22. EXCERPTS FROM DOMESDAY BOOK

(A) Herefordshire

In the city of Hereford, in the time of King Edward, there were 103 men 
dwelling together inside and outside the wall, and they had the customs 
hereinunder noted.[1] If any one of them wished to leave the city, he could, 
with the consent of the reeve, sell his house to another man who was willing 
to perform the service owed from it, and the reeve got the third penny from 
this sale. But if any one, because of his poverty, could not perform the 
service, he gave up his house without payment to the reeve, who saw to it 
that the house did not remain vacant and that the king did not lose the 
service. Every entire messuage (integra masura) inside the wall rendered 
7½d., and [also] 4s. for the hire of horses; and [the holder] reaped for 
three days at Marden[2] and spent one day gathering hay wherever the sheriff 
wished. Whoever had a horse went thrice a year with the sheriff to the pleas 
and the hundred [court] at Wormelow.[3] When the king engaged in a hunting 
expedition, one man customarily went from each house to serve as a beater 
(ad stabilationem) in the wood. Other men, who did not have entire 
messuages, found guards for the [royal] hall when the king was in the city. 
On the death of a burgess who served with a horse, the king had his horse 
and arms.[4 ]From him who had no horse, when he died, the king had either 
10s. or his land, together with the houses [on it]. If any one, overtaken by 
death, had not divided what he possessed, the king had all his chattels 
(pecunia). These customs were had alike by those living in the city and by 
those dwelling outside the wall, except that an entire messuage outside the 
wall rendered only 3½d. The other customs were common [to both groups].

Any man's wife who brewed inside or outside the city gave 10d. according to 
custom. There were six smiths in the city, each of whom gave 1d. for his 
forge. Each of them made 120 shoes (ferra) from the king's iron, and to each 
of them 3d. was customarily paid on that account, and these smiths were quit 
of all other custom. Seven moneyers were there; one of them was the bishop's 
moneyer. When the coinage was changed, each of them gave 18s. to obtain the 
dies, and from the day on which they returned each of them gave the king 
20s. for one month;[5] and in the same way the bishop had 20s. from his 
moneyer. When the king came to the city, the moneyers made for him as many 
pennies as he wished — that is to say, of the king's silver. And these seven 
had their sac and soc. When any moneyer of the king died, the king had 20s. 
as relief.[6] But if he died without having divided his cash (censimi), the 
king had all of it. If the sheriff went into Wales with an army, these men 
[of Hereford] went with him. But if any one was summoned to go and did not 
do so, he paid 40s. fine to the king.

In this city Earl Harold[7] had 27 burgesses enjoying the same customs as 
the other burgesses. From this city the reeve rendered £12 to King Edward 
and £6 to Earl Harold, and he had in his farm all the aforesaid customs.[8] 
The king, however, had in his demesne three forfeitures: namely, breach of 
his peace, house-breaking, and assault by ambush. Whoever committed one of 
these [offenses] paid the king 100s. fine, whosesoever man he was.[9] Now 
the king has the city of Hereford in demesne,[10] and the English burgesses 
who dwell there have their previous customs. The French burgesses, however, 
are quit, through [payment of] 12d., of all forfeitures except the three 
aforesaid.[11] This city renders to the king £60 by tale in assayed 
money.[12] Between the city and the eighteen manors that render their farms 
in Hereford £355. 18s. are accounted for, besides the pleas of the hundred 
and county [courts].[13]

