A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 
ments included under the section of ‘Testa de Nevill.’ The aid. collected 
by William de Lancastre and Thomas fitz John, which heads the list 
(No. 1), is so fragmentary that it is difficult to assign to it a certain date. 
Sir George Duckett has identified it with the ‘quinzime’ of 122 5. From 
the manuscript of the ‘ Testa’ it would appear that the fees and serjeanties 
were copied from different documentary sources, as they are separated 
by a considerable blank space on the page. 
The two documents known as ‘ Knights’ Fees’ (Nos. ii. and iii.), 
which are of the greatest possible interest to students of the early history 
of Cumberland, are the originals from which the copies in the ‘Testa de 
Nevill’ have been made. They form the first and second membranes of 
a series of five stitched together, the remaining three referring to Lanca- 
shire. The official view at the Public Record Office that all these 
membranes belonged to the same inquest was very disconcerting in face 
of the internal evidence of those relating to Cumberland and Westmor- 
land.2 One felt it impossible to accept the statement that the roll of 
‘king’s wards’ on the first membrane could be of the same date as the 
sheriff's return on the second, which is inscribed with the contemporary 
endorsement of ‘the morrow of St. John the Baptist,’ 14 John (June 25, 
1212). A comparison of the handwriting of the two membranes was 
enough to shake confidence in the correctness of the official view. Apart 
from this, the internal evidence is overwhelming and conclusive that the 
inquest of ‘wards’ was taken in the early years of the reign of Henry III. 
and not in the reign of king John.? In comparing these membranes with 
the transcripts in the ‘Testa de Nevill,’ the faithfulness of the scribe who 
made the copies is very striking. Meeting with ‘T’te’ in the ‘ roll of 
wards,’ he copied it without alteration ; but when the same name, ex- 
tended to ‘Truite,’ occurred in the sheriffs return on the second mem- 
brane, he misread it as ‘Grinte,’ and so copied it. Few who consult the 
original record will blame the copyist for his error. 
The last document (No. vi.), taken from the ‘Red Book of the 
Exchequer’ and not included in the ‘Testa de Nevill,’ appears to be 
a summary of the sheriff's inquest of 1212 * (No. iii.) For that reason 
1 Duchetiana, p. 142 ; Close Rolls, ii. 147, ed. Hardy. 
2 The first membrane begins with the ‘Comitatus de Appelby,’ and contains only a few entries 
under that head. Then follows the ‘ Comitatus Cumberland,’ which has been printed in the text. 
3 The whole tenor of the roll (No. 2) assumes that it was drawn up in the reign of Henry III. 
For example, it is said that dame Helewisa de Stutevill was in the Aing’s gift and not married, but that 
she had made fine with ding Fohn that she might be in her own gift. The inference is obvious. But 
the historical statements are more conclusive. Let us take only the list of ‘ churches which are of the 
king’s gift in Cumberland.’ It is said that the church of ‘Soureby’ was held by ‘Lodovicus’ and the 
church of ‘ Penred’ by Ralf de Nevell, both of the gift of king John. On reference to the Patent Rolls 
we find that ‘ Lodovicus de Rockingeham’ was presented to Soureby in 1214 (Rot. Pat. 15 John, m. 4, 
p. 1094), and that Ralf de Nevill was presented to ‘Penred’ in 1215 ([did. 17 John, m. 24, p. 142). 
Many such instances might be given to show that the ‘roll of wards, escheats, serjeanties, and churches ” 
must have been made long after the great inquest of service of 1212. 
* The date of the ‘ Red Book’ inquisitions has been discussed by Mr. J. H. Round in his chapter 
on ‘ The great inquest of service, 1212,’ in The Commune of London and other Studies, pp. 261-77. The 
official view is set forth in The Red Book of the Exchequer, ii. pp. ccxxii.—ccxxx. ed. H. Hall, Rolls Series. 
Mr. Round’s view is that the ‘Testa’ gave the returns of 1212 from the sheriff's inquest, while the Lider 
Rudeus scribe only summarized their results independently for his own purpose. 
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