THE KNIGHTS OF PETERBOROUGH 



In the introduction to the Domesday Survey mention will be found 

 of the foreign knights brought with him and enfeoffed by Abbot Turold, 

 to whose holdings in the shire Domesday Book devotes a special 

 section.' We have not, unfortunately, in the case of Peterborough, the 

 usual detailed return of knights in 1166, but there are several distinct 

 lists of the Abbey's knights and their holdings, with which the historians 

 of Northamptonshire were not fully acquainted, and which more than 

 enable us to supply the lack of the above return. The earliest of these 

 is (A) that which is found in the Peterborough Liber Niger," and which 

 must belong to the first half of the reign of Henry I.' Next in order of 

 date is (B) the bull of Pope Eugenius (i 146), confirming to the Abbey 

 its possessions and naming all the knights' fees comprised in them/ 

 Third is (C) a list belonging apparently to the last quarter of the 12th 

 century, and relating only to Northamptonshire." Fourth is (D) a full 

 return, apparently drawn up in 121 2, and doubtless intended as a substi- 

 tute at the Exchequer for the missing carta of 1166.* Lastly, Hugh 

 ' Candidus ' gives us, in his history of the Abbey, the state of the fiefs 

 under Henry III., and their several descents.' In few, if any, cases 

 have we such a wealth of material for tracing the descent of fiefs at so 

 early a period ; for we have not only the names of the tenants, but the 

 extent of their holdings and the locality of their fiefs.® 



As an example of the precision which we are thus enabled to 

 attain, we may take the Thornhaugh fief, held, in 1086 and under 

 Henry I., by Anschitel de St. Medard, and extending over Wittering, 

 Thornhaugh, Siberton and Etton, with part of Walmesford.* From 

 this fief there were due to the Abbey 4J- knights, and from Ansgotby, in 

 Lincolnshire (which belonged to it), i|, making in all 6 knights. This 

 estate, descended, as a whole, through heiresses to the Russells, gave to 

 Lord Russell ' of Thornhaugh,' the name of his barony, and is held by 

 his descendant the duke of Bedford, who thus inherits it from the days 

 of the Conqueror and of Abbot Turold.'" 



From the ' Torpel ' (in Ufford) fief also there were due 6 knights. 

 Roger ' Infans,' its first holder, held 2| hides of the Abbot in Pilton, 

 but his full fief of 12 hides included lands in Maxey and Ufford, north 



' 'Terra hominum ejus.lem ecclesie ' (pp. 314-17 above). 

 ^ Society of Jntiquaries' MS. 6o. 



* See Feudal England, p. 157. It was printed by Stapleton in Chronicon Petroburgense, 

 pp. 168-175. 



* It is given by Hugh 'Candidus,' and printed in Sparke's Scriptores, pp. 80-81. 



* It is found at the end of the Northamptonshire Survey in Cotton MS. Vesp. E. xxii., 

 and has not been printed. 



® It is printed in Liber Rubeus de Scaccario, pp. 618-19. 

 ' See Sparke (as above), pp. 53-63. 



* It will be convenient to refer to the above lists of fees under the letters (A, B, C, D) 

 assigned to them in the text. 



" See p. 315 above. "* See Bridges, II. 595-7, for the descent. 



3QO 



