The Rural Population of England. 173 



lords of manors possessed tliese franchises, and all inhabitants 

 of the tenement lands became socmen, or, as the terms were 

 then identical, socagers. But when the system was still in 

 process of development, only those villani would be socmen 

 whose thegns had obtained these franchises by special grant ; 

 and on the other- hand there might be tenants living within 

 the jurisdiction of a thegn, and thus properly socmen, who 

 were not members of the organized village communities. There 

 were therefore villnai who were not socmen, and there might 

 be socmen who were not villani. In a register like Domesday 

 Book it would be natural to enumerate a great class like the 

 villani^ which was found throughout England, under this, its 

 special name, and that whether they were strictly socmen or 

 not ; while the term socmen would be reserved for those who 

 were not villani^ and yet who stood like these under the soc of 

 a lord or a manor. 



It appears probable, therefore, that the socJiemanni of Domes- 

 day Book were persons holding tracts of land independent of 

 the organized village communities, but coming like the villa- 

 gers under the jurisdiction of the thegn. We might, there- 

 fore, expect them to be a comparatively scattered and occasional 

 class ; and the record shows that as a matter of fact there was 

 a great disparity in their position and protection. We find 2 

 sochemanni of 24 acres of arable land, and 4 of meadow ; 14 of 

 9 acres ; 12 of 40 acres ; 5 of 20 acres ; 1 of 1-2 hide ; 3 of 1-2 

 hide, etc. Their position in the record varies also ; sometimes 

 they are enumerated with the other classes [2 sochemanni^ 1 

 villanus, and 1 hordarius — 25 sochemanni and 15 villani.~\ very 

 rarely standing last. Sometimes they are put by themselves 

 [5 sochemanni of 3 hides, and 35 villani and 20 hordarii.\ A 

 very common expression is, " There belonged to this manor so 

 many sochemanni.^'' Occasionally a socman seems to rank 

 almost as a thegn ; as " in Nortun, 1 sochemannus with 81 acres 

 of land, and 1 acre of meadow, and 1 villanus and 7 hordarii ; 

 and he was of a free man of Roger Bigod." Here we have 



