DOMESDAY SURVEY 



the subject. We do seem to recognize a broad distinction between the 

 holders whose ' soke was in the hundred ' and those whose soke was in some 

 particular manor, and if we are to draw any kind of line between freemen 

 and sokemen we must draw it there. But the hundred itself, in King 

 Edward's time, as in later centuries, might be in private hands. We have a 

 full account of the state of jurisdiction in Earsham half-hundred.^ Here 

 Stigand had ' sac and soc ' of the half-hundred in Earsham, but the abbots of 

 St. Edmunds and Ely had soke in their respective manors of Thorpe Abbots 

 and Pulham, while Earl Ralf had the same in Redenhall, and also over those 

 who were commended to him, and there seem to have been two smaller 

 jurisdictions. In the same way the hundred and a half of Clackclose was the 

 soke of St. Benet of Ramsey and appendant to the saint's manor of Wim- 

 botsham, being worth ^3 los.^ Saint Audrey of Ely had the soke of the 

 hundred and a half of Midford^ in East Dereham which was worth £2- 

 Stigand's manor of Mileham seems to have included the soke of Launditch 

 hundred. Other hundreds, like Holt* which rendered ^^66 by tale (^ sic 

 for £2 ^^•)-) were in the king's hands. Guiltcross, whose soke was in 

 Kenninghall, had been King Edward's, but had passed to Earl Ralf ; it 

 rendered 20^.^ Shropham hundred belonged to Earl Ralf, and its soke was 

 in his manor of Old Buckenham ; it rendered ;^2.* The soke of North 

 Greenhoe hundred was in Wighton, the king's manor, but the profits were 

 divided between the king and the earl, no doubt in the usual proportion 

 of 2 : I.' 



The half-hundred of Diss was the king's, but St. Edmund had half the 

 soke over the lands which he held in the hundred.^ The king seems to have 

 held Eynesford hundred with its soke in Foulsham." It is not quite so easy 

 to specify where the soke of the other hundreds lay. The common formula 

 in many cases is the ' soke is in the hundred ' or ' the king and the earl have 

 the soke': but we can say without any hesitation that the soke of a freeman 

 is normally in the chief manor of the hundred, though there have been 

 grants and usurpations of private jurisdiction which have gravely disturbed 

 the normal arrangement. Thus the soke of Forehoe hundred and a half 

 ought no doubt to be in Hingham, and we find instances throughout the 

 book which confirm this ; but alongside of Hingham we find Stigand's soke 

 of Wymondham,^" and Gurth's soke of Costessy," where the sokemen had a 

 special territory of their own, which is separately measured and assessed.'^ 

 We read that Gurth usurped the soke over all his freemen in Henstead 

 hundred,^' and Earl Ralf seems to have acquired a similar right. ^* We are 

 expressly told that the king had soke over all the ' freemen * of North 

 Erpingham hundred." In the half-hundred of Diss we find the freeholders 

 divided into two classes : those who hold 30 acres or more are sokemen of 

 the hundred ; those who hold less are sokemen of the manor of Fersfield, 

 which had been in private hands. Similarly in Walsham hundred the earl 



' Dom. Bk. f. 139^. - Ibid. f. 215^. Mbid. f. 214. 



' Ibid. f. 112^. ' Ibid. f. 128. ' Ibid. f. 127. 



' Ibid. f. 1 1 ji. On the earl's ' third penny,' see Dia/. de Scacc. i, xvii, and note. The right is most 



likely as old as Athelstan, and may be earlier. 



« Ibid. f. 1 14. " Ibid. f. 114. '" Ibid. f. 1373. 



" Ibid. f. 144^. " Ibid. f. 145. 



" Ibid. f. 210. " See above and Dom. Bk. f. 147. " Ibid. f. 185. 



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