DOMESDAY SURVEY 



laymen excluding the king. He had taken four manors from Shaftesbury Abbey: 

 Stour (no. 127), assessed at 17 hides, Cheselbourne (no. 138), assessed at 16 hides, 

 Melcombe (no. 30), assessed at 10 hides, and a manor called Pidele.-^ He had also taken 

 a manor belonging to a certain clerk (quidam clericiis) and given it to Eadnoth the staller. 

 This manor, Ilsington (no. 221), was held by Earl Hugh in 1086. Harold's mother, 

 Countess Gytha, held two manors in Dorset T.R.E., Little Puddle (nos. 14 and iii) and 

 Frampton (no. 121), assessed at 25 i hides, a total hidage of 3oi hides. To the manor of 

 Frampton was attached the third share of the wood of Ilauocumbe, belonging to Burton 

 Bradstock.26 Queen Edith, Earl Harold's sister and the widow of King Edward, had 

 held the manor of Sherborne (no. 37), assessed at 43 hides. She presumably held it for 

 life, since Bishop Aelfwold of Sherborne had held it before her, and in 1086 it belonged 

 to the Bishop of Salisbury and the monks of Sherborne. Countess Goda had 24 hides in 

 Dorset, consisting of the manors of Melcombe (no. 30) and Hinton (no. 31). She died 

 before 1056 and on her death Melcombe appears to have passed to Shaftesbury Abbey.^^ 

 Archbishop Stigand held one manor in Dorset, the large and valuable Sturminster 

 Marshall (no. 232), assessed at 30 hides and worth J^bb. 



The richest thegn in Dorset in 1086 was Beorhtric son of Aelfgar whose lands were 

 given to Queen Maud and later formed the nucleus of the honor of Gloucester. Of 

 Beorhtric's Dorset manors Cranborne, Ashmore, and Frome St. Quintin belonged to the 

 king in 1086. The queen had given two other manors away, Tarrant Launceston (no. 

 141) to Holy Trinity, Caen, and Tyneham (no. 369) to Anschitil fitz Ameline. 

 Boveridge, in Cranborne (no. 71), which belonged to the abbey of Cranborne in 1086, 

 was held by Brictric T.R.E. who is probably Beorhtric son of Aelfgar. The latter may 

 well be identified also with the T.R.E. holder of Dewlish (no. 148) which Count Alan 

 held in 1086, since this manor was later part of the honor of Gloucester,-^ but whether 

 he was the Brictric who held Tarente (no. 370) or the Brictric who preceded the Count 

 of Mortain at Mappowder (no. 171) and Uploders (no. 206) is less certain. He certainly 

 held 59 hides in Dorset T.R.E. and may have held 73 hides. Toll, whose name suggests 

 that he was of Scandinavian origin, held 490 hides in Dorset. He was a prosperous local 

 thegn with 34 hides in Hampshire and land in Wiltshire and Devon, all of which was 

 held by William of Eu in 1086. William's other predecessor was Aelfstan of Boscombe, 

 whose land in 8 counties belonged to William in 1086. Most of Aelfstan's land lay in 

 Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, but he was one of the larger landowners in Dorset where 

 he held 34 hides. Ailvert (Aethelfrith) and Ailmar (Aelmer), the most important of 

 Roger Arundel's predecessors, were quite wealthy thegns, with land in Somerset as well 

 as Dorset which also passed to Roger. Aethelfrith has been identified as Ailferth 

 mmister who witnessed Edward the Confessor's grant to Bath Abbey in 1061.^9 He held 

 26i hides in Dorset and Aelmer 25! hides. They can be identified as the two men who 

 held Piddletrenthide (no. 69), as two manors, of King Edward, since this manor was 

 held by Roger Arundel before it passed to the New Minster, Winchester. It was 

 assessed at 30 hides, and, assuming that it was roughly divided in half between the two 

 men, they must have held in all about 40 hides apiece. 



One of the Count of Mortain's predecessors was called Edmar. He held about 35 

 hides, consisting of the manors of Gussage All Saints (no. 192), Blaneford (no. 194), and 

 some smaller manors, one of which, Wootton Fitzpaine (no. 211), appears to have been 

 beneficially hidated.^o Edmar is probably to be identified as the man of the same name 



" See pp. 43, 83. ^f" See pp. 3, 65. ^* Bk. of Fees, 93 (1212). 



" See p. 29. For a full account of Goda's life and " V.C.H. Som. 419; Eyton, Domesday Studies: Som. i. 



marriages, see J. H. Round, Studies in Peerage and Family 155-6. 



Hist. 147-51. '" It was assessed at 2 hides but had land for 7 ploughs. 



31 



