ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



which properly belong to the general ecclesiastical history of the time, but we 

 may note the existence at this moment of a remarkable group of prelates who 

 would intimately be concerned in the transference which we are considering. 

 Oskytel, Archbishop of York from 954* to 971 was a kinsman of Odo, 

 Archbishop of Canterbury from 942 to 958 ; Dunstan of Glastonbury, the 

 personal friend of Odo, was a kinsman of Cynesige, Bishop of Lichfield from 

 949 to 963. It is a significant fact that just at the time when on other 

 grounds we should suppose the present change to have taken place, the 

 ecclesiastical affairs of England were in the hands of a knot of men, who were 

 united both by personal relationship and by a community of ideas respecting 

 the organization of the Church. In the present state of our knowledge, then, 

 it would seem most likely that the Archbishops of York added the county of 

 Nottingham to their see at some point between 954 and 958 ; and that this 

 point probably fell in the earlier part of this period and in the reign either 

 of Eadwig or of his brother Eadred. 



The general chronicles of England during the period which immediately 

 precedes the Norman Conquest contain but scanty information with regard to 

 England north of the H umber ; the later records of the see of York tell us 

 little about its Nottinghamshire dependency during this time. 



The story of Ealdred the last Saxon Archbishop of York (106 1-9) who 

 crowned in Westminster Abbey, within a few short months, both Harold and 

 the Conqueror, belongs rather to the history of York diocese than to the 

 archdeaconry of Nottingham. The same too may be said with regard to his 

 Norman successor, the learned Thomas of Bayeux (1070— 11 00). In his 

 episcopate, however, definite records as to the Christian Church in Notting- 

 hamshire begin with the Domesday Returns of 1086, 



That the Domesday Survey nowhere professes to include all or indeed 

 any of the churches is now so well known, that it scarcely needs even the 

 briefest reassertion.^ Their inclusion or exclusion depended to a large extent on 

 the view of their duties taken by different sets of commissioners. In propor- 

 tion to its area and the population Nottinghamshire has far more churches 

 and priests mentioned in the Survey than the great majority of the other 

 counties of England. The number of churches named (making units of the 

 fractions) is eighty-four,^ and of the priests sixty-one. In five of these cases, 

 namely Elston, Linby, Normanton, Wilford and Thoroton a priest occurs 

 without any reference to a church, but in each of these places it is fair perhaps 

 to assume that there was a church or chapel. 



In seven instances where half a church is entered, and in the two where 

 a quarter of a church occurs, it means that the manor or hamlet shared with 



* There is some uncertainty as to the succession of Archbishop Oskytel. His predecessor Wulfstan I had 

 been deposed from his see and it is not clear at what time Oskytel took effective possession of the latter. See 

 Plummer, Two Sax. Chron. ii, Addenda ; Stubbs, Reffstrum Sacrum Anglicanum ; and Searle, Angl.-Sax. 

 Bishops, &c. 



' Adbolton, Averham, Bamby in the Willows, Basford, Bole, East Bridgeford, Bunny, Burton Joyce, 

 Calverton, Carlton in Lindrick, Chilwell {\), Clifton (J), Clifton with Clapton, Collingham (2), Colston . 

 Basset %, Colwick, Cotgrave %, Cotham, Cuckney, Danethorpe, Eakring, Edwinstowe, Elkesley, Elston, 

 Elton, Epperstone, Fledborough, Flintham, Granby, Greasley, Gringley on the Hill, Grove, Harworth, 

 Hawton (2), Hockerton, Hoveringham, Kirkby in Ashfield, Kneeton {\), Laneham, Langar (J), Langford, East 

 Leake, South Leverton (^), Linby, Mansfield with Skegby (2), East Markham, Misterton, Newark with 

 Balderton and Farndon (10), Newbold, Norwell, Nottingham, Orston, Osberton, Plumtree, Rampton, 

 Ratcliffe on Soar, Rolleston, Selston, Shelford, Sibthorpe, Stapleford, Staunton, Stoke Bardolph, Sutton on 

 Trent, Thurgarton, ToUerton, Toton, Trowell, Wansley (^), Warsop, Weston, Winkburn, Wysall. 



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