Comes de Gines tenet xii. milites, scilicet—in Bedefordescire, in Stiveton et Parva Wahull iii milites, in Cantabr' in Dukesword, et Trumpeton iii milites ... in Essex, Tholehunt et Galdhangr' iii milites, in Hoyland' et Lalesford ibidem iii milites.
Here we have all the Manors mentioned by Lambert (with their appurtenances) assigned to the Count of Guines, the heir of Arnold of Ardres; and we can thus believe the Testa entry (p. 272) of Tolleshunt and Holland, 'quas idem comes et antecessores sui tenuerunt de conquestu Angliæ'. But the Testa does more than this; it informs us that Holland and Lawford were held of the Count by 'Henry de Merk'. Now, 'Adelolf' de Merk is found in Domesday holding many Manors direct from Eustace of Boulogne, and these Manors are divided in the Testa between his descendants Simon and Henry de Merk.[1] It is, therefore, possible that he held the three Essex Manors in 1086, not directly from Count Eustace, but, like his descendant, from their under-tenant (Arnold). This raises, of course, an important question as to Domesday.[2]
It is interesting to observe that the village of Marck in the Pas de Calais has, through Adelolf and his heirs, transferred its name to the Essex parish of Mark's Tey, though not to that of Marks Hall (so named in Domesday).
While on the subject of the Lords of Ardres, it may be convenient to give the reference to a letter of mine to the Academy (May 28, 1892), explaining that Lambert's 'Albericus Aper', who puzzled Dr Heller and Mr Freeman, was our own Aubrey de Vere, first Earl of Oxford, and that Lambert's statement (accepted by Mr Freeman) as to the parentage of Emma, wife of Count Manasses, had been disproved by Stapleton.
[1] An interesting charter belonging to the close of Stephen's reign shows us Queen Matilda compensating Henry 'de Merch' for his land at Donyland (one of these Manors)—which she was giving to St John's, Colchester—'de redditibus transmarinis ad suam voluntatem'. Another and earlier charter from her father and mother (printed by Mr E. J. L. Scott in the Athenæum of December 2, 1893) has Fulco de merc and M. de merc among the witnesses.
[2] The non-appearance of Arnold's brother, 'Geoffrey', in Domesday which has been deemed a difficulty, is accounted for by Lambert's statement that he made over his English possessions to Arnold.
EARLY IRISH TRADE WITH CHESTER AND ROUEN[1]
The eighth report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts speaks of the records of the city of Chester as 'beginning with Henry the Second's writ of licence to the citizens of Chester to trade in Durham [sic] as they were wont to do in the time of Henry the First' (p. xv). The records themselves are similarly described in the actual report on them (pp. 355-403) as 'beginning with a curious writ, addressed by Henry the Second to his bailiffs of the city of Durham' [sic]. This, which is among those items spoken of as 'especially interesting and important', figures thus as the head of the calendar: