28 THE DOMESDAY INQUEST 



mitta are used only as measures for salt ; and there are two 

 passages on the same page which show that the mitta was 

 equal to the seam. In the account of Maurdine 1 9 seams 

 of salt are valued at ninepence. In the next column, in 

 the account of Marcle, it is stated that " 5/- were paid at Wich 

 for sixty mittas of salt ; " and this equation is corroborated 

 by a passage in the Register of Worcester Priory, 2 which, 

 after speaking of the duty of the villains of Broadway to 

 fetch salt from Droitwich, states, "Each horse shall carry a 

 mitta," showing that a seam, or horse-load, was equivalent 

 to a mitta. Hence a seam is equal to 8 bushels, and is the 

 modern quarter. But Mr. Round quotes Hablington's state- 

 ment that a mitta was equal to 2 bushels, 3 and Professor 

 Maitland doubts the equation, I amber = 4 bushels. 4 



But the sextary and the modius are less easily explained. 

 " Sextary " is used both as a dry and a liquid measure. Sex- 

 taries of honey and wine are mentioned as well as sextaries of 

 corn ; we also read of modii of wine and corn. That a sextary 

 was an aliquot part of a modius is shown by the record of the 

 rents of the shrievalty of Wiltshire, which included " 2 modii 

 and 8 sextaries of wheat, and as much malt, and 5 modii and 

 4 sextaries of oats ; " 5 but in no passage does Domesday 

 Book hint the number of sextaries contained in a modius, 

 nor do I know any English text that gives this information. 

 Ducange says that the dry modius of Paris contained 12 

 sextaries, and if this equation were adopted for Domesday 

 Book, the quantity of oats received by the Sheriff of Wilts 

 would be double the quantity of wheat. Henry of Hunt- 

 ingdon equates sextary with seam, in which case a modius 

 would be equivalent to 1 2 quarters ; and this equation is 

 supported by the Liber Niger, which states that in 1125 the 

 Abbey of Peterborough received from its tenants 65 modii 



1 D. B., I. 179 b i. 2 Id., 34 a. 



3 V, C H.> Wor., i. 270. 4 D. B. and B., 440. 



5 D. B., I. 69 a I. 



