THE HIDE AND THE TEAMLAND 39 



But this explanation of the second term is not adopted by 

 all scholars. There are some who think that it represents a 

 rough estimate of the land in the estate that could be used for 

 cultivation, and that it included not only the land that was 

 actually under the plough, but also that which, if the estate 

 was properly cultivated, would be under the plough. They 

 quote the variations between the Exchequer Domesday and 

 the Exeter Domesday ; where the former says : " There is land 

 for 185 teams at Crediton," the latter says, " 185 teams can 

 plough this land." But is not the estimate that 185 teams 

 could be employed best proved by the fact that 185 teams 

 were actually employed there in 1066 ? The jurors were 

 asked for facts, not estimates : what was the number of teams 

 T. R. E. ? And if, in answering this question, their memories 

 failed them, and they were not quite accurate, yet they in- 

 tended to be accurate, and to give facts rather than estimates. 

 The jurors for Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk gave figures which 

 purported to represent facts. Why, if they intended to give 

 facts, should the jurors of the other counties be considered to 

 be giving estimates ? 



In Middlesex there is often an addition to the third term 

 of the formula in the form of a statement that " in addition, E 

 teams can be made there," and in that county C + D + E 

 = B ; and a similar statement is often found in the Western 

 counties, in which counties the second term is always omitted. 

 After the statistics relating to the lands of the Bishop of 

 Worcester in Worcestershire, the Commissioners add, " In all 

 these lands there can be no more teams than are stated." 1 

 These three statements as to possible teams are all matters of 

 opinion and estimate, but judging from the returns of the 

 jurors in the eastern counties, they are opinions founded on 

 fact the fact that there were no more teams on the land 

 in 1066. 



As yet we have been dealing only with those parts of the 



1 D. B., I. 174 a i. 



