34^ ENGLISH FIELD SYSTEMS 



and are somewhat vague about hides date from about 1240 to 

 1250.' 



From the absence of the term virgate, however, it does not 

 follow that units of villein holding were non-existent. On the 

 contrary, the uniformity in size which characterized holdings " in 

 lansectagio " both at Brancaster and at Ringstead points con- 

 clusively to a recognition of such units. At Brancaster the three 

 villein hides in the thirteenth-century extent were constituted as 

 follows: 38 holdings of 12 acres each, 17 of 24 acres, two of 60 

 acres, two of 30 acres, and four of 15 acres. In the extent of a 

 century earlier we find 39 holdings of 12 acres each, one of 32 

 acres, three of 16 acres, and two of 18 acres. Obviously at both 

 periods the unit was 12 or 24 acres. At Ringstead the holdings 

 were less symmetrical. In the thirteenth century there were 

 13 holdings of 10 acres, two of 14, and single holdings of 28, 22, 

 12,8, and 7 acres. In the twelfth century there were ten eight- 

 acre holdings, with one of 12 and one of 1 1 acres. The unit seems 

 to have shifted from eight to ten acres and the total villein 

 land to have increased considerably. Mr. Hudson notes the 

 existence of similar unnamed units of villein land in two extents 

 which he publishes. In the manor of Banham in 1281, out of 

 32 customary tenants who together held 244 acres of arable, 

 seven had 7 acres each and five others had multiples of 7 ; in the 

 manor of Bradcar in Shropham six customary tenants in 1298 

 had 8 acres each and the seventh had 6 acres.^ 



If Norfolk units of villein tenure, even though unnamed, seem 

 to have existed in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, it may 

 appear fanciful to insist upon the absence of the term virgate in 

 descriptions of them. They might well enough, it will be said, 

 have been called virgates or half-virgates. By midland extent- 

 makers, indeed, the terms were sometimes applied to the Nor- 



^ Neither extent is dated, but none in the series bears a date later than 1252. 

 That of Ringstead is followed by a court roll of 1 240, which seems to be later than 

 the extent, for in it Stephanus Clericus recognizes that he holds his land " in lan- 

 seagio," a dependence which has not been admitted in the extent {Cartulary of 

 Ramsey Abbey, i. 411). 



^ William Hudson, " Three Manorial Extents of the Thirteenth Century," Nor- 

 folk and Norwich Archaeol. Soc, Norfolk Archaeology, xiv. 11, 8. 



