DOMESDAY SURVEY 



south-western counties, although this area was not unique in that respect. It is true to 

 say, however, that in 1086 servi were most numerous in the area of the old West Saxon 

 kingdom.^2 Apart from the male servi three female ancille were recorded at Crichel 

 (no. 266).^^ It is probable that most of the servi recorded in Domesday were ploughmen. 

 They are usually recorded in conjunction with the number of ploughs in demesne, 

 and it is not uncommon to find a ratio of 2:1 between the servi and the demesne 

 ploughs. "^-^ Where the number of servi falls short of the amount necessary to yield such a 

 ratio, the deficiency can sometimes be supplied from some other class, such as the 

 bovarii in Warwickshire, whose name indicates that they were ploughmen. ^5 No 

 bovarii are recorded in Dorset in 1086, but in one instance the coliberti seem to occupy a 

 similar position. At Sturminster Newton (no. 63) there was in demesne land for 14 

 ploughs, although the entry does not say how many ploughs were actually there. There 

 were only 15 servi but in addition there were 13 coliberti, whose number combined 

 with that of the servi yields a ratio of 2 : i with the number of ploughs which could be in 

 demesne. That the coliberti were sometimes linked with the demesne ploughs in the 

 same way as the servi was demonstrated by Round in his introduction to the Somerset 

 Domesday. ^^ Their name suggests that the coliberti were freed servi. They occur only 

 in the area of Wessex and western Mercia and appear in considerable numbers in some 

 counties, though there were only 33 in Dorset. Apart from the 13 already mentioned at 

 Sturminster Newton they were all on manors which had belonged to King Edward, 12 

 at Dorchester, 7 at Burton Bradstock, and i at Pimperne. At Dorchester and Pimperne 

 they were grouped with the demesne ploughs and the servi, but at Burton Bradstock 

 they were placed between the bordars and the cottars and the wording of the entry does 

 not exclude them from a share in the men's ploughs. ''^ In another instance a cotset 

 seems to be associated with the servi and the demesne ploughs. At Uploders (no. 206) 

 there was land for 2 ploughs que ibi sunt cum i coscet et Hi servis.^^ 



Comparison between Domesday and the surveys dating from the 12th century 

 indicates a decrease in the number of servi after 1086. The earlier survey of the lands of 

 Holy Trinity, Caen, records servi at Felstead (Essex) and Horstead (Norf.), but at 

 Tarrant Launceston in Dorset, where there were 14 servi in 1086 (no. 141), no servi are 

 recorded at all, and there has been a corresponding increase in the number of bordars. ^^ 

 In 1086 there was only one bordar but in the 12th century there were 13 bordars 

 together with a smith and a shepherd. It has been suggested^o that the successors of the 

 servi were to be found among the bovarii and bubulci who figure so largely in the surveys. 

 The Shaftesbury Abbey surveys^^ do not mention servi at all, with the possible exception 

 of a cliens qui servit in aula at Cheselbourne.^^ There are, however, numerous references 



" In 1086, according to Ellis {Gen. Introd. to Dom. Bk. " Ec. H. R. Suppl. ii. 7-8. 



ii), there were 995 servi in Norf., 905 in Suff., 1,768 in '''> V.C.H. Som. i. 426. 



Essex, and 1,148 in Kent. But the largest figures occur in "" See nos. 2 and x: Ibi sunt xli villani et xxx bordarii et 



the SW. : over 3,000 in Devon, over 2,000 in both Som. vii coliberti et Ixxxiiii cotarii. Inter omnes hahent xxzni 



and Glos., and over 1,000 in Cornw., Dors., Wilts., and carucas. 



Hants. Prof. Darby gives the figures for Norf., Suff., and <"" For cotsets and cottars associated with demesne 



Essex as 971, 917, and 1,788 respectively {Domesday Geog. ploughs, see above. 



o/i'asfern £«,?. 169, 225), and for Kent as 1,160: Domes(/oj' '"'' Bibliotheque Nationale, MS. Latina 5650, ff. 26v, 



Geog. of SE. Eng. 513. 27V, 28V. For an analysis of this MS., see Jean Birdsall, 



'•^ Tfiis is the only mention of ancille in the Dorset 'The Eng. Manors of the Abbey of La Trinite at Caen', 



Domesday, but in the survey of the manors of Holy Anniversary Essays . . . by Students of C. H. Haskins, ed. 



Trinity, Caen, dating from temp. Hen. I, 3 ancille are C. H. Taylor, 25-44. The earlier survey, containing the 



recorded at Tarrant Launceston, of whom 2 were dead and account of Tarrant, seems to date from the reign of Hen. L 



the third living (harum ii sunt mortue alia vivit) : Biblio- "> Ec. H. R. Suppl. ii. 8 sqq. 



thfeque Nationale, MS. Latina 5650, f. 27V. " These 2 I2th-cent. sur%'eys are preserved in the 



"■t M. M. Postan, 'The Famulus', £•<:.//. fi. 5»/>/)/. ii. 6. Shaftesbury Abbey cartulary: B.M. Karl. MS. 61, flF. 



In Dorset there were 312 manors on which servi were 37-89. The earlier one dates from c. 1130, the later from 



recorded, and on 66 of these (c. |) the ratio between them c. 1 175-80. 



and the demesne ploughs was 2:1. '^ Ibid. f. 4SV. 



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