Danegeld.
In Column III., for a reason that will become evident hereafter, we place the amount of danegeld charged against the counties—charged against them, not actually paid by them[1351]—in the middle of the twelfth century. The sources of these figures are the Pipe Rolls of 31 Henry I. and 2 and 8 Henry II. In these accounts the amount charged against a county is approximately constant. Some of the variations are probably due to a contemptuous treatment of small sums[1352]; but there are cases in which a sheriff seems to have been allowed to deduct £10 or so, without any recorded explanation[1353]. We choose the highest figures when there is any discord between our three rolls. The danegeld was being levied at the rate of two shillings on the hide, and therefore, if we would find the number of geldant hides, we have to multiply by ten the number of pounds that are set against the county.
Hides, carucates, sulungs.
Column IV. contains our estimate of A: in other words, of the number of hides, carucates or sulungs. As we are arguing for a large hide, we have thought right in doubtful cases to lean in favour of inclusion rather than of exclusion. We count all hides, except those ascribed to the shire’s boroughs[1354], even though we are told that they have ‘never’ gelded. Also, when a hide is mentioned, we count it, even though we have a strong suspicion that the same hide is mentioned again on some other page. Especially in Sussex, where the rapes have recently been rearranged, this may make our figures too high[1355]. Then, again, we have frankly begged important questions by assuming that in Domesday Book the following equations are correct.
| 1 Hide | = 4 Virgates | = 120 Acres |
| 1 Carucate | = 8 Bovates | = 120 Acres |
| 1 Sulung | = 4 Yokes | = 120 Acres. |
In the counties with which we have dealt, except Norfolk and Essex (Suffolk we have left alone), acres are so rarely mentioned that the error, if any, introduced by our hypothesis as to their relation to hides and carucates will be almost infinitesimal, and, even if we are wrong in supposing that the virgate is the quarter of a hide and that the bovate is the eighth of a carucate, the vitiation of our results that will be due to this blunder will but rarely be considerable[1356].
Reduced hidage.
Almost everywhere we may find some hides (carucates, sulungs) that do not geld and many cases in which a tract now gelds for a smaller number of hides (carucates, sulungs) than that for which it formerly paid. In four counties, however, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire, we see that since William’s advent there has, rightfully or wrongfully, been a large and generally distributed reduction in the tale of the gelding hides. In our Column V. we give a rough statement of the reduced number[1357]. In Cornwall we read of an assessment that prevailed in the Confessor’s day and of a heavier assessment. The figures which speak of this heavier assessment we place in our Column V[1358].
The teamlands.
We now pass from A to B. In Column VI. we set the number of teamlands, thus answering the question Quot carucarum [carucis] ibi est terra. We have assumed, but this rarely has an appreciable effect on our calculations, that the land of one ox is the eighth, the land of two oxen the fourth part of the land of one team. There are certain counties where we receive no statement about the teamlands, while in certain others the statement, though it seems to be expected, is often omitted[1359]. For this reason some blanks will be found in this column. In most of the other counties instances occur with more or less frequency in which nothing is said of the teamlands. In these cases we have thought it fair to assume that there were teamlands equal in number to the teams (B = C). The effect of this assumption will be to bring the number of teamlands (B) somewhat closer to the number of teams (C) than it would otherwise have been, but no very great harm will have thus been done to our rude statistics[1360].