1 50 THE DOMESDAY INQUEST 



Leofwin, a man of Godwin of Bendfield, whose soke belonged 

 to Ansgar. 1 If the post-Conquest succession had followed 

 the soke, this land would have passed to Geoffrey of Mande- 

 ville. On the other hand, there were cases in which the 

 succession followed the soke. Ansgar held the manor of 

 Sawbridgeworth T. R. E., where there were four sokemen, 

 all of whom could sell, but their soke belonged to Ansgar. 

 Of these one had commended himself to Earl Harold, and 

 one to Alwin of Godtone, and the other two had commended 

 themselves to Ansgar ; but Geoffrey of Mandeville succeeded 

 to the manor and to the lands of all four sokemen. 2 



The statistics relating to Essex throw much light on other 

 changes brought about by the Conquest. Professor Maitland 

 has called attention to the decrease in the numbers of villans 

 and slaves and the increase in the number of bordars in that 

 county. 3 In the hundred of Barstaple the figures for the 

 two periods can be tabulated as follows : 



1066. 1086. 



Villans 198 182 



Bordars 384 572 



Slaves 149 90 



The bordars had increased at the expense of the villans and 

 slaves. Evidently their numbers had been increased by 

 impoverished villans and enfranchised slaves ; the heavy 

 geld of 1084 would account for the impoverishment of the 

 villans, and the enfranchisement of the slaves may be the 

 result of another economic change. The lords seem to be 

 learning to rely less on the work of the slaves whom they 

 maintained, and more on the work of those who maintained 

 themselves on their own plots of land. 



As before, so after the Conquest, the slaves were the 

 lowest in the social scale. In 1086 they formed 9 per cent, 

 of the recorded population ; and Mr. Seebohm's invaluable 



1 D. B., I. 138 a i. 2 Id., 140 a I. 



3 D. B. and B., 35. 



