FORESTRY AND THE NEW FOREST 



holding as compensation for disturbance on account of losing the ' right 

 to the use of the ivoods belonging to it.' In the land of Bernard Pancevolt 

 in Manesbrige [Mansbrige] hundred 



IN MANESBRIGE HUNDRET 



The same Bernard holds Celeorde [Chilworth]. Godwine held it of King 

 Edward. It was then, as now, assessed at 2 hides. There is land for 2 ploughs. In 

 (the) demesne is I plough ; and (there are) 4 villeins with i plough. There are a 

 church and 4 serfs and 3 houses in Hantune [Southampton] worth 18 pence. 

 T.R.E. it was worth 10 pounds, and afterwards 8 pounds. It is now worth (only) 

 4 pounds, because Bernard has no power to use (potestatem in) its woodland. 



Again, in the Breston hundred 



IN BRESTON HUNDRET 



The same Bernard holds Emelei [Embley in East Wellow]. Godwine held it 

 of King Edward as an alod (in alodium). It was then assessed at half a hide ; now at 

 nothing. There is land for half a plough. It was worth 10 shillings ; (but) it is now 

 waste. 



And, as a final example, from the Sirlei [Shirley] hundred 



IN SIRLEI HUNDRET 



Ulviet the huntsman holds Riple [Ripley in Sopley] of the King. He himself 

 held it of King Edward as an alod (in alodium). It then paid geld for 5 hides ; now 

 for 2 hides. There is land for 2 ploughs. In (the) demesne is i plough ; and (there 

 are) 8 bordars and 4 serfs with 2 ploughs, and 40 acres of meadow. 



Of this manor, 3 hides and all the wood are in the King's forest. T.R.E. it 

 was worth 8 pounds ; (it is) now (worth) 50 shillings. What is in the forest is worth 

 100 shillings. 



Previous to the Norman Conquest offences against the game laws 

 were punishable by fine. William I., however, who ' loved the tall 

 (red) deer as if he were their father,' punished with mutilation offences 

 against his forged forest laws relating to them ; while William Rufus 

 went further and exacted the death penalty, not only from Englishmen 

 but also from Norman barons of high degree, and even from blood rela- 

 tives of his own. The enforcement of the forest laws became, indeed, so 

 oppressive during the time of William II. that the Norman barons as 

 well as English landowners groaned under their tyranny, while the 

 scanty rural population was grievously oppressed and harassed under 

 their provisions. The grinding oppression of Rufus lived long in the 

 memory of the county, as in other parts of England, where he largely 

 increased the afforestations of the Conqueror ; and his tragic death by the 

 arrow of Walter Tyrell in the New Forest was held to be the just judg- 

 ment of Heaven for his brutal and cruel severity. Henry I. had to 

 relax these harsh laws on coming to the throne, but later on he showed 

 the same tendencies as his father and grandfather. So too, when his 

 nephew usurped the throne, the new king, Stephen, was likewise full of 

 concessions and anxious to conciliate the great landowners and the rural 

 population at large ; but he also afterwards failed to keep these early 

 promises. 



During the period of the House of Plantagenet matters in connec- 

 tion with the forest laws reached a crisis. Many encroachments and 



421 