In Archenfield the king has three churches. The priests of these churches 
undertake the king's embassies into Wales, and each of them sings for the 
king two masses every week. When any one of them dies, the king customarily 
has 20s. from him. If any Welshman steals a man or a woman, a horse, an ox, 
or a cow, on being convicted, he first returns what has been stolen and 
[then] pays 20s. as a fine. For theft of a sheep, however, or of a bundle of 
sheaves, he pays 2s. fine. If any one kills a man of the king or commits 
house-breaking, he pays the king 20s. compensation for the man and 100s. as 
fine. If he kills any thegn's man, he gives 10s. to the lord of the slain 
man. But if a Welshman kills a Welshman, the relatives of the slain man come 
together and plunder the slayer and his kin and burn their houses until, 
toward noon on the following day, the body of the slain man is buried. Of 
this plunder the king has the third part, but they enjoy all the rest of it 
in peace. He, however, who burns a house in another fashion, on being 
accused of doing so, defends himself by [the oaths of] forty men. But if he 
cannot [clear himself], he has to pay 20s. fine to the king. If any one 
conceals a sester of honey out of a customary payment, and is convicted of 
it, he renders five sesters for one, should he hold enough land to warrant 
the payment. If the sheriff calls them to the shire court, six or seven of 
the better men among them go with him [as escort]. He who is summoned [to 
the court] and does not go gives the king 2s. or an ox; and whoever stays 
away from the hundred [court] pays the same amount. He who is commanded by 
the sheriff to go with him into Wales, and does not do so, pays a similar 
fine. But if the sheriff does not go, none of them has to go. When the army 
advances against the enemy, they customarily form the advance guard, and on 
return [they form] the rear guard. These were the customs of the Welshmen in 
Archenfield during the time of King Edward.

Here are set down those holding lands in Herefordshire and in Archenfield 
and in Wales....[14]

The land of the king.... The king holds Leominster.[15] Queen Edith held 
it.... In this manor ... there were 80 hides, and in demesne 30 ploughs.[16] 
In it were 8 reeves, 8 beadles, 8 ridingmen, 238 villeins, 75 bordars, and 
82 serfs and bondwomen.[17] These together had 230 ploughs. The villeins 
ploughed 140 acres of the lord's land and sowed it with their own seed 
grain, and by custom they paid £11. 52d. The ridingmen paid 14s. 4d. and 3 
sesters of honey; and there were eight mills [with an income] of 73s. and 30 
sticks of eels.[18] The wood rendered 24s. besides pannage.[19] Now in this 
manor the king has in demesne 60 hides and 29 ploughs; and 6 priests, 6 
ridingmen, 7 reeves, 7 beadles, 224 villeins, 81 bordars, and 25 serfs and 
bondwomen. Among them all they have 201 ploughs. They plough and sow with 
their own grain 125 acres, and by custom they pay £7. 14s. 8½d.; also 17s. 
[worth] of fish, 8s. of salt, and 65s. of honey. In it are eight mills [with 
an income] of 108s. and 100 sticks of eels less 10. A wood 6 leagues[20] 
long and 3 leagues wide renders 22s. Of these shillings 5 are paid for 
buying wood at Droitwich, and thence are obtained 30 mitts of salt.[21] Each 
villein possessing ten pigs gives one pig for pannage. From woodland brought 
under cultivation come 17s. 4d. An eyrie of hawks is there.... Altogether 
this revenue, except the eels, is computed at £23. 2s. This manor is at farm 
for £60 in addition to the maintenance of the nuns. The county[22] says 
that, if it were freed [of that obligation], this manor would be worth six 
score, that is to say, £120....

                            (Latin) Domesday Book, I, 179-83b.

(B) Cheshire

Earl Hugh[23] holds Rhuddlan of the king. There in the time of King Edward 
lay Englefield, and it was entirely waste. Earl Edwin held it [in the time 
of King Edward]. It was likewise waste when Earl Hugh received it. Now he 
has in demesne half the castle that is called Rhuddlan, and it is the 
administrative centre (caput) of this land. There he has eight burgesses and 
half of the church, half of the mint, half of the mining of iron wherever it 
may be found in this manor, half of the water of Clwyd in both mills and 
fisheries that may be conducted there — that is to say, in the part of the 
river that belongs to the earl's fief — half of the forests that do not 
belong to any vill of this manor, half of the toll, and half of the vill 
called Bryn. There is land for three ploughs and they are in demesne, 
together with seven serfs.... Robert of Rhuddlan holds of Earl Hugh half of 
the same castle and borough, in which Robert himself has ten burgesses....

