This usage is found in both volumes. We read of land at Marham, Norfolk, held by Hugh de Montfort; 'est mensurata in brevi Sanctæ Adeldret' (ii. 238), where the reference is to the 'Terra Sanctæ Adeldredræ' (ii. 212), and of Hurstington Hundred, Hunts, 'Villani et sochemanni geldant secundum hidas in brevi scriptas' (i. 203). The reference, in both cases, is to the text itself.
The former of these two phrases is repeated in the Inquisitio Eliensis,[246] a fact of some importance if, as I venture to think, it is there meaningless. The point is worth labouring. We see that the phrase cannot have occurred in the original returns, where all the entries relating to Marham would have come together. But if it was only applicable to Domesday Book itself—where the fiefs were separated—then must the I.E. have copied from Domesday Book.
This, indeed, is the point to which I am working. For Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk, I believe, the compilers of the Inquisitio (1086-7) must have worked from the second volume of Domesday as we have it now. We see it firstly, in the order of the counties; secondly, in the absence of the jurors' names; thirdly, in the system of entering the lands. With a fourth and minute test I have dealt just above.
But to make this clearer, we must briefly analyse the return. The Cambridgeshire portion extends from p. 101 to p. 120. It extracts from the original returns, Hundred by Hundred, all that relates to the Abbey of Ely. Following this is a note of its possessions in the Borough of Cambridge[247] (pp. 120-1), and then summaries of the Abbey's estates, in dominium and thainland and socha, in all six counties, and of the lands held by Picot the Sheriff, Hardwin d'Eschalers and Guy de Raimbercurt, to which it laid claim as its own (pp. 121-4). Then we resume with Hertfordshire, the extracts from the original returns (pp. 124, 125). Both the Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire portions close with the words, 'De toto quod habemus', etc., referring to the totals worked out by the Abbey from the entries in the original returns.
With Essex, we enter at once on a different system. This portion, which extends from p. 125 to p. 130 (line 8), is arranged not by Hundreds but by fiefs. It first gives the lands actually held by the Abbey (as coming first in Domesday), and then those of which laymen were in possession. To the latter section are prefixed the words: 'Has terras calumpniatur abbas de ely secundum breve regis'. From Essex we pass to Norfolk, the entries for which, commencing on p. 130 with the words 'In Teodforda', end on p. 141 at 'Rogerus filius Rainardi'. These again are divided into two portions, namely, the lands credited to the Abbey in Domesday (pp. 130-6), and those which it claimed but which Domesday enters under other owners (pp. 137-41). Between the two comes the total value of the former portion and a list of the Norfolk churches held by the Abbey. Last of the Eastern counties is Suffolk, which begins on p. 141 at 'In Tedeuuartstreu hund.', and ends on p. 166. This also is in two portions, but the order seems to be reversed, the alleged aggressions on the Abbey's lands coming first and its uncontested possessions last. The latter portion begins on p. 153, where the B text inserts the word 'Sudfulc'.
The following parallel passages are of interest as showing how closely the I.E. followed D.B. even when recording a judicial decision.
| D.B. | I.E. |
|---|---|
| In dermodesduna tenuerunt xxv. liberi homines i car. terræ ex quibus habuit sca. Al. commend. et socam T.R.E. Tunc vi. car. modo ii., et iii. acre prati, et val. xx. sol. Rogerus bigot[us] tenet de abbate, quia abbas eam derationavit super eum coram episcopo de sancto Laudo, sed prius tamen tenebat de rege (ii. 383). | In dermodesduna tenuerunt xxv. lib. homines i car. terre ex quibus habuit S. Ædel. sacam et socam et commend. T.R.E. Tunc vi. car. modo ii., et iii. acre prati, et val. xx. sol. R. bigot tenet de Abbate quia Abbas eam dirationavit super eum coram episcopo constantiensi. Sed prius tamen tenuit de rege (p. 157). |
The one variation, the Bishop's style, has a curious parallel in Domesday Book (i. 165), where under the rubric 'Terra Episcopi Constantiensis' we read 'Episcopus de Sancto Laudo tenet', etc.
We may take it then that the compilers of the Inquisitio Eliensis worked for Cambridge and Herts from the original returns, but, for the eastern counties, from the second volume of Domesday. What are the corollaries of this conclusion? They used, for some reason or other, the second volume of Domesday, but not the first—if, indeed, it then existed. Speaking for myself, I have always felt not a little uneasy as to the accepted date for the completion of Domesday Book.[248] Mr Eyton went so far as to write: