Note 411 — Chapter VII · FROM THE ELECTION OF EADWARD TO THE BANISHMENT OF GODWINE.[1] 1042–1051. (continued 3)

Chron. Petrib. “And se eorl nolde na geðwærian þære infare; forþan him wæs lað to amyrrene his agene folgað.” One might be tempted to believe that this last word implied some special connexion between Godwine and Dover, were it not that we directly after read, “on Swegenes eorles folgoðe,” where it can hardly mean more than that the place was within his jurisdiction as Earl. The very first entry in Domesday represents Godwine as receiving a third of the royal revenues in Dover, but this was of course simply his regular revenue as Earl. The relations of the townsmen to the Crown are rather minutely described. They held their privileges by providing twenty ships yearly for fifteen days; each had a crew of twenty-one men. There is not a word to show that the demands of Eustace and his followers were other than utterly illegal.