12 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE [m. 



" (Ediva Pulchra" held many manors at the 

 Conquest. In Dorsetshire, as Mr. Eyton, in his 

 admirable introduction to the Domesday of the 

 County?- observes, Marlswayn was ubiquitous. The 

 manor of Tewkesbury was held by Brictric and 

 was estimated at ninety-five hides, not less pro- 

 bably than 20,000 acres. The Manor of Helston, in 

 Cornwall, which belonged to Harold as Earl of the 

 county, was of yet greater extent. 



It is, therefore, I think, sufficiently obvious that 

 vast estates existed in England from the earliest to 

 the latest Anglo-Saxon days. 



Extensive as were these possessions, it is not to 

 be supposed that their owners were wealthy, in the 

 modern acceptation of the word. The rent of land 

 at the date of Domesday is estimated by Mr. Eyton 

 at a penny an acre, a hide at a pound of silver, 

 about 2 10s. Od. of our present money, per annum. 



On the other hand, the instruments of agriculture 

 were dear, when compared with the rent of land. In 

 Magna Carta, Cap. 21 (1225), the hire " limited of 

 old " of a cart with two horses is ~LQd. a day, of a 

 cart with three horses Is. 2d. 



Taking these facts into consideration, and re- 

 membering that the whole burden of the military 

 establishment, of repairing fortified places, bridges 

 and roads, was thrown upon the land, whilst the 



1 Analysis of the Dorset Survey, by the Rev. R. }Y. Eyton, 1S77. 

 See pp. 5n, 10. 



