THE EAST ANGLIAN SYSTEM 335 



to the tenants of the hour. Nearly always a tenementum was held 

 by several men, who usually had parcels in other tenementa as well. 

 In rentals of the time, too, brief and parsimonious of names as 

 they are, one often finds reference to such items as the tenemen- 

 tum of John Smith ''et parcenarii sui" or "et participes sui." 



One of the most instructive of these earUer surveys is that of 

 Martham, Norfolk, giving as it does a detailed account of field 

 arrangements.^ Situated near the east coast, this manor of Nor- 

 wich priory was surveyed in 1291, the fourth year of Prior Henry 

 of Lakenham. The villein holdings are described with reference 

 to the tenants who formerly held them, and are then assigned with 

 minute specification to the contemporary tenants. A typical 

 description of one such holding is as follows : — 



" Thomas Knight tenuit quondam xii acras terre de villenagio 

 que vocatur i eriung^ et reddit inde . . . [services and rents 

 follow]. Sciendum est quod xii acre de villenagio vocantur unum 

 Eriung. Et quilibet tenens unum Eriung faciet in omnibus 

 sicud predictum est de tenemento Thome Knight. Et habentur 

 in Martham xxii Eriung et iii acre de villenagio et omnes isti 

 herciabunt totam terram Ville exceptis terris quesitis ad siUgi- 

 nem, avenam, et falihes. 



De quibus xii acris terre nunc sunt xii tenentes, viz., 

 Martha Knight tenet iii acras et dimidiam de quibus 



dimidia acra iacet in campo de Martham qui vocatur 



Estfeld ... 

 Item dimidia acra iacet in eodem campo . . . 



" i roda et dimidia iacent in campo qui vocatur Mone- 

 chyn ... 



" dimidia acra iacet in Damiottoftes . . . 



" " acra " " Fendrovetoftes . . . 



« " Roda " " Morgrave ... 



" i Roda et dimidia iacent in Tof to suo cum mesuagio . . . 



" dimidia Roda iacet in Monechyn . . . 



" XXX perticate iacent in eodem campo . . . 



" dimidia Roda iacet in Westfeld . . . 



" XXX perticate iacent in Monechyn . . . 



' Stowe MS. 936, fif. 37-115. 



2 An eriung is the Anglo-Saxon term for a ploughing or plough-land. 



