[WIRECESTRESCIRE] 



fo. 172. 



In the city of Worcester {Wirecestre) , king Edward used to 

 have this customary due {consuetudineni). When the coinage {moneta) 

 was changed, each moneyer gave twenty shillings at London on 

 receiving the dies of the money. When the county paid geld, the 

 city was reckoned at {se adquietabat pro) 15 hides. From the said city 

 the King himself used to have ten pounds and earl Eadwine eight pounds. 

 The King took no other due there except the charge {cemum) on the 

 houses according to the liability of each. 



King William has now in demesne both the King's share and 

 the Earl's share. For this the sheriff renders twenty-three pounds and 

 five shillings by weight, for the city ; and for the demesne manors of the 

 King he renders a hundred and twenty-three pounds and four shillings by 

 weight. For the county he renders seventeen pounds by weight ; and 

 he further renders ten pounds of pennies, twenty to the ounce, or a 

 Norway [Norresc) hawk ; and to the Queen also a hundred shillings by 

 tale ; and twenty shillings, of twenty (pence) to the ounce, for a 

 sumpter horse. These seventeen pounds by weight and sixteen pounds 

 by tale are for the pleas of the county (court) and for the Hundreds, and 

 if he does not receive (so much) from that source {inde), he pays it out of 

 his own (means). In the county there are twelve Hundreds ; seven of 

 these are so exempt {quieti), the shire (court) says, that the sheriff has no 

 rights [nichil) in them, and therefore, as (he) says, he loses much on the 

 ferm {in firmd) . 



In this county, if any one should have wittingly broken the peace 

 given by the King with his (own) hand, he is adjudged an outlaw 

 {utlaghe) ; but if any one should have wittingly broken the King's peace 

 given by the sheriff, he shall pay a fine of (emendabii) a hundred 

 shillings. He who shall have committed ' forsteal' ('forestellum ')^ shall 

 pay a fine of a hundred shillings ; he who shall have committed 

 ' hamfare ' {heinfaram) a hundred shillings ; (for him) who shall have 

 committed rape, let there be no amend but corporal punishment {non 

 sit emendatio alia nisi de corpore justicia) .^ These forfeitures belong to the 



' ' Forsteal ' was waylaying or (attack from) ambush (with malice prepense) ; ' himfare ' 

 (like ' hams6cn ') was attack on a man's house. These, like the breach of the peace which 

 precedes them, were the special pleas of the Crown usually reserved. {History of English Law 

 [1895], II. 451-56, 466, 491.) 



^ Compare Ibid. II. 453, 488-90. This is almost the only mention of the above 

 offence in Domesday Book, possibly because where it could not be atoned for by a fine, it did 

 not contribute to the profits of jurisdiction. 



282 