In this manor of Rhuddlan there was recently built a castle, likewise called 
Rhuddlan. A new borough is there, and in it [are] eighteen burgesses 
[divided] between the earl and Robert, as mentioned above. To these 
burgesses they granted the laws and customs that are [enjoyed] in Hereford 
and in Breteuil: namely, that during an entire year they shall give for any 
misdeed no more than 12d., except for homicide, theft, and premeditated 
house-breaking.[24] In the year of this description[25] the toll of this 
borough was placed at farm for 3s. The income of Earl Hugh from Rhuddlan and 
Englefield is valued at £6. 10s.; Robert's share at £17.

                                         (Latin) Ibid., I, 269.

(C) Berkshire[26]

When geld was given in the time of King Edward, commonly throughout all 
Berkshire the hide gave 3½d. before Christmas and the same amount at 
Pentecost. If the king sent an army anywhere, only one soldier went from 
five hides, and 4s. were given him from each hide as food and pay for two 
months. This money, indeed, was not sent to the king, but was given to the 
soldiers. If any one was summoned for an expedition and did not go, he 
forfeited all his land to the king. But if any one, for the sake of 
remaining [at home], promised to send another in his place, and yet he 
remained who was to have been sent, his lord was quit through [payment of] 
50s. On the death of a king's household thegn or cniht,[27] all his arms, as 
well as one horse with a saddle and one without, were sent to the king as 
relief. But if he possessed dogs or hawks, they were given to the king as a 
present, if the latter was willing to accept them. If any one slew a man 
enjoying the king's peace, he forfeited to the king both his body and all 
his substance. He who broke into a city[28] by night paid 100s. fine to the 
king, not to the sheriff.[29] He who was summoned as a beater for hunting, 
and did not go, paid the king 50s. fine.

                                         (Latin) Ibid., I, 56b.

(D) Worcestershire

In this county, if any one knowingly breaks the peace which the king has 
given by his own hand, he is outlawed.[30] If any one knowingly breaks the 
king's peace given by the sheriff, he pays 100s, fine. He who commits 
assault by ambush pays 100s. fine. He who commits rape can offer no 
atonement save judgment upon his body. These forfeitures the king has in the 
said county except on the land of St. Peter of Westminster, to which King 
Edward gave whatever [rights] he had there[31] — so the county says. When 
the king advances against the enemy, any one who is summoned and who remains 
behind, if he is so free a man that he has his sac and soc and can go with 
his land whither he pleases,[32] is in the king's mercy[33] for all his 
land. If, however, the freeman of some other lord remains away from the 
host, and if his lord takes another man in his place, he has to pay 40s. to 
his lord who received the summons. If, however, no one goes for him at all, 
he shall indeed give to his lord the 40s., but the lord has to pay the same 
amount to the king.

                                         (Latin) Ibid., I, 172.

(E) Nottinghamshire

... In Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire breach of the king's peace, given 
under [his own] hand or seal, is atoned for by [a fine of] 18 hundreds, each 
hundred [being] £8.[34] Of this fine the king has two parts, the earl the 
third; that is to say, 12 hundreds go to the king and 6 to the earl. If any 
one, on conviction of anything, is exiled according to law, no one except 
the king can restore peace to him. A thegn having more than six manors pays 
no relief for his land except to the king, [namely,] 3m. of silver — 
wherever he may live, in borough or out of borough. If a thegn having sac 
and soc forfeits his land, half of his land and his chattels is shared 
between the king and the earl: his lawful wife, together with his legitimate 
heirs if there are any, has the other half.

                                        (Latin) Ibid., I, 280.b



[1] On the interpretation of the following entries, see especially Round, in 
Victoria History of Herefordshire, I, 263 f.

[2] A nearby royal manor.

[3] This was south of Hereford, toward the wild region of Archenfield. On 
such a trip the sheriff needed an armed escort.

[4] The heriot of the ordinary thegn in Canute, II, 71 (above, p. 24). Cf. 
the moneyers of Hereford, the Welshmen of Archenfield, and the thegns of 
Nottinghamshire in the following passages.

