Feudal Statistics 79 



for a moment this " normal " fee really ever did 

 contain 4 Hides (and whether of 120 acres each 

 as in the Preface to the Red Book or 160 each as 

 in the L. R. itself does not much matter), as there 

 were 6,000-7,000 fees (Hen. II. to Ed. III.), and 

 some 67,000 Hides in say 35 counties in England 

 in Domesday ; it is evident that the Barons and 

 Church would hardly have possessed 28,000 of 

 them (probably less) ; whereas few historians should 

 think of rating them at Jess than f of England, 

 say 50,000 Hides. 



With regard to the 3rd extract, which names 

 the Sheriffs estimating Knight's fee by the hides 

 they contained, the reference is seemingly to the 

 Testa de Nevill, the returns from which have 

 already been exemplified ; but these remarkable 

 instructions to the sheriffs are not found therein, 

 nor in the " Forma Inquisitionum de Scutagiis," 

 nor in the writ to the Sheriff of Hereford (both 

 these latter on Mich. Com. 27 Hen. III. as cited 

 on pp. 472-3 of Madox's Exch., ed. 1711) nor I 

 should imagine anywhere else than on p. clxii of 

 aforesaid Preface ; and as to the extent of the hide 

 or carucate being " given in denominations of an 

 acre both of arable and pasture land," anyone 

 finding same on fo. 228 of Kirkby's Quest will 

 have better luck than I had. 



The case of Ramsey Abbey is certainly 

 exceptional ; but by Domesday Book that house 

 had well over 300 Hides and Carucates, which in 

 the language of the Exchequer (4 Hides = 

 i Knight's Fee) would be the equivalent of over 

 70 Knights ; as a matter of fact the Abbot 



