THE DOMESDAY BOOK 
to look to Pipe Rolls and Monastic Chartularies for additional confirma- 
tion of its statements. Its authority as the genuine return of a feudal 
inquest is inexpugnable. 
When we turn to the sheriff’s inquisition in the ‘Testa de Nevill’ 
for the early apportionment of the modern county among the followers 
of the Norman kings, it is very striking how slowly the work of terri- 
torial settlement had progressed after the expulsion of Dolfin in rog2. 
It is true that Ranulf Meschin was in possession of the district as its lord 
and ruler, but we are not told by whose act the selection had been made. 
Upon the grant of the land of Carlisle to its firsts Norman owner we 
have no information. The silence of the sheriff’s return would seem to 
suggest that he had been appointed at a time back to which the memory 
of the oldest juror could not go. It could not be included in the vere- 
dictum antiquorum, for it reached beyond it. At all events, whether he 
was put in possession by Rufus or Henry I., he must have had some 
difficulty in holding it. The only acts ascribed to him in the sub- 
infeudation of his wide domain were the creation of two baronies on 
the northern frontier as a protection against the Scots. The peninsula 
stretching along the estuary of the Solway, known as the barony of 
Burgh by Sands, he committed to Robert de Trivers, with the view, 
there will be no doubt, of guarding the shores of his new charge from 
any attack by sea. ‘The narrow strip of territory extending across the 
Border eastward from the Solway, and embracing the vales of the Esk 
and Liddel, he formed into another barony, with which he enfeoffed 
Turgis Brundas, who, from his name, we may conclude, was a man of 
firmness and determination. As a defensive policy, Ranulf’s plan was 
unquestionable, for his whole charge was effectually protected from 
Scottish incursions almost for the whole length of the frontier line. The 
custody of the forest of Cumberland he entrusted to the new owner of 
Burgh by Sands, for that barony, with its swamps and marshes, could not 
be a very profitable benefice for such a hazardous post. We need not 
ascribe this consummate policy to the sole initiation of the new ruler. 
The Crown had already set the example of the need of prudence in the 
borderlands of Wales and Scotland. His uncle, Hugh vicomte of 
Avranches, had been placed on the Welsh border as earl of Chester, 
invested with ample powers for military defence. The palatine juris- 
diction of Durham was extended to the eastern side of the Scottish 
frontier, after the earldom of Northumberland had proved a failure. So 
that Ranulf was only imitating in a small way the statecraft of his time 
when he portioned out these baronies and committed their custody to 
trusty men. 
The ‘ Testa de Nevill’ gives no countenance to Camden’s statement * 
that the great barony of Gillesland was also created by Ranulf Meschin 
and granted to his brother William. Not so much the appearances, as 
the facts, are against any such theory. It is not disputed that the family 
1 Camden, Britannia, ii. 1039, ed. Gibson, 
1 395 x 