[5] Presumably a pound a month, for relatively large sums were reported from 
mints elsewhere.

[6] The Anglo-Saxon heriot; see n. 4 on the previous page.

[7] The Normans refused to recognize Harold's title to the throne.

[8] The borough, including the revenues described above, was farmed by the 
portreeve for £18 a year, two-thirds to the king and one-third to the earl.

[9] The list of crown pleas varied from region to region; cf. the customs of 
Worcestershire and Nottinghamshire below, and Canute, II, 12 (above, p. 22).

[10] Earlier there had been three great border earls who enjoyed all 
regalian rights within their respective territories: Roger de Montgomery, 
earl of Shrewsbury; Hugh d'Avranches, earl of Chester; and William Fitz-
Osbern, earl of Hereford. Before 1086, however, the third of these earldoms 
had been forfeited as the consequence of a rebellion.

[11] Cf. the entry for Rhuddlan, below.

[12] See below, p. 49, no. 25, n. 1.

[13] These manors had earlier belonged to Earl William, and so had been 
brought into a financial organization centering in Hereford.

[14] According to the regular plan, the king heads the list of landholders 
and is followed by his barons, first the ecclesiastics and after them the 
laymen. The lands held by each person in the list are then described in 
turn, manor by manor.

[15] On this "gigantic manor" see Maitland, Domesday Book and Beyond, p. 
112.

[16] By caruca is meant, not merely the plough proper, but also the team of 
eight oxen. The hide in Domesday is a unit of assessment for geld and other 
royal services. It was divided into 4 virgates or yardlands, 8 bovates, and 
120 acres.

[17] The beadle appears in Domesday as the subordinate of a manorial reeve. 
The radcniht or ridingman seems to have been much the same as a geneat; see 
above, p. 8, n. 8. The villani of Domesday, being distinguished from servi, 
were legally free; for it was only later that serfdom and villeinage came to 
be arbitrarily identified. According to Domesday, the normal villein holding 
was thirty acres of arable. The bordar or cotter, on the other hand, held 
only a hut and a garden plot. See especially Maitland, Domesday Book and 
Beyond, pp. 26 f.; Vinogradoff, Villeinage in England.

[18] About two dozen eels were counted as a stick. Most of them, obviously, 
were taken from mill-ponds.

[19] Swine were commonly allowed to run wild in woodland. Rent paid for the 
privilege was called pannage; see immediately below.

[20] The Domesday league is a mile and a half, but these measurements are 
only rough approximations.

[21] Salt-wiches are a prominent feature of this region; see Tait, The 
Domesday Survey of Cheshire, pp. 39 f. The wood bought at Droitwich was for 
the furnaces used in connection with salt-pans. The mitt included two ambers 
of four bushels each.

[22] I.e., the jury that spoke for it.

[23] See above, p. 42, n. 10; and for illuminating comment on the whole 
entry, the introduction to Tail's work just cited.

[24] On the significance of these customs, see Mary Bateson, "The Laws of 
Breteuil," in the English Historical Review, vols. XV, XVI; C. Stephenson. 
Borough and Town, pp. 88 f., 120 f.

[25] The year of the Domesday inquest, 1086.

[26] Round (in Domesday Studies, pp. 77 f.) was the first to explain the 
significance of the Berkshire custom. For further comment on this and the 
following entries, see the appropriate volumes of the Victoria County 
History.

[27] See above, p. 41, n. 4. The cniht was a sort of lesser thegn; see 
Gross. Gild Merchant, I, 183 f.

[28] Cf. Ine, 45 (above, p. 9); and see above, p. 37, n. 5.

[29] The meaning of this provision and the similar ones below is probably 
that small fines were included in the sheriff's farm, while more 
extraordinary ones were not.

[30] Although the present tense is used, the customs described were those of 
the Anglo-Saxon period.

[31] Cf. no. 15G, above.

[32] That is to say, can commend himself, with his land, to a lord of his 
own choosing.

[33] See below, p. 48, n. 6.

[34] A method of reckoning peculiar to certain Danish regions; see Round, 
Feudal England, p. 73.