THE ENCROACHMENTS 219 



of Itchen ; but the Commissioners reported, " The Abbess of 

 St. Mary's, Winchester, claims this manor, and the whole 

 hundred, and moreover the whole shire, bears witness that 

 it belonged to the abbey in the time of King Edward and 

 of King William, and justly ought to belong to it." In the 

 margin is a note : " King William restored it to the Church," l 

 which must have been made after the text had been compiled. 2 

 Incidentally, these reports on the encroachments reveal 

 the independence of the Commissioners : they were deter- 

 mined to act fairly and justly by every man, however exalted 

 or mean his position. They do not hesitate to report that 

 the King himself has been guilty of taking property from 

 one man and giving it to another. T. R. E. the Bishop 

 of Selsey held Bexhill (Sussex), because it pertained to his 

 see, and so held it till King William gave the castellary of 

 Hastings to the Count of Eu ; 3 and they report that the 

 King had taken half of the wood at Malvern belonging to 

 the Bishop of Worcester into his own wood. 4 The only 

 mention in Domesday Book of any son of the Conqueror is 

 a report by the Commissioners that William, the King's 

 son, took 3 virgates at Staplebridge (Dorset) from the church 

 at Salisbury without the consent of the Bishop and monks 

 (of Sherborne). 5 It was but natural that after the deposition 

 of Odo, Earl of Kent and Bishop of Bayeux, in 1083, the 

 Commissioners would not be unwilling to blacken his cha- 

 racter, and they report innumerable encroachments made 

 by him ; but they also report the reckless spoliation of the 

 churches in Cornwall by the Count of Mortain. Many lands 

 were taken by him from the churches of St. Petroc and 

 St. German ; he took away from the monks of St. Stephen's 

 a market belonging to them at Launceston, 6 and all the 

 stock from I hide belonging to the Canons of St. Pieran's. 7 



1 D. B., I. 48 a 2. 2 V. C. H., Hants, i. 437. 



3 D. B., I. i8a2. 4 D. B., I. 174 a 2. 



5 Id., I. 77 a i. 8 Id., 1. 120 b 2. 7 Id., I. 121 a 2. 



