i 3 4 THE DOMESDAY INQUEST 



counties both classes are included under one name some- 

 times they are called " freemen ; " at other times both classes 

 are styled " sokemen." The essential difference must always 

 be borne in mind : had the man liberty of commendation ? 

 If so, he was a freeholder, a gafolgelder; if not, he was a 

 sokeman, a geneat. 



Professor Maitland draws a distinction between the free- 

 men and the sokemen on the one hand, and the villans on 

 the other, by suggesting that their lord was primarily liable 

 for the geld of the latter class, but liable as a surety only for 

 the geld of the freemen and the sokemen ; l but the Geld 

 Inquests for 1084 represent the collectors as unable to collect 

 all the geld, because the villans of certain places did not pay 

 their geld. 2 If their lord was primarily liable, it would make 

 no difference to the collectors whether they retained it or 

 no. He would therefore explain the record of "a freeman 

 who now has become one of the villans" at Benfleet, 3 by 

 suggesting that the primary liability for the geld had been 

 shifted from the man to his lord. But how would he explain 

 the record at Bloxham, 4 concerning a thegn who served as 

 a freeman ? In his view both were primarily liable for geld, 

 and, if so, there is no reason for the change of name being 

 recorded. Our explanation, that the difference lay in the 

 economic condition, not in the liability for geld, will suit both 

 cases. At Benfleet we see a gafolgelder degraded into a 

 gebur a degradation against which Ine legislated in the 

 eighth century ; and at Bloxham we have a man who had 

 been accustomed to render military service becoming a gafol- 

 gelder, and commuting his military services for a money 

 payment or a payment in kind. Converse commutations 

 can be found : At Stratton, Wilts., land that was formerly 

 thegnland, in 1086 rendered 6os. into the King's farm ; 5 

 evidently the tenant had commuted the agricultural services 





1 D. B. and B., 127. " e.g. D. B., IV. 9. 



3 D. B,, II. i b. 4 Id., I. 154 b 2. 5 Id., I. 86 b 2. 





