A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



services,' ' and this is the mark of our third class, which consists of those who 

 pay rent and render some service as well. Their position may be illustrated 

 by the citation of a few typical cases. At Norton, Alan of Normanton holds 

 I carucate. He pays lo-r. rent, finds thirty-two men to work one day and 

 four carts for carting hay and corn respectively for one day, and his tenants, if 

 he have any (si homines habuerit), do four boon-works in the autumn.' At 

 Burdon, Amfrid holds 2 bovates and renders a half-mark and goes on the 

 bishop's errands. At Stanhope, which it will be remembered was a forest 

 vill, somewhat the same case presents itself under rather different conditions. 

 The sons of Gamel of Rogerly hold 60 acres, they pay 10s. rent, find one 

 man for service in the forest and themselves go on the bishop's errands. 

 At the same place Belnuf del Peke holds 60 acres, he pays a half-mark, finds 

 a man for service in the forest and goes on the bishop's errands, but his heirs 

 when they succeed him must pay i mark, and this appreciation of rent is 

 provided for in several other cases. Tenures of this sort are not likely to 

 have been created by direct or recent grant, but look rather like an evolution 

 by means of composition from earlier conditions. It is conceivable that this 

 class too may have contributed some of the free tenants of the later manors. 



A fourth class consists of the holders of ministerial tenures, who were not 

 villeins. The ordinary manorial practice was of course to fill the ofBces of 

 reeve, pinder, smith, and so on, with unfree tenants, who, although they 

 might not refuse the charge, were still furnished in return for their labours 

 with a small holding (generally from 6 to i 2 acres) free of rent and service. 

 We shall speak of this arrangement presently, but here we have to deal with 

 certain exceptions to the rule, numerous enough indeed to constitute a class 

 by themselves. Thus at Great Haughton the son of Aldred holds 40 acres, 

 he renders 2s. and goes on the bishop's errands. But his chief service is the 

 superintendence of the works which the villeins were obliged to perform for 

 the bishop ; ' debet esse super precationes ' is the phrase. Now we know that 

 in other parts of England services of this kind were performed by free- 

 men,' and we know further that Aldred's son was not a villein, but practically 

 of free condition, for Boldon Book explicitly states that he held his 40 acres in 

 exchange for other land in the same vill which his father had held in drengage, 

 but which he had surrendered to the bishop to receive his present holding, 

 ' ita libere tencndis.' There are a number of instances of this sort of free 

 ministerial holding, and they are by no means confined to those who still 

 belong to or have just emerged from the class of drengs. Thus at Middridge, 

 Wekeman holds a half-carucate, he renders 6s., does three boon-works, goes 

 on the bishop's errands, does one day's ploughing and harrowing, one day's 

 mowing and two days' carting of hay and corn, ' et est super precationes.' 

 Then there is the case where the services are unspecified. At Wolsingham, 

 William of Guisbrough holds 30 acres for which he ought to pay ioj., but he 

 is quit of this rent, ' dum est in servicio Episcopi.' 



It is evident that these tenants whom we have been considering are in 

 respect tf) their social and economic, and probably to their legal status as well, 

 superior to the villein community. We have now to take account of another 



' Vinogr.idofr, o/). at. 171. 



* At Preston there arc three tenants holding on the same terms as Al.in of Normanton. 

 » DomeiJay of St. Paul's (Camden Soc), 76-77 ; Rot. Hundred, ii. 764b, both cited in VinogradofF, 

 yU/aimij^f, 202 ; cf. ibid., 407. 



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