102 THE DOMESDAY INQUEST 



victuals and pay for two months. When a 5 -hide unit became 

 divided, there must have been disputes as to the person who 

 should serve. Hence we find arrangements, as in Lincolnshire, 

 where Siwate and his three brothers divided their father's 

 lands equally, T. R. E., and held them on condition that if 

 there was an expedition, and Siwate could go, his brothers 

 aided him ; failing him, the second went, and Siwate and 

 the others aided him ; and so of all. Yet Siwate was the 

 King's man (and was, therefore, the person nominally liable). 1 

 Again, at Durnford (Wilts.), three Englishmen held 3 hides 

 of the Church of Wilton, of whom two paid $s. a year, and the 

 third served as a thegn. 2 Evidently when the sheriff called 

 out the fyrd, the third was the only one to go. The penalty 

 imposed on defaulters was the forfeiture of all their lands to 

 the King ; 3 but this rule was modified in Worcestershire by 

 the proviso that if the defaulter was under a lord, and the lord 

 found a substitute, he paid a penalty of 40^. to his lord ; so 

 that it would appear that some magnates were in the habit 

 of raising the contingent of the fyrd which was due from their 

 own lands. Domesday Book shows that even before the 

 Conquest, certain bishops had been accustomed to send their 

 contingents to the fyrd under the leadership of one of their 

 own men. The tenants of the Bishop of Worcester followed 

 his flag and served under his captain, and the fyrdwites the 

 penalties for neglect to serve were collected in his courts 

 and paid to him. The bishop claimed that the tenants of 

 Bengeworth and Hampton, belonging to the Abbot of 

 Evesham, should serve in his contingent with the other men 

 of the hundred of Oswaldslaw, and his claim was allowed 

 by the court. 4 And similarly the tenants of certain lands 

 dependent on Taunton served on expeditions with the men 

 of the Bishop of Winchester. 5 The term " thegn " was applied 

 to the heavy-armed soldier, and we therefore read in Domes- 



1 D. B., I. 375 b 2. 2 Id., I. 67 b 2. 3 Id., I. 56 b i ; 172 a I. 



4 V. C. H,, Worcester, 249. 5 D. B., I. 87 b I. 



