A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



sons, of whom six bear English names. Seemingly the witnesses are arranged 

 in order of precedence, the more dignified clergy first, then the knights, then 

 the persons of less distinction whether cleric or lay. Among the knights we 

 find the names of Acharias son of Copsi, and of Wilfrei, and in the third 

 group those of Eilric son of Emma, Roger Dreng, Robert Anglais, and Seth. 

 It appears, then, that although in a minority the English were not entirely 

 excluded from Bishop Pudsey's court. It is possible that one or even both of 

 the bishop's sheriffs, Ralf Haget and Philip Fitz Hamo, may have been 

 of English extraction. Still these exceptions do not disturb the main pro- 

 position, and if further confirmation were necessary we have only to turn to 

 the list of those who paid scutage in 1197, for either they or their parents 

 must have been holding by military service of Bishop Pudsey. We are con- 

 fronted with a list of twenty-seven persons who must have been the most 

 important tenants of the bishopric, and there is not an English name 

 among them. 1 Finally, all the military tenures in Boldon Book are in 

 the hands of Normans. The Englishmen are drengs or free tenants in 

 the manor. 



As a result of inquiry, then, we shall not believe that Bishop Pudsey 

 was quite successful in the attempt which he made to complete the internal 

 feudalization of the bishopric. The variety of tenure disclosed by Boldon 

 Book, the survival of pre-feudal relations in later documents, Pudsey's numerous 

 exchanges and readjustments, the reputation for an innovator that he got with 

 the local chronicler all these, and, perhaps more significant than any of these, 

 the very existence of Boldon Book itself, reveal to us at once the bishop's 

 policy and the limited measure of success that attended its application. The 

 end which Pudsey tried to compass by a method at once dynamic and political 

 was later achieved by an evolutionary and economic process. If we turn 

 again to Hatfield's Survey we shall see that despite the terminology all the 

 relations recorded there are as feudal as most fourteenth-century feudalism : 

 they consist, that is, of the tenure of land against money payments in lieu of 

 services. Take one case as an example of many. Lord Nevill is holding the 

 manor of Oxenhall, for which he owes certain rents and services, appropriate 

 to the fourth part of one drengage. We know something of the nature of 

 drengage, but it would have taken a bold man to suggest to a Nevill of that 

 time that his condition was not of the freest and most honourable. So in 

 the fourteenth century, as in our own day, Englishmen refused decent burial 

 to their institutions, preferring to skin and stuff them. 



Side by side with the social and legal* changes which were taking 

 place in this fashion we are able to discern at once a development and an 

 intensification of economic life. Some aspects of this have already been 

 brought to the reader's attention ; the surprising activity and skill in building 



1 Pipe R., 8 Ric. I., in Boldon Bk. (Surtees Soc.), App. viii.-ix. For purposes of reference I subjoin the 

 list : Roger de Conyers, Jordan Escolland, Alexander de Hilton, William fil. Thomas, Geoffrey fil. Richard, 

 Jordan Hairun, Betran de Eppedon (Hetton), Philip fil. Hamo, Robert Ridel, John de Romundeb (Romundby), 

 Roger d'Audry, Geoffrey Escolland, Robert de Muschans, Walter de Ferlinton, Philip de Coleville, Henry de 

 Pudsey, Henry de Ferlinton, Robert de la Lunde, Agnes de Perci, John Arundel, Ralf Bard, Richard de 

 Averench, Henry Bee, Simon de Kyme, Gerard de Canvill, Baldwin Wac, Gilbert de la Ley. These persons 

 rendered an aggregate of 367. 8/. 9^. 



8 Certain legal changes of a far-reaching character which were taking place at the time have been passed 

 over in silence in the text. They have been elsewhere worked out in detail, and for an account of them the 

 reader is referred to, Lapsley, County Palatine, ch. v. 



316 



