THE DOMESDAY SURVEY 



ceived from the royal manors, whether of' ancient demesne' or acquired 

 since the Conquest ; and there were certain payments, more or less 

 archaic, often representing money commutations of some contribution 

 due in kind. 



The most striking feature, perhaps, presented by the local manors 

 of ' ancient demesne ' (that is, those which had been held by the Crown 

 before the Conquest) is the roundness of the sums received from them. 

 Hardingstone, Rothwell, and Brixworth were valued at £2^ ^ Y^^^ 

 apiece, Gretton, Tansor, and Finedon at jC^o. Fawsley, Brigstock, 

 Faxton, Kingsthorpj and Upton at £1^- Even in the very few cases 

 where the sums seem to be odd, the same system can be traced. Thus, 

 for instance, the adjoining manors of Nassington (>C26 1 3J.) and 

 Apthorpe {£1^ 7^-) constitute a joint whole paying ^(^40. From this 

 we may infer that Barnwell {£12 6/. 6<J.) must have had some cor- 

 relative, the payment from which would have similarly made its value 

 even money. This valuation in round sums of the old royal manors is 

 found in other parts of the country, and points to a primitive financial 

 system.^ The old rents, clearly, were revised at the time of the Domes- 

 day Survey, but with no definite results. Some were raised considerably, 

 a few lowered, and a fair number remained unchanged. In addition to 

 these ancient manors the forfeiture of earl Morcar had brought to the 

 Crown Casterton (now in Rutland), together, doubtless, with King's ClifFe 

 and Weekley, which had been held by his father iElfgar. The death 

 of Edith, Edward's queen, had increased the demesne of the king, as 

 her heir, by the rich manor of Finedon, and by a group of manors in 

 the Rutland portion of the country, which were farmed, en 6/oc, in 

 accordance with a practice common at the time, by a great tenant-in- 

 chief (in Hampshire), Hugh de Fort.^ The rental of all queen Edith's 

 manors had been at least doubled since king Edward's time. 



Northamptonshire is one of a group of counties which present in 

 common a feature as yet imperfectly realised. This is the payment of 

 certain sums for special purposes connected with the king. At the head 

 of the survey of the shire we find this entry : — 



Northantone scire reddit firmam trium noctium xxx. libras ad pondus. Ad 

 canes xlii. libras albas de xx. in ora. De dono reginae et de feno x. libras et v. oras. 

 De accipitre x. libras. De summario xx. solidos. De elemosina xx. solidos. De 

 equo venatoris xx. solidos.^ 



On turning to Oxfordshire, adjoining it on the south, we find a very 

 similar entry, beginning : ' Comitatus Oxeneford reddit firmam trium 

 noctium' (fo. i54<^). Each county has to pay twenty shillings for a 

 sumpter horse, and ^Tio for a hawk ; and each has to make a con- 

 tribution towards the king's hounds, though that of Oxfordshire is £2^, 



' See the Commune of London and other studies, pp. 70-72 ; Feudal England, pp. 1 10— 1 15. 

 * Earl Morcar's manor of Casterton was similarly farmed by Hugh Fitz Baldric, a 

 Yorkshire tenant-in-chief. 



' See Domesday text for translation and further comments. 



273 



