5 o THE DOMESDAY INQUEST 



Other words are used in Domesday Book for houses : aula, 

 the hall ; curia, the court ; and domus, a house ; but the " hall " 

 is clearly differentiated from the other houses in any village. 

 At Ebrige (Berks.) Hugh the Steerman had a quarrel with 

 his tenants, "and transported the hall and the houses and 

 stock into another manor." 1 And when we read that at 

 ^Ettune " ten manors : ten thegns each had his hall," 2 we see 

 that the hall was what we should now call the manor-house, 

 the residence of the owner of the estate. But it is further 

 clear that a hall was necessary to the existence of a manor. 

 At Perching (Sussex) there were, T. R. E., two halls ; in 1086 

 it was one manor. 3 And examples could be multiplied. In 

 Essex " hall " is often used when " manor " would be expected : 

 " Ingelric added these men to his hall " 4 corresponds to " In- 

 gelric added these men to his manor," on the next page. 



Curia is not so common as aula> but is practically its 

 equivalent. In some places we read of mills serving the 

 court, and in others of mills serving the hall. Occasionally 

 manors without halls are mentioned, 5 and the Perching record 

 quoted above shows that the new owner had consolidated two 

 manors into one by abolishing one of the halls ; and in York- 

 shire there are passages which suggest that a manor was con- 

 verted into a sokeland or a berewick by the abolition of the 

 hall. But why should one house on an estate be so important 

 as to give its name to the whole estate ? 



Professor Maitland has answered this question by remind- 

 ing us that Domesday Book is primarily a geld-book, and that 

 all its information is given from the point of view of the 

 collectors of the geld. Now, these collectors would know that 

 a certain property was assessed at a certain number of hides ; 

 but unless they knew at what house the demand for the geld 

 should be made, they would have to wander over the whole 



1 D. B., I. 63 a 2. 2 id., 282 b 2. 



3 Id., 27 a I. 4 Id., II. 29 b. 



5 Id., I. 307 b I. 



