Domesday Book and Beyond: Three Essays in the Early History of England

by Frederic William Maitland

The teams.

Column VII. gives the number of teams. Here we assume (we shall endeavour to prove hereafter) that the caruca of Domesday Book always means the same, namely, eight oxen[1361].

The values.

Lastly in Column VIII. we place the results attained by Pearson[1362] and Eyton in their endeavours to add together the various sums which the various estates in a shire are said to be worth (valet) or to render (reddit) in the Conqueror’s day, and to thus obtain a total valet for the shire. We need hardly say that these values are ‘annual values.’

The table of ratios.

The relations between our divers sets of figures are more important than the figures themselves, therefore we have worked the division sums the results of which are printed in the second Table, the first seven columns whereof are filled by quotients[1363]. The last column calls for more remark. The valets obtained for the various counties by Pearson and Eyton are somewhat precarious. They involve theories as to the relation between the values of gold and silver, as to the relation between the value of a pound reckoned by tale and a pound reckoned by weight, as to ‘blanched’ money and the cost of ‘a night’s farm.’ Also a good deal is included that can hardly be called the value of land, since it comprehends, not only the value of mills and the like, but also in some cases the revenue derived from courts. In order therefore that we might compare the values given to land in the various counties, we have taken at hazard a number of small estates in order that we might by addition and division obtain the value of a typical teamland with typical appurtenances. In general we have chosen ten estates each of which has one teamland, ten estates each of which has two teamlands and ten estates each of which has five teamlands, and then we have divided the sum of their values by eighty, the number of teamlands that they comprise. On the whole, the figures that we thus obtain and place in Column XVI. are not widely removed from those in Column XV., which represent the quotients arising from a division of Pearson’s ‘county values’ by the number of teamlands that are contained in the counties[1364].

An apology.

In order that not too much credence and yet just credence enough may be given to the figures that we have hastily put together, we will set beside those that we have stated for Gloucestershire the results of a minute analysis accomplished by Mr Charles Taylor[1365]. We have set down: Population, 8366 (from Ellis); Hides, 2388; Teams, 3768; Total Valet, £2827 6s. 8d. (from Pearson). Mr Taylor gives: Population, 8239[1366]; Hides, 2611 (or 2596); Teams, 3909; Total Valet, £3130 7s. 10d. Now these variations are wide and may in some sort be discreditable to those who differ from Mr Taylor[1367]. But they are not very substantial if we come to averages and ratios and a comparison of counties. For the purposes for which we shall use our figures, it is no great matter whether in this county there are 2·1 or 2·2 ‘recorded men’ to the plough-team[1368]. The broad features of Gloucestershire are that its hides fall far short of its teams, that its recorded population is sparse, that the average value of the land tilled by a team falls well below twenty shillings, that this shire differs markedly and in certain assignable respects from Wiltshire, where the hides exceed the teams, from Lincoln, where, despite the fen, the population is thick, from Kent, where the average value of land tilled by a team rises above thirty shillings[1369].

Constancy of ratios.

Our figures tell of wide variations; but we may be allowed to call attention to the stability of certain ratios, a stability which is gratifying to the diffident arithmetician. In twenty-one counties we can divide ‘the recorded population’ by the number of teamlands. The quotient never falls as low as 2 and only twice exceeds 4[1370]. For the same twenty-one counties we can divide the number of teamlands by the number of teams. Only twice will the quotient fall below 1 and only once will it touch 2. We must not, however, be led away into a general discussion of these figures. That task would require a wary and learned economist. We must keep our minds bent on what may be called the A B C of our subject[1371].