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The History of Tewkesbury
By James Bennett
Transcriptions by Rosemary Lockie, © Copyright 2015
CHAPTER VII.
SURVEY OF THE MANOR, TRANSLATED FROM DOMESDAY-BOOK THE record called Domesday [96] is the most valuable piece of
antiquity possessed by any nation; it still remains fair and
legible, and is deposited in the chapter-house at Westminster,
where it may be consulted on paying the proper officer a fee
of six shillings and eight-pence, and four-pence for every line
transcribed. This record was printed under the auspices of
his late majesty, George the third, at the expense of the
nation, for the use of the members of both houses of parliament
and the public libraries.
In this survey, Tewkesbury appears under the title Terra
Regis;[97] and the following extensive possessions are described
in it as belonging to this manor.
In Tewkesbury (Teodechesberie) there were in King Edward's
time fourscore and fifteen hides.[98] Of these there are
forty-five in the demesne, and they were free from all royal
service and tax, except service to the lord of the manor.
In the capital manor there were twelve ploughs[99] in the
demesne, and fifty bondmen and bondwomen,[100] and sixteen
bordars[101] had their residence about the hall; and two mills
of twenty shillings,[102] and one fishery, and one salt pit at
Droitwich (Wicham), belong to this manor.
At Southwick (Sudwicham) there are three hides. In Tredington
(Trotintune) six hides. In Fiddington (Fitentone)
six hides. In Pamington (Pamintonie) eight hides. In Natton
(Natone) three hides and a half. In Walton-Cardiff (Waltone)
three hides.
In Aston-upon-Carron (Estone) there are six hides. There
were twenty-one villanes[103]- there, and nine radchenistres,[104]
having twenty-six ploughs; and five coliberts[105] and one bordar
with five ploughs. These radchenistres ploughed and harrowed
the lord's manor.
In Gloucester (Glouuecestre) there were eight burgesses,[106]
paying five shillings and four-pence, and doing service at the
lord's court.
In the whole of Tewkesbury (Teodechesberie) there are one
hundred and twenty acres[107] of meadow; and a wood, one
mile[108] and a half long, and equally broad.
At Tewkesbury (Teodekesberie) there are now thirteen burgesses,
paying twenty shillings a year. A market which the
queen established there pays eleven shillings and eight-pence.
There are one plough more, and twenty-two bondmen and
bondwomen. One fishery, and one salt pit at Droitwich
(Wicham). Three radchenistres belonged thereto in King
Edward's time. One of them held six hides in Aston-upon-Carron
(Estone). Girard now holds them. Another held
three hides in Walton-Cardiff (Waltone). Ralph now holds
them. The third held two hides in Fiddington (Fitentone).
Bernard now holds them. In these eleven hides there are
ten ploughs in the demesne; and four villanes and one bordar
and nine bondmen with one plough. There are eighteen acres
of meadow. The whole was in King Edward's time worth ten
pounds;[109] and is of the same value now.
At Oxendon (Oxendone) there were in King Edward's time
a hall and five hides belonging to Tewkesbury (Teodekesberie).
There are five ploughs in the demesne there; and five villanes
and two radchenistres having seven ploughs, and twelve bondmen
and bondwomen. There are twenty-four acres of meadow.
At Winchcomb (Wicecumbe) three burgesses pay forty-pence.
All this is and was worth eight pounds.
Four hides without the demesne, which are in Hanley
Castle (Hanlege) belong to the same manor of Tewkesbury
(Teodekesberie). There were in King Edward's time two
ploughs in the demesne there; and forty villanes and bordars,
and eight bondmen and bondwomen; and a mill at sixteen- pence;
and a wood in which there is an enclosure. This land
was Earl William's, but it now belongs to the king's farm in
Hereford. In King Edward s time it was worth fifteen pounds;
now ten pounds.[110]
In Forthampton (Fortemeltone) nine hides belong to this
manor. There are two ploughs in the demesne; and twenty
villanes and bordars, and six bondmen and bondwomen.
There is wood. It was in King Edward's time worth ten
pounds; now eight pounds. Earl William held these two
lands, and they were taxed in Tewkesbury (Tedekesberie).
In Shenington (Senendone) ten hides belong to the same
manor. There are four ploughs there; and eight villanes
and four bordars and five radchenistres with eight ploughs.
