A HISTORY OF DEVONSHIRE 



which Henry I bestowed on his natural son Robert with Maud, eldest 

 daughter of Robert son of Hamon.^ In 1241 these manors, together 

 with Muxbear, Swetton (fol. 461), and Iddlecot (fol. 462), which had been 

 wrongfully united with Brictric's lands, constituted the fifteen fees belonging 

 to the honour of Gloucester which are described as ' Earl Richard's share.' ^ 



Not all lands which were held by the church in Domesday were held 

 by it in alms. St. Peter's of Exeter, the abbots of Glastonbury, Tavistock, 

 and Horton, held their lands by military service. St. Mary of Bucfast, 

 however, appears to have held hers in alms, as there is no mention of military 

 tenants holding of Bucfast Abbey, The Exeter Book, gives a special list of 

 ' lands which have been given to the saints in alms.' The phrase is even used 

 of lay tenants, as Professor Freeman remarks, to indicate the restoration of 

 property which had been held by the grantee before.* The bishop of 

 Coutances, however, did not hold in alms at all. His was a secular barony 

 the holder of which happened to be bishop of St. Lo, Slight differences 

 of arrangement are here met with between the Exeter and the Exchequer 

 Books. In the Exeter Book only the estates of the greater church tenants 

 are arranged in groups. The ' lands given to the saints in alms ' follow one 

 another without grouping in the regular sequence of hundreds. In the 

 Exchequer copy the grouping extends to all churches. Again, the Exeter 

 Book describes one group as ' lands of St. Peter's Church at Exeter in 

 Devonshire,' whereas the Exchequer Book calls them ' land of the bishop of 

 Exeter.' Conversely the Exeter Book has ' Lands of the abbot of Tavistock 

 Church in Devonshire,' whereas the Exchequer has 'Land of the Church of 

 Tavistock.' The Exeter Book begins the list of the bishop of Exeter's 

 estates with Bury in Lapford, because the return from North Tawton hundred 

 was the first which the scribe extracted ; the Exchequer Book begins with 

 St. Stephen's Church, Exeter, because St. Stephen's was the head {caput) of 

 the bishop's barony. The Exeter Book describes each of the four manors 

 allotted for the canons' maintenance in its place in the order of hundreds, 

 adding a note each time as to the purpose for which it was assigned ; the 

 Exchequer places the four together, and after Combe PafFord in St. Mary's 

 Church, adds : ' The four above-named townships {vi7/ae) are for the canons' 

 maintenance.' The note was of some importance, as implying that these 

 estates, being held in alms, were free from the claims of military tenure. 



It has been stated on what seems satisfactory authority * that at the time 

 of the conquest of Devon one-tenth of the conquered land was given to God. 

 This statement by no means asserts that parochial endowments were then set 

 up — as a fact most of the parochial endowments in Devon date from the twelfth 

 century — but probably implies that the tenth part of the land was devoted to 



' Trans. Devon Assoc, xxxili, 623. See Feudal Baronage. 



' Testa de Nevill (Rec. Com.), pp. 177a and b, so describes Ashreigny i, HoUowcombe in Winkleigh \, 

 Winkleigh Kaynes \, Winkleigh Tracy I, Birch and Southcot \, North Lew and Halwill l\, Bideford \, 

 Bulworthy J, Langtree i, Iddesleigh z, Holcombe Burnell i, Halberton i, Moorston ^, Wombernford in 

 Halberton i, Muxbear and Swetton i, Clovelly i, and Calcot J, but does not name Iddlecot f {Feudal Aids, 

 p. 370, says |, but p. 422, J). I take them to be the fifteen fees for which William de Redvers accounted 

 in I John. See Trans. Devon Assoc, xxxiii, 365. 



' Freeman, Noi-man Conquest, v, 804. Instance Undercleave (fol. 85), Braunton Dean (fol. 194^), Little 

 Dartmouth (fol. 327), and Ashton (fol. 483). 



* ' Anecdota Oxoniensia,' vii, 106, in Trans. Devon Assoc, xxx, 296, has a letter of Archbishop Dunstan's 

 (960-988). ' The King (Ethelred) then fared thither and subdued them (the West Welsh of the Horn) and 

 gave a tenth of his land to God.' 



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