[841] See as to all this Mr. Maitland's Introduction to the Selden volume (ii), pp. lxix, lxx.
[842] Introd. to Selden Soc. ii. p. lxi, and following. Comp. Coram Rege, 27 Henry III, 2: 'Dicunt quod non est aliquis liber homo in eodem manerio nisi Willelmus filius Radulfi qui respondet infra corpus comitatus.'
[843] Y.B. 21-22 Edw. I, 526 (Rolls Series).
[844] Comp. Mr. Maitland in his often-quoted Introduction, p. lxxi.
[845] Introduction to Seld. Soc. ii. p. lxvi.
[846] Archaeologia, vol. 47, p. 27, and following.
[847] Rot. Hundr., Cartulary of Ramsey, i.
[848] Gomme, Village Community, 162, etc.
[849] Cart. of Malmesbury (Rolls Ser.), ii. 221.
[850] A very good case in point is presented by Hitchin, because the boundaries and the jurisdiction of the manor comprise a great number of villages and hamlets which managed their open fields quite independently of the central township of Hitchin, and could not but do so, as they lay quite apart and a good way from it, as may be seen on the Ordnance Map. And still the manor comprises 'the township of Hitchin and the hamlet of Walsworth, the lesser manors of the Rectory of Hitchin, of Moremead, otherwise Charlton, and of the Priory of the Biggin, being comprehended within the boundaries of the said manor of Hitchin, which also extends into the hamlets of Langley and Preston in the said parish of Hitchin, and into the parishes of Ickleford, Ipolitts, Kimpton, Kingswalden, and Offley.' (Seebohm, Village Community, 443, 444.) As Mr. Seebohm tells me, the contrast between the central portion, that of the township, managed in one open field system, and the outlying parts, is probably reflected in the curious denominations of the manor as Portman and Foreign. It is well known how frequently our surveys mention hamlets; in many cases these annexes of townships are so widely scattered, that it would be impossible to suppose one open field system for them.