24 History of the 



was given to Stephen, who became king of England. From this 

 monarch it passed to a series of noble and royal owners in succes- 

 sion—William de Blois, Earl of Montaign and Bollogne ; King 

 John, of Magna Charta fame ; Ranulph, fourth earl of Chester ; 

 William, Earl of Ferrers. Henry III., son of King John, gave the 

 Honor to his youngest son, Edmund Crouchback, and conferred 

 upon him the title of Earl of Lancaster. Thomas Plantagenet, the 

 next earl, afterwards became the possessor, and to him we shall 

 again immediately refer. 



The house of Lacy (the first of which family in this country, 

 Ilbert de Lacy, came over from Normandy with the Conqueror) 

 became possessors of the Hundred of Blackburn, or Honor of 

 Clitheroe, either by direct gift from \Villiam the Norman, or 

 through Roger de Busli and Albert Greslet, to whom the original 

 Baron, Roger de Poictou, had granted the Hundred. There is 

 some obscurity about the transfer, the best authorities differing on 

 the subject. The following is a translation of the account which 

 is given of the Hundred in " Domesday Book : " — 



" IN BLACHEBURNE HUNDRET 

 " King Edward held Blacheburne. 



" There are two hides (c) and two carucates (d) of land. The Church had 

 two bovates (c) of this land; and the Church of St. Mary's had in Whalley 

 two carucates of land, free from all custom. In the same manor there is a 

 wood, one mile in length and the same in width, and there was an aerie of 

 hawks. 



" To this manor belonged twenty-eight freemen, holding five hides and a 

 half and forty carucates of land for twenty-eight manors. There is a wood 

 six miles long and four broad, and there were the above-said customs. 



(c) Hide or oxgang of land, as much land as can reasonably be ploughed in 

 a year by one yoke of oxen, the yoke consisting of two beasts. 



(rf) Carucate of land, from caruca, a plough, as much land as can reason- 

 ably be cultivated in a year by one plough. 



[e) Bovate of land, as much land as can reasonably be ploughed by one ox 

 in a year. 



There is some uncertainty about these several quantities, the bovate 

 according to different authorities, ranging from 13 to 18 acres. 



