THE DOMESDAY SURVEY 



claims to many estates which are found in the hands of Norman 

 barons. Chief among these was the great manor of High Easter, which 

 had passed into the hands of Geoffrey de Mandeville and became, if it 

 was not already, the site of the Mandeville castle of Pleshey. The 

 Domesday entry on the title to the manor ' is explained by the abbey's 

 chronicle, which tells us that Geoffrey's predecessor, the potent Ansgar, 

 had forcibly obtained from the monks a life estate therein. 1 The abbey 

 had also suffered heavily, at the hands of Eudo Dapifer and William de 

 Warenne, in the Rodings, and had further been despoiled, to a more or 

 less serious extent, at (South) Fambridge, Witham, (West) Hanningfield, 

 Broxted, Sandon(P), Amberden and Shellow (Bowells). In all, the lands 

 it had retained in Essex were substantially less in value than those which 

 were held by its spoilers in io86. 8 



The more recent English foundations holding lands in Essex were 

 those of the Confessor at Westminster, of Harold at Waltham (Holy 

 Cross), of Ingelric at St. Martin-le-Grand, and of William himself at 

 Battle. Westminster had greatly extended its lands in the county since 

 its founder's death. Besides the manors obtained by exchange and that 

 of which Barking was despoiled,* it had received two interesting gifts. 

 A thegn, going with Harold to the battle of Stamford Bridge, gave it, as 

 he left, a manor at Paglesham ; and JEthelric, who appears to have taken 

 part in a mysterious naval fight (navale praelium) against King William, 

 fell ill on his return home and gave the abbey his estate at Kelvedon 

 Hatch. But the latter gift was imperfectly attested, and had never 

 received the king's sanction. It was also claimed on behalf of the king 

 that the abbey had obtained some land at Fanton by a forged writ (per 

 falsum breve), a. kind of document for which the abbey became somewhat 

 notorious. Of Waltham Abbey I have spoken already ; 6 and as for 

 Battle, it obtained only manors at Hutton and at Hersham (Hall). The 

 canons of St. Martin-le-Grand held Good Easter of the king, and lands 

 at Maldon and Tolleshunt of Count Eustace, Ingelric's successor, be- 

 tween whom and themselves there was naturally some friction. 8 



The foreign religious houses endowed with land were four in num- 

 ber. The most interesting of the gifts made to them is that of ' Mersea ' 

 to St. Ouen. We can hardly hesitate to class this endowment by 

 Edward the Confessor of the great Rouen abbey with his similar grants 

 on the coast of Sussex. 7 Domesday, indeed, only tells us that St. Ouen 

 had held the manor in Edward's time ; but the fact that it was given by 

 him appears to be unquestioned. 8 It comprised not only West Mersea, 

 with the manor of Peete on the mainland adjoining, but also Fingringhoe 



1 Sec p. 509 below. * Liber EKeniis (Anglia Christiana Society), i. 216-8. 



* See Inquisitio comitatus Cantabrigiensis, pp. 122, 127-30, 193. It will be seen in the Domesday 

 text that the sworn men of the Hundreds generally testified to the justice of the abbey's claims. 



4 See pp. 337, 340 above. 8 See p. 337 above. 



' See The Commune of London, and other Studies, pp. 28-30 ; Studies in Peerage and Family History, 

 p. 155. 



' See Feudal England, pp. 319-20. 



8 His charter of donation was printed by Morant (i. 426) from a copy at Colchester, but its form 

 appears to be most suspicious. Its date purports to be 1046. 



34' 