There are twelve bondmen; and a mill of three shillings. This
land is taxed for seven hides. In King Edward's time it was
worth twenty pounds; now eight pounds. It is in the king's
hands. Robert de Olgi holds it to farm.
In Clifford Chambers (Clifort) seven hides belong to the
same manor. There are three ploughs in the demesne; and
fourteen villanes with five ploughs; and a mill of twelve shillings;
and two acres of meadow. There were thirteen bondmen
and bondwomen, and a church, and a priest,[111] with one
plough. It was worth eight pounds; now six pounds. The
queen gave this to Roger de Busli, and it was taxed for four
hides in Tewkesbury (Tedechesberie).
Of the five hundred hides above recounted, which belong
to Tewkesbury (Tedechesberie), fourscore and fifteen hides were
quit and freed from all tax and royal service.
The whole of the manor of Tewkesbury (Tedekesberie)
together, was, in King Edward's time, worth one hundred
pounds; when Ralph received it, twelve pounds, because it
was destroyed and ruined; it is now rated at forty pounds,
yet Ralph pays fifty pounds.
Brictric, the son of Algar, held this manor in King
Edward's time; and he had at that time the underwritten
lands, of other thanes,[112] under his jurisdiction.
One thane held four hides in Ashton-under-Hill (Essetone),
and it was a manor. Girard now holds it, and he has one
plough there; and two villanes with one plough. It is and
was worth forty shillings.
Let held eight hides in Kemerton (Chenemertone), and it
was a manor. Girard now holds it, and he has three ploughs
there; and fourteen villanes with six ploughs. There are
eight bondmen; and three mills of fifteen shillings. It was
worth eight pounds; now six pounds.
Three hides in Bodington (Botintone) belong to this manor.
The same Girard holds them, and has there two ploughs, and
four villanes with three ploughs; and there are three bondmen,
and a mill of eight shillings, and eight acres of meadow. It
is and was worth forty shillings.
One thane held three hides in Wincot (Wenecote). The
queen gave this land to Rainald the chaplain. There are
three villanes there with half a plough. It was worth forty
shilling's.
Dunning held six hides and a half in Alderton {Atdritone);
and in Dixton (Dricledone) four hides and a half; and in
Hinswick (Hundeuuic) a thane held one hide. Hunfrid holds
these lands of the king; and he has four ploughs in the
demesne there; and five villanes and eight bordars with three
ploughs; and one radchenistre with one plough; and in
Winchcomb {Wicecombe) one burgess, and there are reckoned
twelve acres of meadow there. The whole was in King
Edward's time worth eleven pounds; now six pounds.
Four villanes held two hides, and one thane half a hide in
Twyning {Tuninge). There are four ploughs there; and three
acres of meadow. The queen gave this land to John the
chamberlain. It is and was worth thirty-five shillings.
Hermer and Alwin held three hides, save one virgate,[113] in
Stoke-Orchard (Stoches). Bernard now holds them of the
king; and he has one plough in the demesne there, and four
acres of meadow. It was worth sixty shillings; now forty
shillings.
The possessors of these lands in King Edward's time, put
themselves and their lands under the protection of Brictric.
Notes
| [96] |
Domesday-Book is an ancient record or register, drawn up by order of
King William the Conqueror, and contains a general survey of nearly the
whole of the landed property of the kingdom. It was begun in the year
1080, and completed in 1086: commissioners were sent into every county,
and juries summoned and impannelled in each hundred, out of all orders of
freemen, from barons down to the lowest farmers, to give in upon oath to the
commissioners, by verdict or presentment, due information, for the faithful
and impartial execution of it. In the description of the manors and possessions
it is generally stated, how many hides or carucates the land is gelded
or taxed at - whose it was in the time of King Edward - who the present
owner and sub-tenants - what and how much arable land, meadow, pasture
and wood, there is - how much in demesne, how much in tenantry, and what
number of ploughs it will keep - what mills and fishings - how many freemen,
sockmen, coliberti, cotarii, bordarii, radmanni, radchenistres, villanes,
maid-servants and bondmen, there are - in some instances, what young cattle,
sheep, working horses, &c. are upon the land, and how many hogs the woods
will support - sometimes what churches there are, and how many priests or
parsons - what customary rents, prestations and services, are to be paid and
rendered out of the lands - what has been added to the manor, what withheld
from it, and by whom - what land is waste, what the whole was let for
in the time of King Edward - and what the net rent, whether it was too
dear rented, or whether it might be improved. - Kelham's Domesday-Book
Illustrated. |
| [97] |
Mr. Madox, in his History of the Exchequer, says, "the great and
memorable survey of lands holden in demesne within this realm, which was
finished in 1086, and is called Domesday-Book, sheweth, under the title
Terra Regis, what and which the demesnes of the crown were, at that time,
and in the time of King Edward the Confessor; and hath been ever since
counted the great index, to distinguish the king's demesnes from his escheats
and other lands, and from the lands of other men". - And Mr. Brady, in his
Treatise of English Burghs, observes, that what is recorded under the title
Terra Regis, "is said to be in ancient demesne, and consequently entitled
to certain privileges, such as being exempted from all tolls in markets, fairs,
&c. not contributing towards the wages of members of parliament, &c. &c.
