abbatiae communicata est cum eis per hidas ad prædictum servitium faciendum.

Prof Maitland, writing on the Court of the Abbey of Ramsey, in the thirteenth century, observes that:

The phenomenon, however, for which we have to account is the appearance from the earliest period to which our information extends of certain quotas of knight-service, clearly arbitrary in amount, as due from those bishops and abbots who held by military service. When and how were these quotas fixed? The answer is given by Matthew Paris—one of the last quarters in which one would think of looking—where we read that, in 1070, the Conqueror

episcopatus quoque et abbatias omnes quae baronias tenebant, et eatenus ab omni servitute seculari libertatem habuerant, sub servitute statuit militari, inrotulans episcopatus et abbatias pro voluntate sua quot milites sibi et successoribus suis hostilitatis tempore voluit a singulis exhiberi (Historia Anglorum, i. 13).

But the Abingdon Chronicle, quite independently, gives the same explanation, and traces the quota of knights to the action taken by the Crown:

Moreover, the Ely Chronicle bears the same witness, telling us that William Rufus, at the commencement of his reign,

It also tells us that, when undertaking his campaign against Malcolm (1072), the Conqueror

At Ely, the abbot

It was to guard against the nepotism of the heads of monastic houses that such a clause as this was occasionally inserted:

And by their conduct in this matter, abbots, in the Norman period, were largely judged. But this has been a slight digression.

Being addressed to Æthelwig, the writ, of course, must be previous to his death in 1077, but I think that we can date it, perhaps, with precision, and that it belongs to the year 1072. In that year, says the Ely chronicler, the Conqueror, projecting his invasion to Scotland, 'jusserat tam abbatibus quam episcopis totius Angliae debita militiae obsequia transmitti', a phrase which applies exactly to the writ before us. In that year, moreover, the movements of William fit in fairly with the date for which the feudal levy was here summoned. We know that he visited Normandy in the spring, and invaded Scotland in the summer, and he might well summon his baronage to meet him on June 3rd, on his way from Normandy to Scotland, at so convenient a point as Clarendon. The writ, again, being witnessed at Winchester, may well have been issued by the king on his way out or back.

It will startle the reader, doubtless, to learn that there is in existence so curious a document as a list of knights' fees drawn up in Old English. Headed 'these beth thare Knystene londes', etc., and terming a knight's fee a 'knystesmetehom', it has been placed by the Editors of the new Monasticon (ii. 477) among documents of the Anglo-Saxon era, but belongs, I think (from internal evidence), to about the same period as the cartae (1166). The original is extant in a Cartulary now in the British Museum.

VII. THE WORCESTER RELIEF (1095)

It was urged in the earlier part of this paper that Ranulf Flambard had been assigned a quite unwarrantable share in the development of feudalism in England. But so little is actually known of what his measures were that they have hitherto largely remained matter of inference and conjecture. It may be well, therefore, to call attention to a record which shows him actually at work, and which illustrates the character of his exactions by a singularly perfect example.

Testibus Ranulfo capellano & Eudone dapifero & Ursone de abetot. Et qui hoc facere noluerit, Urso & bernardus sasiant et terras et pecunias in manu mea.

The points on which this document throws fresh light are these. First, and above all, the exaction of reliefs by William Rufus and his minister, which formed so bitter a grievance at the time, and to which, consequently, Dr Stubbs and Mr Freeman had devoted special attention. On this we have here evidence which is at present unique. It must therefore be studied in some detail.

If the sums entered be added up, their total will amount to exactly £250. It is tempting to connect this figure with a servitium debitum (teste episcopo) of fifty fees at the 'ancient relief' of £5 a fee; but we are only justified in treating it as one of those round sums that we find exacted for relief under Henry II, especially as its items cannot be connected with the actual knights' fees. The appended analysis will show the relation (where ascertainable) of sums paid to hides held.

Domesday, 1086 The Relief, 1095

h. v. £ s

Roger de Laci 23 2 Hugh de Laci 20 0

Walter Ponther 10 2 Walter Punther 20 0

Gilbert fitz Thorold 7 2 Gilbert fitz Thorold 5 0

Bishop of Hereford 5 0 Bishop Robert [of Hereford] 10 0

Abbot of Evesham 9 0 Abbot of Evesham 30 0

Walter fitz Roger 8 0 Walter de Gloucester 20 0

Durand the sheriff 6 0 Roger fitz Durand 10 0

Winebald de Balaon 10 0

Drogo 10 0 Drogo fitz Ponz 10 0

Schelin 5 0 Robert fitz Schilin 5 0

Robert Stirman 3 0

Anschitil 2 0 Anschitil de Colesbourne 10 0

Roger de Compton 1 0

Eudo 1 3 Eudo 3 0

William de Begeberi 2 0

Richard & Franca 5 0

Ansgot 1 2 Angot 1 0

Berald 1 0

William de Wick 1 0

Robert fitz Nigel 5 0

Ælfric the archdeacon 4 0 Ælfric the archdeacon 5 0

Orderic 6 1 Orderic the Dapifer 40 0

Orderic Orderic Black 5 0

Coleman 2 0

Warine 1 10

Baldwin 2 0

Swegen fitz Azor 1 0

Alfred 1 10

Siward 5 0 Siward 2 0

Sawulf 15 0

Ælfar 2 0

Cheping 1 0

——————

£250 0

The chief difficulty that this list presents is its omission of the principal tenant of the see, Urse d'Abetot. One can only assign it to the fact of his official position as sheriff enabling him to secure exemption for himself, and perhaps even for his brother, Robert 'Dispensator'. Their exemption, however accounted for, involved an arbitrary assessment of all the remaining tenants, irrespective of the character or of the extent of their tenure. With these remarks I must leave a document, which is free from anachronism or inconsistency, and as trustworthy, I think, as it is useful.

It is my hope that this paper may increase the interest in the forthcoming edition of the Liber Rubeus under the care of Mr Hubert Hall, and that it may lead to a reconsideration of the problems presented by the feudal system as it meets us in England. Nor can I close without reminding the reader that if my researches have compelled me to differ from an authority so supreme as Dr Stubbs, this in no way impugns the soundness of his judgment on the data hitherto known. The original sources have remained so strangely neglected, that it was not in the power of any writer covering so wide a field to master the facts and figures which I have now endeavoured to set forth, and on which alone it is possible to form a conclusion beyond dispute.

which are the reply to the fears of the barons (Norm. Conq., iii. 298):