Feudal England: Historical Studies on the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries

by John Horace Round

I.C.C.	I.E.
flamencdic	flammingedich
Robert[us] de Hintona	Rodb[er]t[us] de Histona
Fulcard[us] de Dittona	Osmundus parvus
Osmund[us] parvulus	Fulcold homo abbatis de Ely
Baldeuuinus cum barba	Baldeuuinus cocus
Æduuin[us] presbyter	Æduuinus presbyter
Ulfric[us] de teuersham	Wlfuric de teuersham
Silac[us] eiusdem villæ	Syla
Godwun[us] nabesone	Goduuine de fulburne

It is impossible to examine the italicized variations in these parallel texts without coming to the conclusion that they must have been independently derived from some common original, an original containing more detail than either of them. On the other hand, the comparatively close agreement between the texts of the actual returns in the I.C.C. and the I.E. leads one to infer that these were copied with far more exactitude than the comparatively unimportant surnames of the jurors. For us the value of these variations in the jurors' lists lies in the evidence afforded to the origin of the existing MSS.

The object of this careful scrutiny has been to prove that as certain errors and peculiarities are found in two independent MSS., they must have existed in the original document from which both were copied, and which was neither the I.C.C. transcripts nor the original Domesday returns. What then was this document? It was, and can only have been, the true Inquisitio Eliensis, the date and origin of which I shall discuss below. Further, I should imagine this document to have probably been a roll or rolls, which—on its contents being subsequently transcribed into a book for convenience—was allowed, precisely as happened to the Domesday rolls themselves, to disappear. In perfect accordance with this view we find the whole contents of the Inquisitio arranged for a special purpose, and no mere transcript of the Domesday returns. Thus, after abstracting all the entries relating to the Cambridgeshire estates, and subjoining a list of houses held in Cambridge itself, it proceeds to add up all the items independently, and record their total values to the Abbey. This analysis is carried out for several counties (pp. 121-4), and is, of course, peculiar to the Inquisitio, although inserted between the abstracts of the Domesday returns for Cambridgeshire and Herts. So too the breviate or short abstract of the estates (pp. 168-173), which was part of the original document—for it is found in all the derived MSS.—must have been specially compiled for it, and so also was the Nomina Villarum (pp. 174-83).

Another peculiarity of the Inquisitio is the care with which it records the names of sokemen on the Abbey estates when omitted in the I.C.C. and D.B. This may lead us to ask whether its compilers supplied these names from their personal knowledge. We might think not, for in some cases they are recorded by the D.B. and the I.C.C., while in one (p. 106) the I.E. actually omits the name, reading only 'quidam sochemanus', where the other two documents (p. 46) supply his name ('Fridebertus'). From this we might infer that the names were probably recorded in the original returns, but deemed of too slight importance to be always copied by the transcriber. Yet the balance of evidence leads me to believe that the I.E. did supply names from independent knowledge. With the values, however, the case is clearer. The I.E. contains special and exclusive information on the value of socman-holdings, and must, I think, have derived it from some other source than the original Domesday returns. Here are some instances in point.

I.C.C.	I.E.
III. sochemanni fuerunt ... secundus homo abbatis de Ely tenuit ii.[235] hidas ... Potuerunt recedere (p. 83).	In Erningetone fuit quidam sochemannus, Ædwardus, et habuit i. hidam. Homo abbatis Eli fuit in obitu regis Ædwardi, sed terram suam vendere potuit; sed soca semper S. Ædeldrede remansit (p. 110).
X. sochemanni ... et i. istorum homo abbatis de Ely fuit. Dimidiam hidam habuit. Non potuit dare neque vendere, et ii. istorum, homines predicti abbatis, iii. virgas habuerunt, vendere potuerunt; soca remansit abbati (p. 91).	In Ouro fuit quidam sochemannus nomine Standardus, qui dimidiam hidam habuit sub abbate ely. Non potuit ire ab eo nec separare ab ecclesia et valet viginti solidos. Et modo habet Hardwinus. Et alii ii. sochemanni iii. virgatas habuerunt. Potuerunt dare vel vendere sine soca cui voluerunt et modo tenet Hardwinus. Et valet xv. solidos (p. 112).
Et xus [sochemannus] homo abbatis de ely fuit. i. hidam et dim. habuit. Et omnes isti recedere potuerunt; et vendere terram suam cui voluerunt (p. 95).	Quidam sochemannus sub abbate eli i. hidam et dim. tenuit T.R.E. potuit dare sine licentiam [sic] eius, sine socha. Et modo Picot vicecomes tenet eam sub abbate ely. Valet x. sol. (p. 113).

This last passage, of itself, is full of instruction. Firstly, the I.E. alone gives the value of the holding. Secondly, the I.E. preserves the 'sine socha' which qualifies the holder's right. Now D.B. gives the last clause as:

Hi omnes terras suas vendere potuerunt. Soca tantum hominis abbatis de Ely remansit æcclesiæ.

This qualification corresponds with the 'sine socha' of the I.E., and is, we should observe, wholly omitted in the I.C.C. Thirdly, the three versions of the original return employ three different words to express the same one—'recedere', 'vendere', 'dare'. Fourthly, the superiority of the C text of the I.E. over B (which makes two blunders in this passage) and of B over its offspring A (which adds a third) is here well illustrated. Fifthly, the phrase 'Picot vicecomes tenet eam sub abbate ely' differs notably from Domesday, which assigns the estate to Picot unreservedly, and still more from the I.C.C. which reads 'tenet Robertus de Picoto vicecomite in feudo regis'.

The next example is taken from the township immediately preceding.

I.C.C.	I.E.
V. istorum (sochemannorum) homines abbatis de Ely fuerunt. Et unus istorum i. virg. et dim. habuit. Non potuit recedere. Et alii iiii. habuerunt v. hidas et i. virg. Potuerunt recedere sine soca (p.95).	Fuerunt quinque sochemani T.R.E. unus istorum sugga nomine habuit una virg. et dim. sub abbate ely. Non potuit recedere. Et valet x. sol. Et alii iiiior sochemani v. hidas et i. virg. tenuerunt de abbate eli. Potuerunt dare preter licentiam abbatis et sine socha et modo tenet eam Picot vicecomes de abbate ely et valet iii. lib. (p. 112).