DOMESDAY SURVEY 



instance the warrantor is called by the somewhat unusual name of tutor}" In 

 the last resort there was an appeal to the customary methods of proof, battle, 

 ordeal, or compurgation. The men of the vill of Mendlesham had no other 

 witness than their own to the fact that Burchard had soke over both freemen 

 and villeins, yet they were willing to prove their contention in any way.^'* 

 The hundred testified that Stanwin, a freeman, had been commended to 

 Harold in the time of King Edward, but he himself asserted that he had been 

 the ' man ' of Edric, the antecessor of Robert Malet, and he ' offered proof * 

 {juditium), probably by battle."' A 'man' of Godric Dapifer was willing to 

 prove his claim and the truth of his words ' against the whole hundred, by 

 every kind of law.'"" In a dispute with Roger Bigot, Roger de Ramis 

 contradicted the testimony against him ' by all kinds of law.' ^" In the half- 

 hundred of Ipswich Roger the Sheriff claimed i oo acres, 5 villeins, and a 

 mill which were in the possession of the church of St. Peter, as belonging to 

 the king's manor of Bramford. A regular trial followed. Five villeins from 

 the Bramford manor bore witness for Roger, and offered ' such law as should 

 be adjudged to them' {legem qualem quis judicaverit). But the half-hundred of 

 Ipswich witnessed that the property in dispute had belonged to the church 

 {jacebat ad ecclesiam) in the time of King Edward, and that it was held by 

 Wisgar, who held the church also, and this they offered to prove by process 

 of law {pfferunt derationare) }''^ Unfortunately, of the further proceedings we 

 hear nothing, but enough has been recorded to show that formal ' pleading,' 

 leading to legal 'proof by ordeal or other customary methods, could take 

 place before the Domesday Commissioners. This is borne out by the em- 

 ployment of technical judicial phrases, respondere, in misericordia regis, placitum, 

 and by the use of essoins or excuses for non-appearance in court. Thus Hugh 

 de Hosdenc could neither answer a charge against him, nor reply when he 

 was vouched to warranty, because he was a prisoner in the king's hands [in 

 captione regis)^"^^ and Berenger could not 'come to the plea' because he was 

 ' infirm.' "* Sometimes, no doubt, the Commissioners actually gave de- 

 cisions,"' but in Suffolk they seem rather to have confirmed decisions already 

 given. At Ashfield, on the lands of the Bishop of Bayeux, Suarinus, a priest 

 and freeman, of whom Walter of Dol was seised when he forfeited his land, 

 was afterwards held, as the hundred witnessed, by Earl Hugh."' A certain 



"' Dom. Bk. 388. 'Sed dominum suum G. de Magnavilla revocat ad tutorem;' VinogradofF, op. 

 cit. 224. 



'" Dom. Bk. 285^. 'Non habent aliquid testimonium praeter se, et tamen volunt probare omni modo.' 



"' Ibid. 332. 'Ipse solus ofFert juditium, dicens se fuisse hominem Edrici.' 



"" Ibid. 371. ' Et hoc vult probare contra totum hundredum, omnibus legibus.* 



'"Ibid. 3383. 'Hoc contradicit omnibus legibus;' VinogradofF, op. cit. 233. Cf. the striking 

 case, Dom. Bk. 287^, quoted by Professor VinogradofF, op. cit. 379, where the sherifF Aluric quarrels 

 with his predecessor Roger Bigot over the 'farm' of Bergholt, and Roger wishes to make proof ('vult 

 probare') by the men who had been present at his agreements (' conventiones '), while Aluric vouches the 

 king to warranty. 



"' Dom. Bk. 392^, 393. The use of the present tense may be noted. 



"' Ibid. 4^5. 'Ideo non potuit dare responsum ; ' 448^. ' Revocat Hugonem de Hosdenc ad warant, sed 

 ipse est in cap lone regis, et non potest respondere.' Both passages refer to the same case. For Hugh de 

 Hosdenc cf. Dom. Bk. 284, 337^ ; V.C.H. Essex, i, 356. For 'essoins,' cf. Pollock and Maitland, Hist. Engl. 

 Law, ii, 560-66. 



"* Dom. Bk. 449 ; cf. 424, where the men of the hundred give judgement, and one of the parties objects 

 that he was not summoned to the plea ; cf Round in Dom. Studies, ii, 549. 



"' Cf VinogradofF, op. cit. 228. A case of disseisin 'per barones Regis' in Devonshire ; cf Round in 

 Dom. Studies, ii, 547-9- 



"' Dom. Bk. 377. This case is quoted at length by Professor VinogradofF, op. cit. 427-8. 



I 38s 49 



