A HISTORY OF DORSET 



discussed elsewhere.^o Some Englishmen appear as tenants of Norman lords in 

 1 086,5 ' and a few appear to have become economically dependent upon a Norman lord 

 to the extent of being numbered among the villani in 1086.5^ Apart from these Regenbald 

 was still in possession of his manor of Pulham (no. 146) in 1086, and Eadnoth the 

 staller survived until his death in 1067 and in King William's time obtained Burstock 

 (no. 230) from the thegn to whom it belonged T.R.E. Other thegns continued to hold 

 their land, but as tenants of Norman lords. According to Exon. Domesday the 9 thegns 

 who held Rollington (nos. 331 and ciii) T.R.E. still held it in 1086, although it had 

 passed to Roger Arundel, and was subinfeudated to Robert Attlet. The Exchequer text 

 does not mention the tenure of these 9 thegns. It is probable that the 4 men at Galton 

 (no. 507) who rendered 12s. 4J. to Osmund the baker, to whom the manor belonged, 

 were identical with the 4 free men who held the manor T.R.E. The Geld Rolls reveal 

 other cases in which the English owners of a manor were still holding their land of a 

 Norman. In Cullifordtree hundred a thegn cuius ipsa terra fuit held i hide and i virgate 

 of William Belet. This land can be identified as part of Winterborne Belet or Cripton 

 (no. 493), which 2 thegns held T.R.E. In Godderthorn hundred Berenger Giffard had a 

 piece of land which his predecessor held of him at farm {banc tenet antecessor Berengerii 

 de eo ad fir mam). Berenger held only one manor in Dorset, Bredy (Farm) (no. 317), 

 which was held T.R.E. by Harding. It is possible that he is to be identified as Harding 

 son of Eadnoth the staller, who held several manors in this area both before and after 

 the Conquest. In Uggescombe hundred a thegn held 2\ hides of Aiulf the chamberlain. 

 These 2\ hides were probably part of Aiulf's manor of Tatton (no. 345) held by a 

 thegn of Cerne Abbey T.R.E., who may also have held it of Aiulf in 1084. Exon. 

 Domesday reveals that the 3 thegns holding 3 hides of Cranborne (nos. 16 and xxii) 

 of the king in 1086, held them of Beorhtric son of Aelfgar T.R.E. Brictuin, who held 4 

 hides of Cerne Abbas of the abbot in 1086, held it likewise T.R.E. Tenants with 

 English names are quite common on ecclesiastical land in 1086. Chetel held Fifehead St. 

 Quintin (no. 133) of Shaftesbur}^ Abbey. Algar and Brictuin appear among the Bishop 

 of Salisbury's tenants at Beaminster (no. 46). Chetel appears as a tenant of Glastonbury 

 Abbey at Sturminster Newton (no. 63) and at Okeford Fitzpaine (no. 64), and Warmund 

 held land at Buckland Ne\\ton (no. 65). ^3 Two widows are mentioned in connexion 

 with ecclesiastical land, one at Piddletrenthide (no. 69) and one at Atrim (nos. 116 

 and Ixiii). 



In contrast to the lay lands the possessions of the religious houses in Dorset suffered 

 no major upset during the transition to Norman rule. Where the names of bishops or 

 abbots are given, they are generally Norman, like Osmund de Seez, Bishop of Salisbury', 

 Maurice, Bishop of London, and Geoffrey, Abbot of Tavistock. Various foreign 

 ecclesiastics and religious houses had received small amounts of land. Odo, Bishop of 

 Bayeux, the king's half-brother, had received Rampisham (no. 55) and Geoffrey, Bishop 

 of Coutances, two small manors called Wintreburne (nos. 56, 57). The canons of 

 Coutances also held a small manor called Winterborne Stickland (no. 142), the only 

 land they had in England. Gilbert Maminot, Bishop of Lisieux, held four Dorset 

 manors, amounting to 26 hides, and Maurice, Bishop of London, held \ hide in 

 Odehatn (no. 62) and i i hide at Hinton Martell (no. 31) which belonged to the church of 

 Wimborne. Another hide of land at Hinton, which had belonged to a priest T.R.E., was 

 held in 1086 by the Bishop of Lisieux. The abbey of St. Stephen, Caen, had 35^ hides 

 in Dorset, consisting of Frampton and Bincombe, which had belonged to Countess 



5° See pp. 51-53. " For a further discussion of ecclesiastical tenants and 



5' See p. 49. s^ See pp. 15-16. the question of thegnland, see pp. 39-40. 



36 



