THE DOMESDAY SURVEY 



corded in Heming's Cartulary was actually part of the Domesday Survey 

 and held during its progress.^ I have, however, elsewhere shown that 

 the plea belongs to an earlier date, and have established the sequence of 

 events.^ We have first a writ, despatched by the Conqueror from 

 Normandy, bidding archbishop Lanfranc and Geoffrey bishop of Cou- 

 tances settle the dispute, the latter being directed to hear the case.^ Then 

 we have the wonderfully interesting record of the great plea itself 

 (' Commemoratio placiti '),*and next, completing the group, we are given 

 William's writ, directed to ' Urse the sheriff and Osbern "filius Escrob "° 

 and all the French and English of Worcestershire,' bidding them observe 

 the decision arrived at before the bishop of Coutances and themselves on 

 the testimony of the county (court).® I cannot but suspect that the 

 Worcester monks forged, for production at this very plea, the charter 

 by which Offa is made to grant them Cropthorne'' (23 Sept. 780). 

 For not only is its language suspicious, but it is also clearly intended to 

 prove the Bishop's right to Hampton and Bengeworth.* 



Turning to the later group of documents, so strangely confused by 

 Professor Freeman with those we have dealt with above, we find them 

 closely connected with the great Survey. The first in order is the 

 ' testimonium ' of Geoffrey bishop of Coutances ^ certifying to the 

 four Domesday commissioners that, when the case had been heard 

 before him, the Bishop had proved the four hides at Bengeworth to 

 be ' of his fee,' and the 1 5 hides at Hampton ^^ to belong to his 

 Hundred of Oswaldslow and to owe it suit and geld and^rd'." But the 

 entries in Domesday do not assign these rights to the Bishop ; under 



^ ' The Gemot was doubtless held during the talcing of the Survey. . . . The 

 Gem6t in which the dispute was settled was thus actually a part of the Survey ' {Ibid. p. 763). 

 (It was) ' held during the progress of the Survey' {Ibid. p. 765). 



^ Domesday Studies (II.), 542-44. 



^ Heming's Cartulary, I. 77-8. * Ibid. pp. 80-2. 



^ See below for this Worcestershire tenant-in-chief, the lord of Richard's castle, Here- 

 fordshire. 



^ Heming's Cartulary, I. 78-9, 82-3. ' Ibid. II. 319-21. 



* It speaks of a * comes ' and even a 'vice-comes' (!), to say nothing of a ' bibliotheca 

 optima.' After mentioning that the 50 hides of Cropthorne included 'at Hampton 15, at 

 Bengeworth 10,' it adds a special clause empowering the then Bishop to grant half the 

 manor, namely 25 hides, to his kinsmen 'eo tenore ut quisquis habuerit aliquem ex ipsis viculis, 

 venerabili episcopo Tillhere, omnibusque suis successoribus, servitium faciat in vectigalibus, et 

 expeditionibus, omnibusque aliis subjectionibus qualescumque episcopus ipse suique successores 

 michi mersque successoribus persolvere debuerint.' Then follows a provision, in case of any 

 such holder losing his land, for its restoration, without question, ' to the ancient church in 

 Worcester.' Lastly comes the usual denunciation of all offenders against the provisions in 

 the charter, including the ' vice-comes,' a sly hit, perhaps, at Urse himself. I believe that the 

 charter was concocted to account for the 25 hides at Hampton and Bengeworth passing out of 

 Worcester's possession, and to support the claim for their restoration. 



® A similar ' testimony ' to past events by William bishop of Winchester, a generation 

 later, will be found in my Calendar of Documents preserved in France (p. i). 



'" It should be observed that these documents speak throughout of Hampton as of 15 hides, 

 though both the Domesday entries assign 5 hides only. The clue is found in the Henry I. 

 Survey (Heming's Cartulary, I. 315), which mentions that 10 hides there were free from geld 

 by the King's writ (see Domesday Studies, p. 545). 

 *' Heming's Cartulary, I. 77. 



255 



