1 68 History of the English Landed Interest. 



might very well be transposed for the hidarius of the London 

 district, both words denoting the occupier of an indeterminate 

 portion of land. 



Lastly, " homines '' was a generic term applied by the lord 

 to all his vassals,^ in much the same sense as a modern colonel 

 applies its English translation to all those below commissioned 

 rank belonging to his corps. It will be evident that the true 

 meaning of most terms thus briefly examined depends greatly 

 on the context where they occur. Thus, for example, the two 

 terms, milites and socmanni, used conjointly, embrace all 

 classes of the kingdom, and distinguish between tenures by 

 military service and those by husbandry ; used, however, 

 singly, they allude to two special classes which were far from 

 including the whole community. 



It is scarcely possible to scraj^e together suf&cient data for 

 any succinct account of the national agriculture during this 

 period ; and husbandry is so associated with the landed 

 interest of later daj-s, that it is almost futile to attempt to 

 realise what an insignificant item it was in early Norman 

 times. The Conqueror brought over in his soldiers' brains as 

 little agricultural knowledge as was contained in those of the 

 Saxon invaders. The latter, however, had the advantage of 

 picking up a few farming hints from the aborigines ; but the 

 Normans could have learned nothing they did not know before 

 of the conquered English. Moreover, they did not care to 

 learn, or surely they might have sought tuition from those 

 pioneers of European husbandry, the Flemish, some of whom 

 had formed a quiet colony about this time in Pembrokeshire. 

 The afforestation of fertile lands, the erection of feudal castles, 

 and inter-baronial wars, would at first demand so much native 

 labour, that it is astonishing how any socmen were left to 

 stave off a general famine. Even that vexatious law pro- 

 hibiting all purchases above a certain amount save in the 

 presence of witnesses, was revived by the Conqueror. 



No wonder that the Saxon Chronicle continues to be a dire 

 record of disaster. In 1070, 1082, 1086, and 1087, famine, 

 murrain, and pestilence rang the changes throughout the 



' Kelham, Domesday Book. Glossary. 



