THE CHURCH 189 



of arable land, 25 acres of meadow, and a mill, and its glebe 

 was stocked with two horses, seventeen cattle, fifty-three pigs, 

 and one hundred sheep. 1 The best endowed church men- 

 tioned in Domesday Book, one which almost rivalled the 

 smaller monasteries in its wealth, was the collegiate church 

 of Bosham, which in 1066 was possessed of 112 hides; after 

 the Conquest it lost 47 hides, but even after this reduction it 

 was worth 16 los. a year. 2 



In speaking of the glebe land, we must bear in mind that 

 the priests were often coupled with the villans rather than 

 with the freeholders or sokemen, thus incidentally corro- 

 borating our contention that the villan was a freeman in 

 the eyes of the law. The Cambridgeshire Inquest states 

 that at Kennet there were a priest and six villans, but the 

 parallel passage in the Exchequer Domesday speaks of seven 

 villans, and omits all reference to the priest ; hence it would 

 appear that the priest was obliged to join with the villans 

 in providing the manorial team of eight oxen. Occasionally, 

 however, we find priests having tenants under them ; at Bake- 

 well (Derby) there were two priests and a church, and under 

 them two villans and five bordars. 3 



This glebe land was not always the gift of one person. 

 At Tuddenham (Norfolk) " the church holds 60 acres of the 

 gift of very many (phtrimorum) ; " 4 and " at the church (of 

 Slinford) lay 30 acres which the neighbours have given in 

 alms." 5 Frequently, however, he who built the church also 

 endowed it : " In the hundred of Humiliart, Colebern (who is 

 called in the rubric Colebern the priest) built a church by the 

 grant of the King, and if the King will allow, he will give it 

 20 acres, and for it will sing for the King a mass and a 

 psalter every week." 6 There are not a few records of this 

 type, but they would appear to be chantries rather than 

 parish churches. 



1 D. B., II. 286 b. 2 /</., I. 17 a 2. 



3 V. C. H., Derby, i. 368. 4 D. B., II. 189 b. 



5 D. B., II. 24 b. 6 /</., II. 263 b. 



