The yard-land the normal holding of the villanus.
These accidental instances in the Domesday Survey in which the required information is given are numerous enough to make it clear that at the date of the Survey the holdings of the villani were generally hides, half-hides, virgates, and half-virgates. The virgate or yard-land was the normal holding, as it was afterwards. And this being so, it may reasonably be [p095] concluded also that the virgates and half-virgates were themselves what they were afterwards—bundles of strips scattered over the open fields, and having some connexion not yet fully explained, but clearly indicated, with the number of oxen allotted to their holders or contributed by them to the manorial plough team of eight oxen.
VI. THE HOLDINGS OF THE BORDARII OR COTTIERS.
It has already been noticed that in the Inquisitio Eliensis the particulars to be recorded as regards the tenants were—
- 1. Quot villani.
- 2. Quot cottarii.
- 3. Quot servi, &c.
And that with few exceptions throughout the Survey the three classes actually found in the Survey were—
- 1. Villani.
- 2. Bordarii.
- 3. Servi.
From this fact alone it would not be wrong to conclude that to a great extent the words bordarii and cottarii were interchangeable.
This inference gains much weight from the fact that a great many bordarii as well as cottarii are found even in the Inquisitio Eliensis itself. The facts, however, when collected together are somewhat [p096] curious, as a reference to the note below will show.[119]
Cottiers and bordarii very much alike.