[1221] Ibid. 69 b.
[1223] For this reason I do not feel sure that Mr F. Baring (Eng. Hist. Rev. xi. 98) has conclusively proved his case when he accuses D. B. of omitting to notice the free tenants on the estates of the Abbey of Burton.
[1224] The antiquity and universality of the balk must not be taken for granted; see Meitzen, op. cit. i. 86; iii. 319. However, in recent times balks did occur within the shots (this Meitzen seems to doubt) as may be seen to-day at Upton St. Leonards, Co. Gloucester. Mr Seebohm, op. cit. 4, 382, claims the word balk for the Welsh; but see New Eng. Dict. and Skeat, Etymol. Dict. In this, as in many another case, the Welsh claim to an English word has broken down.
[1225] A.-S. Chron. ad ann. 1043. Henry of Huntingdon, p. 192, took the sestar of this passage to be a horse-load. Even if we accept his version, the price would be high when compared with the prices recorded on the Pipe Rolls of Henry II.; for which see Hall, Court Life, 219, 220. But, though the point can not be argued here, we may strongly suspect that the chronicler meant something that is almost infinitely worse, and that his sestar was at the very least as small as our bushel. We know of no English document which suggests a sextarius that would be comparable with a horse-load.
[1226] Geatfled’s will, K. 925 (iv. 263).
[1228] Observe the clumsy nomenclature illustrated by K. 816 (iv. 164), a deed forged for the Confessor:—‘Middletun et oðer Middletun ... Horningdun et oðer Horningdun ... Fifehyda et oðer Fifehyda.’
[1229] See in this context the interesting letter of Bp. Denewulf to Edward the Elder, K. 1089 (v. 166). An estate of 72 hides, a very large estate, came to the bishop almost waste. He prides himself on having now tilled 90 acres!
[1230] A good programme of this system is given by Cunningham, Growth of English Industry, i. 71.