THE BURTON CHARTULARY. 153 
oxen. There is much to support this view in the “‘ Axtenta terrarum” of the 
Abbey of Burton, temp. H. I. ; but the monks do not treat the hide and the 
carucate as synonymous. 
Seebohm is of opinion that the normal virgate was about thirty acres; but 
virgates of much larger dimensions are frequently mentioned on the Rolls, and 
I should be inclined to fix thirty-six as the normal number of acres fo the 
virgate, viz., two bovates of eighteen acres each. But all that can be said 
positively on the subject is, that a virgate was the normal holding of the 
‘* villanus ;” and this holding included in addition to the land under tillage, 
rights of common on the manorial waste, and of pannage and estover in the 
manorial woods. The villanus in fact was really a well-to-do and usually 
prosperous tenant, with fixity of tenure ; for the obligation of his possession 
was reciprocal ; and though he could not remove from his holding, the lord 
could not dispossess him so long as he performed his accustomed service. 
There is no trace of servitude in his position or status, and Domesday always 
distinguishes the ‘‘ villani” from the ‘‘ servi.” 
G. W. 
[FINI1s.] 
