A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK 



taken over two estates which had similarly been held, as a whole or in part, 

 by St. Edmund's Abbey."' It was in cases of this kind, and in questions 

 of disputed title, that the Domesday Commissioners were called on to adjudi- 

 cate. The Suffolk Survey throws considerable light on these quasi-judicial 

 decisions, and on the functions of the ' King's barons ' who were sent into 

 the counties to inquire and describe.^'" Not only are the invasiones or en- 

 croachments on royal rights gathered together at the end of the record and 

 followed by a group of ' claims ' or calumniae. Other encroachments and 

 claims which gave rise to interesting judicial disputes are found scattered 

 through the text. We learn how Englishmen were not ashamed to turn 

 their country's humiliation to their own profit ; how, after the coming of 

 King William, Wisgar ' invaded ' or usurped two freemen with their land, 

 who had formerly been bound by commendation alone. It is with some 

 satisfaction that we read in the next entry how Wisgar himself ' made 

 forfeiture' {se forisfecit) , and how his land in turn was seized by the Norman 

 Richard Fitz Gilbert."^ We see how the chances of battle and rebellion left 

 vacant spaces in the ranks of the Saxon landholders, which their conquerors 

 were not slow to fill. Edric the Deacon fell with Harold at Hastings (in 

 hello), and the freeman whom he had held was ' delivered ' to Bainard, then 

 ' added ' by Etgar to the manor of Cavendish, and finally held by Ralph de 

 Limesi in the demesne of his hall."' 



The forfeiture and disgrace of Earl Ralph were stepping-stones to for- 

 tune for many an ambitious adventurer. Robert de Curcun had seized 

 {invasit) one of the earl's freemen at Wissett, but had been obliged to give 

 security [vadem) }''^ At Somersham the king's reeve {praepositus) Ulmar had 

 given security and had found a warrantor (fidejussor) for his appropriation 

 \invasio) of another of Earl Ralph's freemen with his holding of 12 acres, but 

 here the estate in question had been taken into the king's hand."* The pro- 

 cedure in disputes of this nature is worthy of careful attention, and of com- 

 parison with the later proceedings before the itinerant justices, as recorded in 

 the Eyre Rolls, the Assize Rolls, and the Hundred Rolls. The parties to a 

 suit would bring either written evidence, charters, or royal writs (brevia), or 

 personal witnesses to back their respective claims. As a rule, the jurors who 

 had been chosen to swear for the whole hundred "' were appealed to by one 

 of the claimants, and the witness of the ' hundred ' was opposed by that of the 

 homines or feudal tenants of the plaintiff or defendant, or by the testimony of 

 the ' vill ' or township."' There was ' vouching to warranty,' and in one 



'" Dom. Bk. 441. ' Brutge. De dimidio nujus terrae Herveus conciliatus Abbati ; et postea de Rege 

 tenuit.' ' Beversham. Ipse est conciliatus Abbati et hoc supradicto modo.' 



'** Dugdale, Mon. \, 6oi et seq. ; Ellis, Introd. to Dom. i, 120. For the subject of the judicial powen 

 of the Domesday Commissioners, cf Round in Dom. Studies, ii, 539 et seq. ; VinogradofF, op. cit. 228. 



'" Dom. Bk. 448. Wisgar ' invaded' the two fi-eemen and their land after the coming of King William, 

 but ' ante conventionem Ricardi (R. Fitz Gilbert), qui modo tenet.' 



'" Ibid. 449. ' Fuit liberata Bainardo pro terra. Etgarus addidit in Kanavadisc postquam Bainardus 

 perdidit, modo tenet Radulfus de Limesi in dominio halle.' 



'» Ibid. 449. '" Ibid. 448^. 



'" Round, Feud. Engl. 1 1 8 et seq. For the different kinds of witness, written and verbal, cf. above, 

 p. 379 et seq. 



'" Dom. Bk. 4473. * Homines Ricardi (Fitz Gilbert) revocant ad feudum Wisgari antecessoris sui. Sed 

 sicut hund. testatur nunquam pertinuit ;' ibid. 285^. ' Hund. testatur quod vere rex et comes habuit socam 

 et sacam T.R.E. sed homines illius ville (Melnessa) testantur quod Burchardus similiter habuit socam de liberis 

 hominibus sicuti de suis villanis.' For writs cf. ibid. 336, 379, 409^. ; cf. 360^. Anhus. 



384 



