ii 4 THE DOMESDAY INQUEST 



so. This line of demarcation is observed in those counties 

 where no nominal distinction is drawn between freemen 

 and sokemen. In these counties both classes are recorded 

 together under one name ; in the Eastern Midlands they are 

 all called sokemen ; in the southern counties they are called 

 freemen. But if the nominal distinction is disregarded, the 

 essential difference is usually recorded ; there is generally a 

 statement as to liberty of or restraint on commendation. 

 Some 65 per cent, of the pre-Conquest sokemen of Cam- 

 bridgeshire had this liberty. 



The dislike of the Domesday scribes to tautology is well 

 known, and there was scarcely any phrase for which they 

 used so many variants as in connection with commendation. 

 Hence it will be useful to set out in parallel columns the 

 various phrases used to express liberty of or restraint on 

 commendation. 



They could give and sell They could not give and sell 

 their land. their land (without licence). 



They could recede. They could not recede (with- 



out licence). 

 They could go where they They could not go where they 



would with their land. would with their land. 



They could go to another They could not go to another 

 lord. lord. 



They could not be separated 

 from their lord. 



But the distinction between the two classes can be pressed 

 still further. A man who was at liberty to sell his land was 

 said to hold freely : " Algar held Bromley freely and was 

 commended to Wisgar, being at liberty to sell his land ; " * 

 and Mr. Round quotes a passage from Heming's Cartulary 

 of Worcester Abbey, defining a man holding freely as having 

 liberty to sell or to go to whom he would. 2 Occasionally 



1 D. B., II. 40 b. V. C. H., Worcester, i. 267. 



