| Domesday | Descriptio Militum |
|---|---|
|
In Dailintone tenet Ricardus de
abbate iiiior. hidas (i. 222).
In Risun habuit Elnod iiii. bovatas terre ad geldum ... Nunc habet Colsuan de abbate Turoldo (i. 345b). | Rodbertus filius Ricardi iiii. hidas in Hamtonascira, et inde servit se altero milite (p. 175). Picotus filius Colsuaini habet dimidiam carrucatam in Rison, quam abbas dedit patri suo tali servicio quod esset ad placita abbatis et manuteneret res suas et homines suos in scira et in aliis locis (p. 175). |
This second entry not only records a peculiarly interesting enfeoffment, but identifies 'Colsuan', the Abbot's under-tenant at Riseholme, with no less a person than the conqueror's 'English favourite Coleswegen, ... an Englishman who, by whatever means, contrived to hold up his head among the conquerors of England'.[3]
As sons, in such cases as these, have succeeded their fathers, it need not surprise us that our list comprises some names that are found in the Liber Niger survey of 1125.[4] Vivian, whom, it tells us, Abbot Turold had enfeoffed at Oundle (p. 175) occurs there in that survey (p. 158), as does Robert d'Oilli at Cottingham (pp. 159-73).[5] Vitalis ('Viel') Engaine had succeeded William (Engaine) at Pytchley both in our list and in the survey of 1125 (cf. ante, p. 129).
One of the most interesting and important points in this list of knights is the gleam of new light it throws on Hereward 'the Wake'. In it we read:
Hugo de Euremou iii. hidas in dominio et vii. bovatas in Lincolneshira, et servit pro ii. militibus.
Ansford iii. carucatas et servit pro dimidia hida [sic].
Now Hugh de Euremou is the name of the man who, according to the pseudo-Ingulf, married Hereward's daughter. Here we have proof of his real existence, and are enabled moreover to detect him, I claim, in that Hugh who, as a 'miles' of the Abbot, held three hides at 'Edintone' [Etton, Northants] in Domesday (i. 222). Mr Freeman speaking of the vacancy at Bayeux in 1908, wrote:
William at once bestowed the staff on Turold, the brother of Hugh of Evermont [sic], seemingly the same Hugh who figures in the legend of Hereward as his son-in-law and successor.[6]
But the French editors of Ordericus, in a note to the passage from which this statement was taken (iv. 18), speak of our man as 'Hugue d'Envermeu, donateur du prieuré de St. Laurent d'Envermeu à l'Abbaye de Bec'.[7]
Turning for a moment from Hugh to Ansford, we read in the Lincolnshire 'Clamores':
Terram Asford in Bercham hund' dicit Wapentac non habuisse Herewardum die quo aufugiit (D.B., i. 376b).