By the Rev W. H. Jones. 61 
for all practical purposes she was the Lady Paramount in the Hun- 
dred of Bradford. To her Court Baron, all who held lands within 
the Hundred, by whatever tenure, were obliged to do suit. Some, 
indeed, of the tenants must have held their lands immediately un- 
der the Abbess, as in Domesday no less than thirteen out of the 
Jorty-two hides at which the manor was assessed, are said to have 
been in demesne, that is, kept in the hands of the Abbess herself 
(terre dominicales). "The revenue derived from the whole posses- 
sions bestowed by Ethelred in this charter was large. Bradford 
with its appendages is valued in Domesday Book at £60, a sum 
which, if we are to adopt Wyndham’s plan of calculating its relative 
value in the present day, would amount to more than £4000. 
Of others holding lands under the Abbess more or less directly, 
there were some that held by tenure in Villenage, that is, according 
to the custom of the manor, or otherwise, at the will of the Lady of 
the Manor, on condition of doing her vil/eine? service ;—again, there 
were others that held by tenure in Burgage, on condition, that is, 
of paying to the Abbess a certain rent by the year for the tenements 
they oceupied, this last being the same as the tenure in Socage? 
among the Anglo-Saxons. Of the former Domesday Book mentions 
36,—of the latter 28. 
Though the authority of the Lady Abbess thus extended over 
the Hundred of Bradford, there were, nevertheless, sundry others 
‘See Wyndham’s ‘Domesday Book for Wiltshire.’ Introd. p. 20. ‘The 
Domesday shillings and pounds are first multiplied by three which will reduce 
the ancient money to the present weight. The sum is then multiplied by 73, 
to make it accord with the modern value of gold and silver. ‘To this is added 
another multiplication by 3, because the real value of the land is now three 
times as much as formerly, without any consideration of the plenty or scarcity 
of money.” This brings the whole multiple to 673. Thus £60 x 674=£4050. 
* This word is now used only in a bad sense. It had no such meaning origi- 
nally, though it always denoted, of course, an inferior. ‘‘It is derived,” says 
Coke, ‘‘ from the French word villaine, and that @ villa, quia ville adscriptus 
est : for they which are now called villunt, of ancient times were called adscrip- 
tit.” Coke upon Littleton ii. 11.§172. ‘The villani were the originals of 
our present Copyholders and held their lands by doing the services of husbandry 
on the lord’s demesne, which were, in after times, commuted for what is now 
called a Quit rent.” Wyndham’s ‘Domesday,’ Introd. p. 10. 
* Coke upon Littleton, ii. 10. § 162. 
