THE MAGNATES 97 



held as " of the earl's honour (de honore comitis}" l and those 

 manors to which the third penny of the pleas of the hundred 

 or the shire were annexed would seem also to have been 

 comital manors. But some of the earls held lands outside 

 their earldoms. Devon was included in Harold's earldom 

 of Wessex, and some of his lands in that county were forfeited 

 to the Conqueror ; but Earl Leofwin also held lands in 

 that county, and his lands likewise fell to the Conqueror. 

 In addition to the lands he held, the earl received the third 

 penny of the pleas of the hundred and the shire, and the 

 third penny of the profits of the boroughs. Almost the only 

 evidence in Domesday Book to show that the Bishop of 

 Bayeux was Earl of Kent, is the statement that he granted 

 to the monks of St. Augustine's the third penny of the 

 borough of Fordwich, to which he was entitled as Earl of Kent. 2 



Some idea of the powers of the pre-Conquest earl can be 

 gained from the Domesday statistics relating to Shropshire 

 and Cheshire. We have already noticed that the King held 

 no lands in either of these shires. " In Cheshire the Bishop of 

 the City holds of the King what pertains to his own see. All 

 the rest of the County is held of the King by Earl Hugh and 

 his men." 3 In Shropshire there were eight or nine persons 

 who held direct of the King ; " Earl Roger holds the rest with 

 his men." 4 Each earl received the King's share of the profits 

 of his county borough, and it would seem as though he was 

 at liberty to raid Wales as he pleased. Both these earls held 

 extensive estates in other parts of the kingdom. Earl Roger 

 held about one-third of Sussex with the city of Chichester 

 and the castle of Arundel, and it would seem as if here too 

 he exercised the privileges of an earl, and appointed his own 

 sheriff ; but otherwise they had no higher privileges than their 

 neighbours. 



As was but natural, the Conqueror's two half-brothers, 



1 D. B., I. 246 a i. " Id., I. 12 a 2. 



3 Id., I. 262 b 2. * Id., I. 252 a i. 



