"Idem vicecomes reddit Compotum de XII l. et XIII s. et IIII d. pro Rogero de Ram'.
"Idem vicecomes reddit Compotum de XII l. et XIII s. IIII d. pro Ricardo de Ram'."
They require some explanation. The sums here accounted for (though it is not so stated) are payments towards "the great scutage" of the year at two marks on the knight's fee. These were in most cases paid collectively by the aggregate of knights liable. Here, luckily for us, these two tenants paid separately. Turning the payments into marcs, and then dividing by two, we find that each represents an assessment of nine and a half knights. Now, we know for certain from the Liber Niger (i. 240) that the assessment of one of these two fiefs was ten knights, and that its holder was entitled to deduct from that assessment an amount equivalent to half a knight. For such is the meaning in the language of the Exchequer of the phrase: "feodum dimidii militis ... quod mihi computatur in X militibus quos Regi debeo." Thus we obtain the exact amount (nine and a half knights) on which he pays in the above Roll.[1150]
But we can go further still. Each of the two fiefs was entitled to the same deduction (Liber Niger). Both, therefore, must have been alike assessed at ten knights. We are now on the right track. These two fiefs in the Liber Niger are not identical but distinct; they represent an original fief, assessed at twenty knights, which has been divided into two equal halves, each with an assessment of ten knights. And as with the whole fief, so with some of its component parts. Dedham, for instance, the "Delham" of Domesday (ii. 83) and the "Diham" of our charter, was held of the lord of the fief by the service of one knight. When the fief was divided in two, Dedham was divided too. Accordingly, we find it mentioned in our charter (1142) as "Diham que fuit Rogeri de Ramis, rectum ... filiorum Rogeri de Ramis." It was their joint right, because it was divided between them, just as it still appears divided in the cartæ of 1166.[1151]
But further, why is Dedham alone mentioned in this charter? Because it was that portion of the fief which the Crown had seized and kept, and consequently that of which the restoration was now exacted from the Empress. And why had the Crown seized it? Possibly as security for those very debts, which were due to it from William "de Raimes" (Rot. Pip., 31 Hen. I.).[1152]
Dedham was not the only divided manor in the fief. "Totintuna," in Norfolk, was similarly shared, its one knight's fee being halved. This enables us to correct an error in the Liber Niger. We there read (i. 237)—
"Warinus de Totinton' medietatem I militis."
And again (i. 239)—
"Warinus dim' mil'.