A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



There is little to be said, in the case of Northamptonshire, on the 

 actual manuscript itself. The survey of the county occupies twenty-one 

 pages (ten and a half folios) of Domesday Book, and its chief peculiarity is 

 the discrepancy, at times, between the order in which the fiefs are entered 

 and the list of the tenants-in-chief at the head of the survey of the shire. 

 That of Hugh de Grentmaisnil was entered by inadvertence before that 

 of earl Hugh of Chester. The numbers prefixed to their names in the 

 text are, therefore, in reverse order. William Peverel's fief also is 

 wrongly numbered in the text, as are the others on its own and the 

 preceding pages. The bishop of Durham, it is clear, had been over- 

 looked by the scribe, for his holding has been huddled in at the foot of 

 a column. This was also the case with the tiny fief of Hugh Luri, and 

 possibly with that of William de ' Cahainges.' It seems probable, from 

 these circumstances, that the numbers were prefixed to the names in the 

 text after the scribe had written it, and that the schedule of tenants-in- 

 chief was added last of all. But our knowledge of the actual system on 

 which Domesday Book was compiled is as yet so imperfect that on this 

 and other points one can only speak with caution. 



THE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE HUNDREDS 



We have in Northamptonshire exceptional facilities for tracing'the 

 changes in the boundaries and names of those venerable divisions of the 

 land, the Hundreds. Our earliest list is found in what I term the 

 Northamptonshire geld-roll, which is of the reign of William I., and 

 some years earlier than Domesday Book. This list gives us the names of 

 28 Hundreds, two of which (' Navereslund ' and ' Uptune ') are styled 

 double Hundreds, while four more (' Neoubotle grave,' ' Gildesburh,' 

 * Hehham ' and ' Wimereslea ') are styled, each, a Hundred and a half.* 

 In Domesday Book the number is unchanged, but on the one hand the 

 Hundreds of East and West ' Hwicceslea' (the Rutland portion of the shire) 

 appear there as one only, while on the other, an interesting Hundred 

 makes its appearance, as it would seem, there only. This is the Hun- 

 dred of Collingtree (' Colentreu ' ' Colestreu '), to which are assigned the 

 adjoining vills of Collingtree, Milton (' Midleton Malsor '), Rothersthorp, 

 Blisworth, and Courteenhall, on the west of Wymersley Hundred.* In 

 the Northamptonshire Survey (12th cent.) this Hundred disappears, as 

 does also ' Wicesle,' which was now part of Rutland. On the other hand 

 the ' double ' Hundred of ' Navereslund,' as the geld-roll styles it, is here 

 surveyed, as two Hundreds, ' Suthnaveslunt ' and ' Northnaveslunt.' In 

 this survey, also, Foxley has become ' Norton,' and Gravesend has already 

 added that ' Fawsley' which is its later designation. ' Optone,' moreover, 



' Compare p. 259 above. 



^ A Hundred of ' Geritone ' is alluded to once (fo. 220), but nothing seems to be known 

 of it. 



296 