These lands were at the time of the survey and afterwards kept in the king's
hands, and managed by praepositi or bailiff's, and called his demesnes, which
in process of time were let to farm to tenants for a considerable part of their
true value, a half, third, or fourth part; and this rent was called a fee-farm
rent; the tenants esteeming what these lands were worth above the
rent, or in respect of their tenure, to be to them as if they were holden in
fee, paying their rent and tallages". |
| [98] |
A hide of land (hida) was supposed to be sufficient to maintain a house
or family: the admeasurement differed in various counties, though it
generally contained one hundred Norman acres, which were equal to one
hundred and twenty English ones, and was valued at about twenty shillings
a year. "The just value of a hide that might fit the whole kingdom never
appears from Domesday, and was ever of an uncertain quantity". - Seld.
Tit. Hon. |
| [99] |
Plough (carucata) signifies what we call a team's tillage, or as much
land as may be tilled and laboured with one plough, and the beasts belonging
thereto, in a year, having meadow, pasture, and houses for the
householders and cattle belonging to it. This must of course be different in
different soils: not less probably than eighty acres, or more than one
hundred and twenty. The Norman scribes so frequently made abbreviations,
that car. was put alike for caruca, the cart or team, and carucata, a
team's tillage; and it is not in every case clear which of the two is meant.
"The hide was the measure of land in the Confessor's reign, the carucate
that to which it was reduced hy the Conqueror's new standard". - Seld.
Tit. Hon. |
| [100] |
Bondmen (servi) and bondwomen (ancillae) differed in many instances
from those of the villani: they were indeed mere slaves to the lord; they
were incapable of acquiring any property by inheritance, industry or gift;
their money, goods and lands, being seizable at the option of the baron,
who was only restrained by the common law from maiming or killing his
vassals, or ravishing the female slaves or nieves. |
| [101] |
Bordars (bordarii) were tenants who held a bord or cottage with land,
but were in a very servile condition. "The yeomanry are styled bordarii
in Domesday-Book; who held a small parcel of land of the manor, on condition
of supplying the lord with poultry and other small provisions for his
board and entertainment: hence the lands so held are called bord lands". (Kennett's
Paroch. Antiq.) The word yeoman was not at that period
synonymous with farmer, as in the modern acceptation. Bishop Latimer,
in his first sermon preached before King Edward the sixth, at Westminster,
on the 8th of March, 1549, exhibits a just picture of the ancient English
yeomanry: "My father was a yeoman, and had no landes of his owne,
onely he had a farme of three or foure pounds by the yere at the uttermost,
and hereupon he tilled so much as kept half a dozen men. Hee had walke
for an hundred sheepe, and my mother milked thirtie kine. He was able,
and did find the king a harnesse, with himself and his horse, while he came
to the place that he should receive the king's wages. I can remember that
I buckled his harnesse, when he went to Blackheath field. He kept me to
schoole, or else I had not beene able to have preached before the king's
majestic now. He married my sisters with five pound, or twenty nobles a
peece, so that he brought them up in godlinesse and feare of God. He kept
hospitalitie for his poore neighbours, and some almes he gave to the
poore; and all this did he of the said farme. Where hee that nowe hath it,
payeth sixteene pound by the yeare or more, and is not able to doe anie
thing for his prince, for himselfe, nor for his children, or give a cup of
drinke to the poore". |
| [102] |
The shilling (sol.) mentioned in Domesday "consisted of twelve-pence,
and was equal in weight to something more than three of our shillings; so
that the Norman pound, consisting of twenty such shillings, was three
pounds two shillings of our present money. The Saxon shilling was valued
at five-pence, and forty-eight of them went to the pound: one of their pence
being three times the weight of our silver penny. It is observable, there
was no such piece of money as the shilling coined in this kingdom t[ill the]
year 1504. The penny was anciently the only current silver coin, till about
the reign of King John, or 7 Edw. I. according to others, when the silver
