HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE [r. 



by order of William I., the record of which is pre- 

 served in the two volumes known by the popular 

 name of Domesday Book, stands unrivalled (so far 

 as I am aware) by any memorial respecting the 

 material and social condition of this or any other 

 country. 



Before adverting to the conclusions which may be 

 drawn from the great survey, it will be convenient 

 to refer shortly to the scanty information we possess 

 respecting earlier times, so far as it throws light 

 upon the terms and statements of Domesday. 



In the Rectitudines Singularum Personaruru 

 (Ancient Laws and Institutes of England, 1840. Vol. 

 i. 431), a short treatise in Saxon and Latin, of un- 

 certain date, but which from internal evidence we 

 may safely conclude was composed in Saxon times, 

 we find described the duties of the various classes 

 of owners and occupiers of land. 



Thus the thegn, or landowner, is obliged to serve 

 the king in war, and to assist in making or repair- 

 ing fortified places and bridges. This is the tri- 

 noda necessitas, so often a subject of complaint with 

 Anglo-Saxon proprietors. 



The duties of the geneats are to till, to sow, and 

 reap the land of their lord, to go on errands far and 

 near for him, to provide a horse, to fell wood for his 

 deer park, to perform other servile works, and to 

 make certain small payments in money or kind. 



The gebur, when he enters on his "yard of land,'' 



