A HISTORY OF WORCESTERSHIRE 



for Bushley, though within the Hundred of Oswaldslow, being in the 

 King's hands at the time of the Domesday Survey. The church of 

 Worcester gives its version on fo. 173, and that of the Crown is found 

 on fo. i8o/^. It was alleged on behalf of the latter that the great 

 Tewkesbury thegn, Brihtric son of iElfgar, had ' bought it of Lyfing 

 bishop of Worcester for three marcs of gold {£1^), together with a 

 house in the city of Worcester paying a marc of silver (13J. 4^.) yearly, 

 . . . all which he so bought and held undisturbed that he did no 

 service for it to any man.' ^ The church of Worcester, on the other 

 hand, alleged that Brihtric used to pay an annual ' ferm ' to the Bishop. 

 It would certainly appear that Lyfing, ' the patriot bishop of Worcester,'* 

 had no right to alienate the land in perpetuity ; but the fact that he had 

 to recover his see, in 1 041, 'at the price, we are told, of money paid to 

 the King'^ (to be held ' in plurality'), suggests that he may have needed 

 money. The Crown, in any case, retained the manor, as its subsequent 

 history proves. 



The only point remaining to be dealt with is the important entry 

 at the very end of the survey of the county stating that the lands at 

 Feckenham and Holloway ' scripts sunt in brevi de Hereford,' and that 

 those at Martley and Suckley, although in Dodingtree Hundred for 

 purposes of jurisdiction and taxation, render their ferm at Hereford, ' et 

 sunt scriptse in breve regis.' The ' breve ' here spoken of needs to be 

 carefully distinguished from the ordinary King's writ ('breve regis') 

 placing a man in possession. It was explained by me in Feudal England 

 (pp. 135-6) that 'though the word Breve in Domesday Book normally 

 means the King's writ, there are passages which seem to have been over- 

 looked, and in which it bears another and very suggestive meaning.' 

 Foremost among these is the passage above, in which the word is used 

 ' of a return, not of a writ.' A similar usage is found in Huntingdon- 

 shire (fo. 203), where we read of geld being paid 'secundum hidas in 

 brevi scriptas.' The best parallel, however, is in Cambridgeshire, where 

 we read, ' In Saham habet rex W. vi hidas et xl acras in breve suo ' 

 (fo. 1 89*^), while a parallel record states, under Kingston, that the King 

 has there i| hides 'in brevi suo.'* The above Worcestershire passage 

 refers us to the Domesday return of the manor of Hereford, then in the 

 King's hands, in which we accordingly find the surveys of these Worcester- 

 shire lands. Their addition to the Worcestershire text, as in the 

 translation below, renders the Domesday Survey of the shire complete. 



* <ut inde non serviret cuiquam homini.' Compare Brihtwine's tenure of Hadsor, 

 ' nulli inde aliquid servitium nisi regi faciens ' (Heming, I. 263). 



^ So styled by Mr. Freeman {l<Iorm. Conq., II. 81), because he was a friend of God wine. 

 3 I hid. I. 509. 



* Inquisitlo comitatus Cantahrtgiensh, p. 85. 



280 