half-penny and farthing were introduced; but in the year 1350, King
Edward the third began to coin large pieces, which, from their size, obtained
the name of groats. Crowns and half-crowns were first coined in the year
1551". - (Nash's Worcestershire.) Sir Robert Atkyns, in endeavouring to
shew what proportion the value of silver, at the time of taking the survey,
bore to the value of it in his own time (1712), says, "The rate of necessaries
which subsist human life is the true estimate of money: since therefore
wheat corn seems to be the most necessary of any one thing, we may
best value coin by the price of wheat in the several ages. A bushel of
wheat, soon after the Norman conquest, was sold for a penny, and because
their penny was equal in weight to our three-pence, we may therefore allow
their bushel of wheat to be valued at three-pence. At this day, a bushel of
wheat, one year with another, may be valued at four shillings, which is sixteen
times the value of wheat six hundred years ago: the conclusion will
be, that a man might live in that time as well on twenty shillings a year of
our money, as on sixteen pounds a year at present". - (Atkyns's Gloucestershire.)
Lord Lyttleton has also calculated the nominal and real value of
money soon alter the conquest compared with his own times, and his
estimate agrees pretty nearly with Sir Robert Atkyns's: and if, according
to his mode of reckoning, we set the present medium price of wheat at
eight shillings, and take into account the artificial wants and luxurious
mode of living since introduced, with the additional taxes and other public
burthens, it will appear that a person might live as plentifully upon one
hundred pounds a year at that time as upon five thousand at the present. |
| [103] |
Villanes (villani) were a class of men who inhabited the villages, and
though they ranked above the servi or bordarii, yet they were obliged to
work for their lord without reward. When the conqueror parcelled out this
kingdom to his Norman adventurers, he also gave the inhabitants of the
manors as vassals to cultivate the soil; and when these lords again granted
out their lands to inferior tenants, they reserved to themselves in many
respects an absolute power over the lives and properties of those who held
under them. |
| [104] |
Radchenistre, a free man. They were probably men bound to do a
certain portion of husbandry work, such as to mow or reap during the busy
time in harvest. Du Cange thinks their service consisted in attending their
lord on horseback. |
| [105] |
Coliberts (coliberti) mean those who held in free socage, or one who,
being a villane, was made free - a middle rank between servi and liberi;
doing the work of the first, but holding by the tenure of the latter. |
| [106] |
Burgesses (burgenses) were inhabitants of walled towns or boroughs,
who held their tenements, called burgages, at the will of the lord, and
worked at some trade by his permission, paying him whatever part of the
profits of their industry he might think proper to require. |
| [107] |
In Domesday-Book the tillage land is commonly measured by carucates,
a farm of tillage and pasture by hides, and the meadow by acres. |
| [108] |
It is not accurately ascertained what the mile mentioned in this
survey measures; some call it 1500 paces, and others 2000. |
| [109] |
The pound (lib.) was the weight of a pound of silver, of twelve
ounces. |
| [110] |
It appears that the value of lands varied considerably between the
times of Edward the Confessor and William the Conqueror: some increasing
and others diminishing. |
| [111] |
Priests were not maintained by tithes, but by a certain portion of
land, with its stock of servants and cattle. Dr. Nash says, "wherever
we find a priest mentioned in Domesday, we may conclude there was
a church". |
| [112] |
Thanes (teini) "were the Saxon nobility, and divided into thani
regis, mediocres, and inferiores. The first, in the Saxon times, were equal
to the barons in the Norman times; as the thani mediocres were to the
lesser barons, or lords of manors; and the inferiores made up the lowest
degree of freeholders". - Spelman. |
| [113] |
Virgate, (virgata), a yard land, contained a fourth part of a hide, or
about thirty acres; though in some counties only twenty-four, and in others
not more than fifteen. It varied in quantity according to the richness of the
soil, as did indeed all the other measures of land. |
OCR/transcript by Rosemary Lockie in October 2015.
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