6 THE DOMESDAY INQUEST 



into account the fact that not more than I per cent, of the 

 land in England was in 1086 held of the King by those who 

 had held it T. R. E. or by their widows or heirs. 



2. THE PURPOSE OF DOMESDAY BOOK 



Chief among the royal rights to which William succeeded 

 as heir of the Confessor and of the latter's ancestors, was the 

 right to levy an occasional war-tax known as the Danegeld. 

 This tax was first levied by Ethelred II., and the proceeds 

 were used by him as a bribe to induce the Danish raiders to 

 return home. The Chronicle says that in 991 it realized 

 .20,000 ; in 994, 16,000 ; in 1002, 24,000 ; in 1007 it rose 

 to 30,000; but in 1024 it had fallen to 21,000. Under 

 the Danish kings it was increased to still greater sums : 

 Canute received 83,000 in 1014, and in 1042 Hardicanute 

 received 21,099, besides 11,048 that was paid for thirty- 

 two ships. There is no record of the sums that were raised 

 by this tax under the Confessor, who is said, because in a 

 dream he saw the devil chuckling over the money produced 

 by it, to have abandoned it in the year 1051 ; but it was 

 levied at least three times during the Conqueror's reign, and 

 in the winter of 1083-4 he exacted an exceeding muckle geld 

 of 72^". from every hide. The Chronicle does not state the 

 amount thus raised, but there are certain Geld Inquisitions 

 prefixed to the Exeter Domesday relating to the yield of a 

 geld of 6s. a hide from the five south-western counties, which, 

 by all authorities, is considered to be the geld of 1083-4. 

 These inquisitions state the names of all the hundreds in 

 the county, the number of hides in each hundred, the 

 number of hides in demesne, the amount paid in each 

 hundred, and the number of hides from which the geld was 

 not paid. 



They may be tabulated as follows : 



