104 THE DOMESDAY INQUEST 



estates of certain of the bishops and abbots were assessed in 

 1066, and the number of knights they furnished in the twelfth 

 century. 



Hidage (1066). Knights (1166). 

 Archbishop of Canterbury ... ... 992^ ... 60 



Bishop of Winchester ... ... 1195 ... 60 



Worcester 567 ... 60 (50) 



Abbot of Abingdon ... ... 6o6J ... 30 



Glastonbury ... ... 891^ ... 60 



St. Albans 167 ... 6 1 



So that it would seem that in fixing the contingent to be 

 supplied by each church the Conqueror disregarded the old 

 5-hide unit, and proceeded on entirely different principles. 



When once the Crown had fixed the number of knights 

 it expected from any tenant in capite, the latter would make 

 arrangements so that his contingent should be always ready 

 for service. The Abbot of Ely tried the experiment of keep- 

 ing his contingent on the abbey premises, and maintaining 

 them out of the abbey kitchen ; but after a time he found this 

 too expensive, and he therefore granted them lands where 

 they might support themselves, on condition that they should 

 serve in the King's expeditions when required. 2 Possibly the 

 record of the houses of the knights at Westminster indicates 

 that there, too, some of the knights whom the abbot was 

 bound to furnish, resided in the purlieus of the abbey, and 

 were maintained at the abbey kitchen. We therefore under- 

 stand why there were twenty-six knights on the Oxfordshire 

 estates of the Bishop of Lincoln, and why the Archbishop of 

 Canterbury enfeoffed certain knights in Kent. The holdings 

 of these knights varied in assessment. The Bishop of London 

 had five knights at Clacton, who held 4 hides between them. 3 

 The holdings of the knights of the Bishop of Lincoln at 

 Dorchester (Oxon.) were 7 j, 6J, 5 J, 2, and 5 hides respectively, 

 but this last 5-hide holding was held by Rainald and Vitalis 



1 See also Table B. 2 F. E., 300. 3 D. B., II. u. 





