THE INCIDENCE OF THE GELD 249 



Church lands were quit of geld. At Shrewsbury 1 and Chester 2 

 it is expressly stated that the lands of the Bishops of Here- 

 ford and Chester gelded with the citizens, although the new 

 monastery founded by Earl Roger did not pay geld. The 

 Pipe Roll for 1130 distinctly shows that Church property then 

 paid to the Danegeld._ 



Reference to Shrewsbury shows another case of exemption : 

 the French-born burgesses did not pay geld, 3 although, by a 

 law of the Conqueror, the Frenchmen who had settled in 

 England before the Conquest paid geld like the English. 4 



A casual note in the statistics relating to Berkshire shows 

 that the geld was collected in two instalments at Christmas 

 and Whitsuntide, 5 and the geld inquests for the south- 

 western counties show that the sheriff accounted for it at 

 the Exchequer at Easter and Michaelmas. 



Non-payment of geld involved the forfeiture of the land 

 for which it was unpaid ; 6 but it would seem that if a third 

 party paid the geld he thereby became entitled to the 

 property, 7 and instances of a person paying geld for land 

 that was not his are recorded as anomalies. Anschitil de Ros 

 held 1 6 acres at VVatone under the Archbishop of Canterbury, 

 but Count Alan paid the geld ; 8 Humphrey paid geld on a 

 virgate of land in Trochinge, but yet had it not. 9 There is a 

 case in which Ralph Taillebois paid the gablum of certain 

 land which the occupier refused to pay, and so became 

 entitled to the land. 10 



The chief result of the compilation of Domesday Book 

 was the entire alteration of the method of collecting the geld. 

 The Northampton Geld Roll for 1075 and the geld inquests 

 for 1083-4 show that the geld was then collected hundred 

 by hundred, either by the hundreds-man or by special 



1 D. B., I. 252 a 2. 2 Id., I. 262 b I. 3 Id., I. 252 a 2. 



4 S. C., 84. 6 D. B., I. 56 b I. 6 Id., I. 141 a 2. 



7 D. S., i. 89. 8 D. B., I. 151 a i. 9 Id., 153 b I. 

 10 Id., I. 216 b. 



