By the Ven. Archdeacon Macdonald. 



125 



T. R. E." (that is, in the time of King Edward the Confessor) "at 70 

 hides — there are 45 ploughlands — ten hides are in demesne, where 

 are 5 ploughlands and 6 servants — 48 villagers and 40 borderers 

 occupy 28 ploughlands — 6 mills pay 7 shillings and 6 pence — here 

 30 acres of meadow — the pasture is a mile and a half long, and a 

 mile broad — the wood is a mile and a half long, and a mile and a 

 quarter broad — a house in the borough of Caune belonging to this 

 manor pays 20 pence a year — a Priest holds 2 hides of the lands 

 of this manor — Ebrard 10 hides — Herman 4 hides — Quintin 3 hides 

 — Walter 2 hides — Brictward 5 hides — Alward 1 hide — the wife of 

 the bailiff 1 hide — all these have 8 ploughlands with 3 villagers, 

 and 30 bordarers 1 occupying 4 ploughlands — the Bishop's demesne 

 is worth 60 pounds, and what the others held is worth 35 pounds." 



The whole manor continued to belong to the See of Sarum with- 

 out disturbance, until the time of Bishop Roger a.d. 1102-1139. 

 This celebrated Prelate, successively the favourite of Henry I., of 

 his daughter the Empress Matilda, and of Stephen, became too 

 rich and powerful for the times. Having deserted his first patron's 

 daughter, he was himself repaid by treachery. Stephen deprived 

 him both of personal liberty, and of the whole of the Episcopal 

 estates, including Cannings, and Devizes Castle which (among 

 others) the Bishop had newly built. These were, in turn, wrested 

 from Stephen by the Empress. The successor of Bishop Roger, 

 supported by the Pope's authority, prevailed upon her to promise, 

 by deed dated 1148, whole and entire restitution of the lands ab- 

 stracted from the See. But in the following year, on the arrival 



part of Wiltshire, and if not, to what other place in England, is uncertain. 

 "a.d. 1010. After this, about the feast of St. Andrew the Danes burnt North- 

 ampton, and then crossing the river Thames went into Essex, [PWessex] and 

 having set fire to Cainingamersee and the greatest part of Wiltshire, they as 

 usual returned to their ships about Christmas." 



1 The bordarii were tenants of a less servile condition than the villani ; they 

 held a cottage with lands, on condition of supplying the lord's table with small 

 provisions, doing his domestic work, and even any base service he might re- 

 quire. Hid a is the valuation of the estate, carucata the measurement of the 

 land. Mr. Wyndham, the editor of the Wiltshire Domesday book, considers a 

 hide to be worth about twenty Norm an shillings, and as the value depended 

 upon the quality of the land, it consisted accordingly of a greater or less num- 

 ber of acres in proportion to their poverty or fertility. 



