This conclusion is confirmed, I think, by some striking instances in Hampshire.[154] Of ‘Neteham’ we read, “T.R.E. et post valuit lxxvi lib. et xvi sol. et viii den.” (i. 38); and of ‘Brestone,’ similarly, “T.R.E. et post valuit lxxvi lib. et xvi sol. et viii den.” (i. 38 b). The explanation is found in these two entries on the latter fo.:
| Bertune. De firma regis E. fuit, et dimidiam diem firmæ reddidit in omnibus rebus ... T.R.E. valebat xxxviii lib. et viii sol. et iiii den. | Edlinges. Hoc manerium reddidit dimidiam diem firmæ T.R.E ... T.R.E. valebat xxxviii lib. et viii sol. et iiii den. |
That is, I take it that the half-day’s ferm “rendered” T.R.E. was worth £38 8s. 4d., so that the two other manors, for each of which the sum was £76 16s. 8d., must originally have rendered a whole ‘firma.’ This gives us the value of the ‘firma’ for the other Hampshire manors which “rendered.”[155]
We will now return to the ‘Dialogus’ and its statements on the “firma comitatus.”
It is distinctly asserted, in the above passage, that the ‘firma comitatus’ only dated from this reform under Henry I.[156] This is at variance with the strong evidence set forth in my ‘Geoffrey de Mandeville,’ that Geoffrey’s grandfather, who was dead before this alleged reform, held Middlesex, Essex, and Herts at farm, the very amount of the farm due from him being mentioned. But, indeed, in Domesday itself there are hints, if not actual evidence, that the ‘firma’ was more or less in existence. In Warwickshire, for instance, “T.R.E. vicecomitatus de Warwic cum burgo et cum regalibus Maneriis reddebat lxv libras,” etc., etc. In Worcestershire, also, “vicecomes ... de Dominicis Maneriis regis reddit cxxiii lib. et iiii sol. ad pensum.” Here we have exactly that “summa summarum” of which the ‘Dialogus’ speaks as a novelty introduced under Henry I.[157] Again, in at least one passage (i. 85), we recognise a distinct allusion to the “terræ datæ” system:
De hoc Manerio tenet Giso episcopus unum membrum Wetmore quod ipse tenuit de rege E. Pro eo computat Willelmus vicecomes in firma regis xii lib. unoquoque anno.
Now we know the history of this manor, which had been detached from the royal demesne about a quarter of a century before, when Edward gave it to bishop Giso on his return from his visit to Rome. It follows, therefore, that £12 must have been, ever since, annually credited to the sheriff, in consideration of the Crown having alienated this manor.[158] We thus carry back to a period before the Conquest that Exchequer practice of the 12th century, which is thus alluded to in Stephen’s charter to Geoffrey earl of Essex (1141):
Ita tamen quod dominica quæ de prædictis comitatibus data sunt ... a firma prædicta subtrahantur et ... ad scaccarium computabuntur.[159]
I hasten to add that the Charter of Constance, the Conqueror’s daughter, quoted by Stapleton from the Cartulary of Holy Trinity, Caen, affords an exact parallel in the words: “et ei computabitur in suo redditu cum dica.” But the fact remains that we can prove the existence, under Edward the Confessor, of characteristic features of the later Exchequer system, of which one, at least, as Stapleton explained, must have been of English origin.
What then was the change that took place on the introduction of the Exchequer? How did it modify the system previously in existence? Our only clue is found in the well-known words of the ‘Dialogus’: “Quod autem hodie dicitur ad scaccarium, olim dicebatur ad taleas.” Writing as a specialist on Exchequer history, Mr. Hall contends that “this expression in itself denotes the actual place of receipt and issue of the revenue rather than a court or council chamber.”[160] But one cannot see that ‘scaccarium’ in itself denotes a court or council chamber more than does ‘talea.’ The one was a chequered table, the other a wooden tally. My own view is that the change really consisted of the introduction of the chequered table[161] to assist the balancing of the accounts. Previously, tallies alone would be used, and it is noteworthy that even after the ‘Exchequer’ system was in full operation, the deduction for the loss involved by ‘combustion’ was still effected by tally.[162] I have little doubt that the ‘combustion’ tally was in use in the 11th century for payments “ad arsuram et pensum.”