BOLDON BOOK 



have had the right of fishing the streams of the forest, for he conceded this to 

 the burgesses of Gateshead at the rate of \d. ' pro homine piscante.' 1 



The beasts on the farm were of course part of the stock. They were 

 mostly horned cattle and sheep. The former were kept chiefly by the 

 villeins as we may infer from the render of a milch-cow which accompanied 

 the payment of cornage, and the frequent reference to carting with oxen. A 

 good example is afforded by the vill of Little Usworth which * quadrigat 

 vinum cum viii bobus.' But the bishop had cattle of his own as appears from 

 the Wolsingham entry, where it is said that the villeins cart the corn of 

 the bishop's demesne ' cum auxilio bourn Episcopi.' The use of horses in 

 agricultural work was unusual, but as we have seen not unknown. Still, 

 those drengs and other tenants part of whose duty consisted in going on the 

 bishop's errands can scarcely have gone afoot. They must have had horses for 

 their journeyings. A number of horses were also kept for hunting. These, 

 like the hunting dogs (leporarii), 8 were kept and probably trained for the 

 bishop by his forest tenants. Thus at Great Usworth ' drengus pascit canem 

 et equum et est in magna caza cum ii leporariis,' and like entries occur 

 frequently. Swine were commonly kept and driven to pasture in the forests 

 of the bishopric. For this privilege the villeins paid a due known as 

 pannage, but the knights and barons pastured their swine without payment. 8 

 The keeping of sheep seems to have been confined to the bishop, who 

 is credited with rather a large number of them. When the demesne was 

 farmed there was generally a fixed return on the flock proportionate to 

 its size stated in round numbers. At Ryhope and Burdon there were three 

 hundred sheep for which the farmer rendered 6 marks, and at Shotton two 

 hundred for which 4 marks were exacted. These pleasant round numbers and 

 the neat rate of 2 marks per 100 warn us that we have to do with an estimate 

 rather than an exact tale. Finally, we may mention the hens and eggs which 

 formed so large a part of the peasant's dues, and which as we know from the 

 later account-rolls were generally sold.* It is surprising however that no one 

 seems to have kept pigeons ; the ' columbarium,' throughout the Middle 

 Ages so general and so profitable a source at once of revenue and exaspera- 

 tion, does not occur in Boldon Book. 



From the live stock of the farm we turn naturally to consider its 

 produce, and are struck at the outset with the fact that the staple crop was 

 oats. A learned writer on agricultural history has said that * over the 

 greater part of England, over all, indeed, which has come under my inquiry, 

 even as far north as the county of Durham, the staple produce of agriculture, 

 and by implication the staple food of the people, was wheat, though oats are 



l Sec Bishop Pudsey's charter to Gateshead in Boldon Book (Surtees Soc.), App. p. zl. 



Literally greyhounds, but here, as Canon Greenwell suggest*, the old English staghound is probably 

 meant. Cf. Boldon Book (Surtecs Soc.), gloss, s.v. Caza. 



See Bishop Pudsey's charter to Walter of Caen and Robert son of Roger, ' Et si porcos habebunt 

 in forcsta et pastura ibi fuerit, liberi et quicti erunt dc pannagio porcorum de propriis domibus suis, sicut alii 

 Barones et milites nostri quieti sunt et esse debent.' Boldon Book (Surtew Soc.), App. No. vii. Then in his charter 

 to Alan de Chilton, Pudsey stipulates, ' et homines sui dabunt pannagium de porcis suis, sicut alii homines 

 militum nostrorum, qui in foresta manent, ipse autem de propriis porcis suis quietus erit.' Ibid. No. viii. The 

 villeins of Lanchester, ' adducunt porcos de pannagio,' i.e. the pigs that were rendered to the bishop as 

 payment. Cf. Turner, Forest Pleas (Sclden Soc.), pp. 59-60 ; Tail, Mtditeval Manchester, p. 104. 



In 121 1, 733 hens were sold for u\s. between June and November, and in one year the hens 

 and eggs 'customarily sold ' yielded 9/. i8/, |o</, Pipe R. 13 John in Boldon Book (Surtees Soc.), App. p. xiii. 



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