A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 
year 1100. But it is questionable whether it materially affects the 
importance of the work of Rufus, though it might be used as the basis 
of theories, in subsequent history, which ought to be deprecated. When 
the district was conquered it is certain that it must have been committed 
to the care of trustworthy officials, either as deputies or grantees, and as 
no other persons have been recorded in connection with Carlisle at this 
time except Walter and Ranulf, their names have been set back to the 
required date, and they have been adopted as the first settlers in possession 
of the annexed territory. But as no genuine charter exists to throw 
light on the ownership of the land, and so few allusions are found 
in reliable chronicles, the history of the district during the latter portion 
of the eleventh century must remain speculative and uncertain. There 
is enough, however, to show that the refounding of the city and the 
development of the district had been commenced with vigour by Rufus 
and the subordinates, whoever they may have been, to whom the task 
was entrusted. The compressed account of the conquest contained in 
the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is the only evidence we possess of the king’s 
dealings with the northern county. Few will dispute its value. 
As we pass into the twelfth century, we cease to grope in the dark 
for direct evidence on the territorial settlement of the new province. In 
comparison with other counties, the materials at hand may be reckoned 
as scanty and insufficient, but they are by no means to be despised. The 
first document we meet with in the nature of a survey is embodied in 
the ‘ Testa de Nevill,’ which gives us for the first time a synopsis of the fees 
held by the tenants-in-chief in Cumberland, as they existed in 1212, in 
the reign of king John. The survey was undertaken by the sheriff of the 
county in pursuance of the king’s letters, and the return was made after 
diligent inquiry and transmitted to the king’s barons of the Exchequer. 
Had the sheriff only reported on ‘ the names of the tenants and their tene- 
ments and service’ as he then found them, the ‘ Testa de Nevill’ might 
have been but of slender interest. But the chief importance of the under- 
taking, as far as the needs of Cumberland history are concerned, lies in 
the fact that it not only records the present owner of the fee, but also 
declares the title by which the land was held and the source from which 
it was originally derived. The value of these returns, though made at so 
late a period, cannot be exaggerated. They carry us back to the reign 
of Henry I., and form what has been happily called the foundation of 
the territorial history’ of the county. We have no other Domesday 
Survey ; from this point we must start. The details of the policy of 
William Rufus, as the founder of Carlisle and conqueror of the district, 
may be wrapped in mist ; but on the work of Henry I., as the supreme 
instrument in the settlement and governmental organization which must 
inevitably follow upon conquest, there is clear sunlight. Other docu- 
ments are contained in the ‘ Testa de Nevill,’ but none can compare 
in value with the feodary supplied by the sheriff. There is no occasion 
1 Pipe Rolls of Cumberland, etc. p. v. ed. J. Hodgson Hinde, Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle- 
upon-Tyne ; Archeolgical Fournal, xvi. 235. 
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