| Domesday, 1086 | The Relief, 1095 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| h. | v. | £ | s | |||
| Roger de Laci | 23 | 2 | Hugh de Laci | 20 | 0 | |
| Walter Ponther | 10 | 2 | Walter Punther | 20 | 0 | |
| Gilbert fitz Thorold | 7 | 2 | Gilbert fitz Thorold | 5 | 0 | |
| Bishop of Hereford | 5 | 0 | Bishop Robert [of Hereford] | 10 | 0 | |
| Abbot of Evesham | 9 | 0 | Abbot of Evesham | 30 | 0 | |
| Walter fitz Roger | 8 | 0 | Walter de Gloucester | 20 | 0 | |
| Durand the sheriff | 6 | 0 | Roger fitz Durand | 10 | 0 | |
| Winebald de Balaon | 10 | 0 | ||||
| Drogo | 10 | 0 | Drogo fitz Ponz | 10 | 0 | |
| Schelin | 5 | 0 | Robert fitz Schilin | 5 | 0 | |
| Robert Stirman | 3 | 0 | ||||
| Anschitil | 2 | 0 | Anschitil de Colesbourne | 10 | 0 | |
| Roger de Compton | 1 | 0 | ||||
| Eudo | 1 | 3 | Eudo | 3 | 0 | |
| William de Begeberi | 2 | 0 | ||||
| Richard & Franca | 5 | 0 | ||||
| Ansgot | 1 | 2 | Angot | 1 | 0 | |
| Berald | 1 | 0 | ||||
| William de Wick | 1 | 0 | ||||
| Robert fitz Nigel | 5 | 0 | ||||
| Ælfric the archdeacon | 4 | 0 | Ælfric the archdeacon | 5 | 0 | |
| Orderic |  | 6 | 1 | Orderic the Dapifer | 40 | 0 |
| Orderic | Orderic Black | 5 | 0 | |||
| Coleman | 2 | 0 | ||||
| Warine | 1 | 10 | ||||
| Baldwin | 2 | 0 | ||||
| Swegen fitz Azor | 1 | 0 | ||||
| Alfred | 1 | 10 | ||||
| Siward | 5 | 0 | Siward | 2 | 0 | |
| Sawulf | 15 | 0 | ||||
| Ælfar | 2 | 0 | ||||
| Cheping | 1 | 0 | ||||
| —————— | ||||||
| £250 | 0 | |||||
The comparison of these two lists suggests some interesting conclusions. Roger de Laci, forfeited early in the reign for treason, had been succeeded by his brother Hugh. 'Punher' supplies us with the transitional form from the 'Ponther' of Domesday to the 'Puher' of the reign of Henry I. The identity of the names is thus established. Walter fitz Roger has already assumed his family surname as Walter de Gloucester, and his uncle Durand has now been succeeded by a son Roger, whose existence was unknown to genealogists. The pedigree of the family in the Norman period has been well traced by Mr A. S. Ellis in his paper on the Gloucestershire Domesday tenants, but he was of opinion that Walter de Gloucester was the immediate successor in the shrievalty of his uncle, Durand, who died without issue. This list, on the contrary, suggests that the immediate successor of Durand was his son Roger, and that if, like his father, he held the shrievalty, this might account for the interlineation remitting, in his case, the sum due. In this Roger we, surely, have that 'Roger de Gloucester' who was slain in Normandy in 1106, and whom, without the evidence afforded by this list, it was not possible to identify.[282]
The chief difficulty that this list presents is its omission of the principal tenant of the see, Urse d'Abetot. One can only assign it to the fact of his official position as sheriff enabling him to secure exemption for himself, and perhaps even for his brother, Robert 'Dispensator'. Their exemption, however accounted for, involved an arbitrary assessment of all the remaining tenants, irrespective of the character or of the extent of their tenure. With these remarks I must leave a document, which is free from anachronism or inconsistency, and as trustworthy, I think, as it is useful.
It is my hope that this paper may increase the interest in the forthcoming edition of the Liber Rubeus under the care of Mr Hubert Hall, and that it may lead to a reconsideration of the problems presented by the feudal system as it meets us in England. Nor can I close without reminding the reader that if my researches have compelled me to differ from an authority so supreme as Dr Stubbs, this in no way impugns the soundness of his judgment on the data hitherto known. The original sources have remained so strangely neglected, that it was not in the power of any writer covering so wide a field to master the facts and figures which I have now endeavoured to set forth, and on which alone it is possible to form a conclusion beyond dispute.
[1] Reprinted, with additions, from the English Historical Review.
[2] 'The belief which has come down to us from Selden, and the antiquarian school, a belief which was hitherto universally received, that William I divided the English landed property into military fees, is erroneous, and results from the dating back of an earlier [? later] condition of things.'—Gneist, Const. Hist., i. 129.
[3] 'There can be no doubt that the military tenure, the most prominent feature of historical feudalism, was itself introduced by the same gradual process which we have assumed in the case of the feudal usages in general.'—Stubbs, Const. Hist., i. 261.
[4] Stubbs, servitia, i. 260-1. So too Freeman.
[5] Stubbs, servitia, i. 261.