[381] Ashley, Economic History, i. pp. 56, 57.
[382] Registrum Album Abbatiae Sancti Edmundi de Burgo, Cambridge University, Ee. iii. 60 f.; 188, b: 'Memorandum quod anno regni Regis Edwardi filii Regis Henrici 18—dominus Johannes de Norwold abbas Sti. Edmundi ad ulteriores portas manerii sui de Herlawe, ad instanciam Cecilie le Grete de Herlawe hereditatem suam de mollond infra campum dicte ville jacentem post mortem viri sui a pluribus tenentibus Abbatis petentis coram eodem Abbate, eo pretextu quod vir suus adventicius dictam hereditatem suam ipsa invita vendidit et alienauit, per subscriptos inquisivit, utrum ipse seu alii quicumque infra villam predictam mollond tenentes libere tenuerunt seu tenent, et per cartas aut alio modo.... Qui omnes et singuli jurati dixerunt per sacramentum suum quod omnes tenentes de molland solebant esse custumarii et fuerunt, sed Abbas Hugo primus et Abbas Sampson posterum et alii Abbates relaxarunt eis seruicia maiora et consuetudines pro certa pecunia; modo arentati in aliquibus operibus ceteris, sed nihil habent inde nec tenent per cartas, sed per virgam in curia. Et sunt geldabiles in omnibus inter custumarios et quod omnes sunt custumarie et servilis condicionis sicut et alii.'
[383] Exch. Treas. of Rec. 59/66. The classes follow each other in this way: 'Liberi tenentes, Molmen, Custumarii.' Cf. Rot. Hundred, ii. 425, a.
[384] Harl. MSS. 639, f. 69, b: 'Inquisicio facta per totam socam de Badefeud dicit quod si aliquis servus domini moritur et plures habuerit filios, si tota terra fuerit mollond primogenitus de iure et consuetudine debet eam retinere; si tota fuerit villana iunior; si maior pars fuerit mollond primogenitus, is maior pars fuerit villana iunior eam optinebit.'
[385] I cannot surrender this point (cf. Stevenson, l. c.). That Borough English existed in many free boroughs and among free sokemen is true, of course, and there it had nothing to do with servile status. It would have been wrong to treat the custom of inheritance as a sure test from a general point of view. But as a matter of fact it was treated as such a test from a local point of view by many, if not most, manorial arrangements. I refer again to the case from the Note-book of Bracton, pl. 1062. The lord is adducing as proof of a plea of villainage: 'Hoc bene patet, quia postnatus filius semper habuit terram patris sui sicut alii villani de patria.' I have said already that the succession of the youngest son appears with merchet, reeveship, etc., as a servile custom.
[386] Q.R. Min. Acc. Box 587.
[387] Ramsey Cartulary (Rolls Series), i. 267: 'Decem hidae, ex quibus persona, liberi et censuarii tenent tres hidas et dimidiam, et villani tenent sex hidas.'
[388] Domesday Book, i. 204; Ramsey Cartulary, i. 270, 330-40.
[389] Rochester Cartulary (Thorpe), 2, a: 'Gavelmanni de Suthflete.'
[390] Cotton MSS. Tiberius B. ii, and Claudius C. xi.