THE DOMESDAY SURVEY 



times in Domesday. Further illustration of the survival in 'Nassaburgh' 

 of the system prevailing to its north-east, beyond the Welland, is found 

 in the very singular formula employed at Werrington, Wittering, and 

 Clinton : ' There were, in king Edward's time, thirty ploughs ' (fos. 

 22 1, 22 1^). For this is a Leicestershire formula.' 



Before we pass from this subject it may be desirable to recapitulate 

 the chief conclusions at which we have arrived. It has been shown that 

 the assessment of the shire originally stood in all probability at 3,200 

 ' hides.' But, ' in the day of Edward the King,' the assessment stood 

 no higher than 2,664. The ' geld-roll ' figures lead us to believe that 

 the difference is accounted for by reductions in assessment, varying in 

 amount on certain Hundreds, some of the Hundreds being still rated 

 at 100 'hides,' while others fall short, more or less, of that amount.* 

 From this total of 2,664 ^ further subtraction was made, after the Nor- 

 man Conquest, but before the date of the ' geld-roll,' by striking off so 

 many ' hides ' from the assessment of each Hundred as ' Inland ' (exempt 

 from geld). Lastly, a further reduction was granted even before Domes- 

 day, the final result being that the south-western Hundreds had 60 hides 

 struck off their original assessment (instead of 40 as in the 'geld-roll'), 

 while in 11 30 the assessment of the whole shire had sunk to 1193! 

 ' hides.' 



We have further seen reason to believe that the 'ploughlands' in the 

 south of the county represent an artificial decimal arrangement, while 

 those in the north show traces of a no less artificial duodecimal arrange- 

 ment, similar to that prevailing in the counties on which they border. 



One of the special difficulties presented by the Domesday portion 

 of Northamptonshire is that which is caused by its inclusion of manors 

 in other counties. This is a disturbing element in more ways than 

 one, for these intruding manors present features of assessment at variance 

 with those prevailing in the shire. As an instance of this peculiarity, 

 and of the confusion it may cause, the Northamptonshire fief of William 

 Fitz Ansculf comprises four manors, of which one is in Rutland, one in 

 Northamptonshire, one in Staffordshire, and one in Warwickshire ! 

 Nearly two centuries ago, Morton, an early student of the record, who 

 had printed its text for Northamptonshire (171 2), drew attention, in his 

 MS. Notes, to this peculiarity.' It is, however, only now that we can 



' See Maitland's Domesday Book and Beyond, pp. 421, 469. Mr. Maitland, who seems 

 to have been unaware of these Northamptonshire cases, points out that 'on no single 

 occasion,' in Leicestershire, where this formula is used, is the number of ploughlands men- 

 tioned. But in the three Northamptonshire manors above, the number of ploughlands is 

 given. 



^ This applies pro rata to the 'double' Hundreds and to those of (originally) 150 hides. 

 It is probable that the curious sum of 62 hides, at which stand the Hundreds of Huxlow, 

 Willibrook, Navisford, and Polebrook, is accounted for by a block reduction of 150 hides on 

 the 400 hides of these adjacent Hundreds. This would reduce them severally to 62^, or, 

 excluding the fraction, 62. 



' Additional MS. (Brit. Mus.), 3560, fo. 159. 



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