122 DORSET AND KING JOHN. 



A, tlie queen mother, received £28 a year from lands in 

 Ilcliester ; RoLert Berkeley, £30 a year ; Bailebicn, £1 10s., in 

 Langliam, near Gillingliam ; Alan, the steAvard, £4 4s. 6d. in 

 Dalewade and Whitewell portions of the Manor of Fordington, 

 if " m'bris de Fordinton " is to he so rendered ; and to Turstan, 

 son of Godfrey, 5s., in the town of Dorchester ; and to Aide de 

 Alphia, 40s., in the hundred of Norton ; and to Robert, son of 

 Maurice, 5s., in Alkesie. 



The form in which these payments are entered is a little 

 perplexing, and I have vainly searched for some explanation of them. 

 In some cases the grant appears to have been a grant of the land 

 itself, and the li' and s' indicate the number of librates and 

 solidates of land so conveyed, each librate representing land of one 

 pound in annual value.* In other cases the payments seem to 

 have been of fixed value, attached to certain lands, so that the lands 

 themselves were not alienated, but remained in the Royal demesne, 

 and the dues upon them were collected, as they ever had been, by 

 the sheriff, who paid the grants or pensions out of the receipts, so 

 that they were in fact rent charges on the land, not unlike the 

 " rentes " Avhich it has been customary, possibly from Norman 

 times, to charge in Guernsey on lands and houses ; the grant to 

 Geoffrey de Wandestrie of 70s. hj tale in Nordcuri must have 

 been of this nature, for how could a payment of 70s. hi/ tale apply 

 to a grant in land ? Yet this entry is amongst the terra) datse. 

 Some letters patent of John's reign, throw light upon the subject, 

 though as different deductions may be drawn from them I M'ill 

 quote tliem without comment. By letters patent (4 John, Mem. 

 14) the King commands the barons of the Exchequers of Caen to 

 pay to Almar de Tibboville £50, £25 at each of the two sessions 

 of the Exchequer " until we have assigned them to him in land," 

 " quousq' illas ei i' t'ra assignav'im'." 



* Rex vie' Doreset' sal't. T'cip' t' q'd plena' saisin' facias li'ie facias 

 Hob' de novo Buigo de viii li' 't c sol' t're in Fordinget', &c. (Kott. Litt 

 Claus, John 7, 7 Hep.) 



