DOMESDAY SURVEY 



worthy legal phrases under Wallingford itself, and Kintbury, and some 

 good examples of commendation. 



The Berkshire customs are expressly stated to be those of King 

 Edward's day. They open with a special provision for the payment of 

 (Dane) geld, which is by no means easy to explain, and which is unique 

 in Domesday. When the tax was paid, 1 according to this record, a 

 hide paid only sevenpence, due in two half-yearly instalments. The 

 next clause relates to the military service of the shire, and is somewhat 

 full. It limits the quota of soldiers (milites) to one man in respect of 

 each five-hide unit, 4 a proportion found elsewhere in Domesday. 3 He 

 received for his service of two months (the extent evidently of the 

 liability) four shillings from each hide, that is a pound in all, which 

 works out at almost fourpence a day. The force would be a small one, 

 but its quality superior, for the pay was high, half as much as that of 

 the knight himself a century later.* On comparing the Domesday 

 statements as to Oxford and Wilton, we arrive at the conclusion that 

 the Crown looked on a pound as the equivalent of one man's service 

 (from the five-hide unit), from which we may infer that it could hire 

 soldiers as good for that amount. On the other hand Domesday 

 expressly states that this pound from the five hides was to be given to 

 the soldiers themselves, not to the King, a provision directed against 

 such a trick as that by which Ranulf Flambard 5 took ten shillings from 

 each of the assembled soldiers, on behalf of William Rufus in 1094. 



Thus far the provisions suggest a force raised on the lines of the 

 later militia ; but these are followed by others of a more feudal 

 character. And these are closely parallel to those found in the similar 

 summary of customs for Worcestershire.' The two passages illustrate 

 each other. In each case there was a personal liability to summons and 

 service, neglect of which entailed entire forfeiture of lands. 7 In each 

 there was a modified penalty for a substitute's failure to appear in 

 Berkshire 50 shillings, in Worcestershire 40 payable by ' his lord ' to 

 the King. 8 But the detailed provisions here vary. The feudal touch 

 imparted by the words * his lord ' prepare us for the next clause, which 

 introduces us to 'relief/ although that 'relief assumes the form of a 

 heriot. We have, in Domesday, to see these things through the eyes of 



1 The phrase ' Quando geldum dabatur T.R.E. communiter per totam Berchesciram ' seems to dis- 

 tinguish this general levy from special ones ; but even this is conjectural. A remarkable parallel is 

 afforded by the phrase, in Richard Basset's restoration of Chaddleworth a century later : ' preter com- 

 mune geldum totius comitatus' (Chron. Ab. ii. 189). 



3 See p. 286 above. 



3 See Feudal England, pp. 45, 67-9 ; Domesday Book and Beyond, p. 156. 



4 Feudal England, pp. 270-72. 8 See p. 318 below. 6 Dom. Bk., i. 172. 



* WORCESTERSHIRE. BERKSHIRE. 



' Quando rex in hostem pergit, siquis, edictu ejus ' Siquis in expeditionem summonitus non ibat 

 vocatus remanserit si ita liber homo est ut habeat totam terram suam erga regem forisfaciebat.' 

 socam suam et sacam et cum terra suapossit ire quo 

 voluerit de omni terra sua est in misericordia 

 regis.' 



8 ' Quod siquis remanendi [? licentiam or necessitatem] habens alium pro se mittere promitteret, et 

 tamen qui mittendus erat remaneret, pro 1. solidis quietus erat dominus ejus.' 



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