149 Domesday and Feudal Statistics 



from Prof. Maitland's, who claims no minute 

 accuracy for his great industry ; at the same time 

 let not his statement detract from their worth for 

 practical ends, as his tables are of the utmost value, 

 and based, so far as 1 have discovered, on a sound 

 knowledge of Domesday's method, which entitles 

 his work to the grateful acknowledgment of all 

 interested in our ancient Record. 



Yorkshire An example offers in the 1297 Subsidy (Vol. 



^om c t u he ure i6 Yorks Record Ser.) where from the editor's 



sid 97 RoUs e pit me m tne Introduction are 1,044 oxen an d 



68 1 horses, against just under 5,000 qrs. of corn 



seem to be instances where the lord is whole or part owner ; 

 the following show extreme cases as found: 115*2 (i vill., 

 i pi.), 164/5 (15 vill., 15 pis.), 185* (i vill., i pi.), 3*5* 

 (l vill., I pi.), 327^ (i vill., i pi.), and 323*7 (5 vill., with 

 \ pi.), 328*7 (10 vill. 2 bord. with i pi.), 353*7 (n vill. with 

 I pi.), and frequently with none ; as to sowing the lords' land 

 with their own seed, 174^ (bis\ 179^ (36 vill. 10 bord. plough 

 and sow 80 ac. wheat, 71 ac. oats), and iSoa (238 vill. 

 ploughed and sowed 140 ac. ; now 224 pi. and sow 125 ac.), 

 which Prof. Maitland gives as instances (p. 57, *D .B., and 

 Beyond') of the light work of the 1086 villani, omitting to 

 observe that it is not the fact of ploughing the demesne 

 (matter superfluous to record),but of sowing the ploughed acres 

 with their own proper seed, which is worthy of note thus 

 in A.D. 1124 (A.S. Chron.) the acre's seed of wheat (2 bush.) 

 sold at 6s., that of barley (3 bush.) at 6s., and that of oats 

 (4 bush.) at 45. in a very dear year, whereas the cost of 

 aration would scarcely exceed 2d. per acre. That the 

 villani did not till as much demesne land in 1086 as in the 

 thirteenth cent, follows as a matter of mere necessity, by 

 reason that they had fewer ploughs and less land (actually, 

 and also relatively in proportion to the demesne) at the 

 former period ; the demesne ploughs then were probably 

 some ^<j of the total, and the lords' arable presumably -f of 

 course these proportions would be quite inapplicable to the 

 latter period (see p. 152). 



