CHAPTER XIII 

 VALUES AND RENDERS 



" Quantum valebat totum simul ? Quantum modo ? 

 Et si plus potest haberi quam habetiir" 



A^L these inquiries and statistics lead up to the great 

 questions which sum up the object of the Domesday 

 Inquest : " How much was the whole worth ? How 

 much is it worth now ? Can more be had from it than is 

 obtained ? " The most casual reader of Domesday Book will 

 at once notice that the third question is rarely answered in so 

 many words. The Commissioners content themselves with 

 giving details from which this question can be answered ; in 

 one place, and, as far as I have noticed, in one place only, do 

 they definitely state that if a certain estate were well cultivated 

 it would be worth considerably more than its present value ; in 

 all other cases they report the details, and leave the King or 

 his officers to draw their own conclusion. 



At the outset of our inquiry, we must notice the difference 

 between " values " and " renders " (or " rents "). Speaking of 

 the land held by thirteen freemen at Kenebrook (Suffolk), the 

 Commissioners say, " The men of the hundred value this at 

 48.5-., but they render 6." x And it is not uncommon to find, 

 as at Steventon (Berks.), " It is valued at 22, yet it renders 

 40. " 2 The royal manor of Witham was valued at 20, but 

 the sheriff received therefrom 34, and a gersuma of 4 ; 3 and 



1 D. B., II. 343. 2 id., I. 57 b 2. 3 /</., II. 2. 



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