THE DOMESDAY SURVEY 



these three manors are all among those of which, the Evesham Chronicle 

 asserts, the abbey was deprived by the bishop of Bayeux on the death 

 of abbot ^thelwig. So also were Acton (Beauchamp) and ' Lenche,' 

 which Domesday enters under ' the bishop of Bayeux's land' (fo. 176). 

 It tells us that the former had belonged to Evesham Abbey T.R.E., and 

 that Urse had received it from the Abbot in exchange for other land, and 

 that, in 1086, he held it ' of the bishop of Bayeux's fee.' The Evesham 

 Chronicle (p. 95) explains this by saying that Acton was the patrimony 

 of ^Ethelwig, who had given it, with ' Brainesford,' to Urse in exchange 

 for Bengeworth, which he occupied wrongfully,^ but that ' he detains 

 wrongfully all three.' And Domesday shows him accordingly, on the 

 opposite page (fo. 175^), occupying Bransford, which the 'county' said 

 had been held by the abbot of Evesham when king Edward died.^ The 

 last case is that of ' Lenche ' (which I identify with Sheriff's Lench), 

 held in 1086, of the Bishop's fee, by Urse. Domesday tells us that 

 Evesham Abbey ' was seized of it for many years, till the bishop of 

 Bayeux took it from the abbey and gave it to Urse.' The Evesham 

 Chronicle speaks of it as ' Leinch quam Ursini tenent contra Rotulum 

 Winton ' (p. 97), which must clearly refer to the above entry in 

 Domesday. In all these cases, therefore, the evidence of the Evesham 

 Chronicle is in virtual harmony with that of Domesday, the entries in 

 which, indeed, it helps to explain. 



It should be observed that Urse had extensive rights at Droitwich ; 

 of the sixteen estates he held in chief, no fewer than ten entitled him to 

 a share in the proceeds of its salt, a total of 2 1 1 saltpans and 7 burgesses 

 being entered as his. The existence also of his ' park,' close by, at 

 Salwarpe points to his personal residence, while a careful examination of 

 fos. 172, 172*^, will show that he 'farmed,' as sheriff, the royal rights at 

 Droitwich, which were important and extensive enough to give him 

 much opportunity for oppression. Here we have the explanation of a 

 passage which has given rise to misapprehension. Domesday states that 

 Sodbury (Gloucestershire), then in the King's hands, had land in 

 (Droit) wich from which it was entitled to receive yearly 25 sestiers of 

 salt ; ' but the sheriff Urse has so impoverished (vastavit) the tenants that 

 they cannot now render the salt' (fo. 163-^). 



Robert the Despencer, Urse's brother, occurs prominently in 

 Heming's Cartulary as a despoiler of the church of Worcester,' and 

 Domesday reveals him also as securing her lands at Piddle, Moor, and 

 Hill, a hide at Knightwick, and a house at Worcester. From Pershore 

 Abbey also he obtained an estate, at Wadborough, where he had his 

 ' park.' His lands, therefore, in the main, lay about Pershore. In this 

 county, however, he was not a tenant-in-chief, as he was in some others. 

 I have elsewhere shown * that Robert's fief did not, as has been alleged, 



* The chronicle here adds, 'sicut medietatem iterum postea fecit.' For Bengeworth, 

 and the fate of its two moieties, see p. 254 above. * See p. 261 above. 



* At Lawern (p. 253), Elmley (p. 268), and Charlton (p. 269). 



* Feudal England, pp. 175-6, 179, 194-5. 



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