PRE-CONQUEST DOCUMENTS in 



lease ; others on yearly agreements. Possibly some of the 

 houses in the village are let on leases for ninety-nine years, 

 while others are copyhold of the manor of Whiteacre. But, 

 notwithstanding the sale, these tenants all continue in posses- 

 sion of their farms and houses. Similarly, when an English 

 King say Ethelwulf or Alfred gave a large estate to a 

 monastery, it would pass to the monastery subject to the 

 rights of the various under-tenants, who possibly were not 

 even referred to in the charter. The monks would enter into 

 possession of the demesne farm, and the geneats and geburs 

 would continue in possession of their lands, subject to their 

 rendering their stated services. Possibly, too, in this grant of 

 the estate might be included any food-rents and services that 

 might be due from the King's gafolgelders living in the vill. 



So that we can distinguish five classes of humbler folk in 

 the pre-Conquest village. 



1 . The " gafolgelder," 1 rendering food-rents and occa- 

 sional services to the King or to his grantees. 



2. The " geneat," a tenant of the grantee of the estate, 

 and rendering to his landlord similar services to those of 

 the gafolgelder. 



3. The " gebur," also a tenant of the grantee, holding a 

 virgate, and rendering to him week-work, boon-work, and 

 small food-rents. 



4. The "cottager," holding some 5 acres of the grantee, 

 and rendering to him one day's work a week. 



5. The " slave," maintained and housed by his lord. 



But it was possible for the gafolgelder to be himself the 

 lord of a manor, and to have geneats, geburs, cottagers, and 

 slaves as his under-tenants and working on his lands. 



1 In using this term of landowners of the time of the Confessor, I plead guilty 

 to an anachronism. For Mr. Chadwick says, " ' Gafolgelder ' seems not to be used 

 in official documents after the time of Ine " (Studies in Anglo-Saxon Institutions, 

 377). But, on the other hand, the word " ceorl" appears to be indiscriminately 

 applied to every freeman, whether dependent or independent. 



