THE DOMESDAY BOOK 
about which there is much diversity of opinion as to its origin and 
intention. The noutgeld was a fixed levy on the county, not varying 
to any great extent, and accounted for yearly to the Exchequer. The 
king’s officer made his return in 1130 from this source at the sum of 
85/. 8s. 8¢., whereas the computation of his successors, at dates so far 
distant as 1158 and 1200, was 80/. ros. 8d., the discrepancy no doubt 
arising from some permanent remissions. We have no means of ascer- 
taining how this sum was made up, as the sheriff invariably accounted 
for the total without giving particulars. Whence arose this singular 
tribute? From the ‘Testa de Nevill’ we learn that the greater part 
of the county was held by cornage, a later name for noutgeld, as we 
shall presently see,’ and that the revenue from this source was derived in 
varying sums, according to the tenure of the different proprietors, the 
amount of the reddendo having been fixed by the original grant from the 
Crown. It must be borne in mind that, with the exception of one barony, 
the great landowners of Cumberland held of the king by cornage 
before Henry II. began to introduce military service. The only baronies 
granted by Ranulf Meschin of which there is record, viz. Liddel and 
Burgh, were held by cornage at stated sums. Of all the great fees 
created in the county by Henry I., Coupland is the solitary exception to 
cornage tenure, and it is even now doubtful whether the knight’s fee, 
at which it was rated in the ‘ Testa de Nevill,’ does not exclusively refer 
to the lordship of Millom, which lies between the Duddon and the Esk, 
and is noted in Domesday Book as belonging to the ancient earldom 
of Northumbria. Godard de Boyvill was the first lord of this seigniory, 
and he and his successors held it of the barony of Coupland as a 
knight’s fee. Several manors were granted by Henry I. by tenure of 
serjeanty of varying position and honour. When vills held in drengage 
escheated to the Crown, the tenure on re-grant was changed by the same 
king to cornage.” So that practically before the introduction of 
military service by Henry II., as in the case of his grant of the barony 
of Gillesland to Hubert de Vallibus and the manor of Edenhall to Peter 
de Brus, the general tenure of the land of Cumberland was cornage and 
serjeanty, the former service monopolising the great fees of the county. 
As tenure by cornage, which was the source of a considerable portion 
of the national revenue arising in this district, presents many local features 
peculiar to Cumberland, and is found nowhere in England except in 
1 Tenure by cornage is first mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of Cumberland in 3 John. 
2 «Henricus, Rex Anglie, Waltero Espec, Eustachio filio Johannis, et Odardo vicecomiti, et omnibus 
fidelibus suis, Francis et Anglis de Cumberland, salutem. Sciatis me dedisse et concessisse Hildredo de 
Karleolo et Odardo filio suo terram que fuit Gamel filii Bern et terram illam que fuit Glassam filii 
Brictrici, Drengnorum meorum, reddendo inde mihi per annum de servicio Gablum animalium, sicut 
alii liberi homines, tam Franci quam Angli, reddunt qui de me tenent in capite in Cumberlanda. Et 
facient inde aliud servicium tale quale alii liberi homines mihi de terris suis faciunt. Et volo et precipio 
ut ipsi bene et in pace et honorifice teneant in bosco et plano, in aqua, in omnibus aliis rebus, sicut alii 
liberi homines mei de Cumberlanda tenent. Teste, etc.’ (Abbrev. Plait. p. 67a; Bain, Calendar of 
Documents, i. 470). The ‘service’ of this charter may well be compared with the words on the 1130 
Roll in reference to the tenure of Etard’s land which Richard the Knight held—‘per tale servitium 
quale alius liber homo fecerit de terra sua’ (Pipe Roll, 31 Hen. I. p. 142). 
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