9S 



which were divided into small tenements of nearly equal value and possessed 

 of equal rights of commonage. In Herefordshire, the projarietors of the 

 land, as we shomld now call them, were but 35 in number at the time of the 

 Domesday Survey. Foremost among these was the king himself, for although 

 strictly speaking all lands were held direct from him by their feudal lords j'et 

 only those were entered in the lOng's name which had not been formally 

 granted by him to others. Together with less important places he held Leo- 

 minster, Marcle, Marden, Lugwardine, and Kingston, and received in rent 

 from the city of Hereford 601bs. weight of bright and new pennies. Next in 

 order came the Bishop of Hereford, and it is worthy of remark that with the 

 exception of some few changes made in the reign of Elizabeth, the present 

 possessiiins of the see differ but slightly from those which were attached to it 

 in the C onqueror's time. The alien priories of Cormeillies and Lyre, enriched 

 by the munificence of William Fitzosborne, Earl of Hereford, were proprietors 

 toaconsiderable extent ; as also was the Priory ofS. Guthlac, which Walter de 

 Lacy founded, within the city of Hereford. Next in order, inasmuch as he 

 was a priest, follows the name of Nigel, the physician, a well-paid functionary 

 if we were to estimate the thousand acres which he held at their present value. 

 The chief barons who had grants in Herefordshire were Ralph de Todeni, the 

 Conqueror's standard-bearer at the battle of Hastings ; Ralph de Mortimer, 

 whose name needs no comment ; Roger de Laci, who has left the impress of 

 ownership upon a dozen places in the county ; Robert Gernon, progenitor of 

 the old county family ; Garnons of Garnons ; Alured, of Marlborough, who 

 had been a Thane under the Confessor ; and Osbern Fitz Richard, son of that 

 powerful baron who erected Richard's Castle, the last trysting place of the 

 Woolhope Club. Two lesser proprietors must be' noticed — Hugo Lasne, i.e, 

 Hugh, the ass, whose success in his lifetime seems to belie his nickname ; and 

 the nameless wife of Ralph, the chaislain. Who this lady was we know not, 

 but the very mention of her status serves to remind us that celibacy among the 

 clergy was not the rule in the 11th century. 



Passing now from the lords to their tenants we must bear in mind that the 

 latter were divided into several distinct classes of freemen and bondsmen. To 

 begin with the free tenants of the first degree, we find in Herefordshire and in 

 other counties bordering on Wales, certain persons called Radknights, or Rad- 

 men, who appeared to have enjoyed then- freeholds by the performance of some 

 slight farm service for the lord — rendering him help at seed and harvest time — 

 and following him to battle on horseback. The usual tenement of a Radknight 

 was about ICO acres, and occasionally he was lord of a manor and held im- 

 mediately from the crown. Almost on a par with the Radnights were the 

 Sochemen, who held their lands from the chief lord by certain defined services. 

 There was nothing to prevent them from being themselves lords of manors ; 

 nothing (in most cases) to jirevent them from selling their estates or from 

 changing their lords — poter at ire quo vohiit is the common phrase used in 

 Domesday to express their freedom on the part of a Socheman. 



