_Domesday_ tells us also the names of the officers and artisans who played important parts in the old village communities. The _villani_, or villeins, corresponding to the Saxon _ceorls_, were the most important class of tenants in villeinage, and each held about thirty acres in scattered acre or half-acre strips, each a furlong in length and a perch or two in breadth, separated by turf balks. The villein thus supported himself and his family, and in return was bound to render certain services to the lord of the manor, to work on the home farm, and provide two or more oxen for the manorial plough-team. He was not a free tenant, could acquire no property, and his lord's consent was needed for the marriage of his daughters. But the law protected him from unjust usage; his holdings were usually regranted to his son. He could obtain freedom in several ways, and by degrees acquired the rights and privileges of a free tenant. Next to the villeins were the _bordarii_, who lived in _bords_ or cottages, _i.e._ boarded or wooden huts, and ranked as a lower grade of villeins. They held about five acres, but provided no oxen for the manorial plough-team. Below them were the _cottarii_, or cottiers, who were bound to do domestic work and supply the lord's table. They corresponded to the modern labourer, but lacked his freedom. The lowest class of all were the _servi_, or serfs, who corresponded to the Saxon _theows_. In Norman times their condition was greatly improved; they mingled with the cottiers and household servants, and gradually were merged with them. The _sochemanni_, or socmen, our yeomen, who abounded chiefly in the Danish district of England, were inferior landowners who had special privileges, and could not be turned out of their holdings, though they rendered certain services to the lord of the manor, and in this respect differed little from the villeins. _Domesday Book_ also mentions a class of men called _burs_ or _geburs_, who were the same as _coliberti_; also the _commendati_, who received privileges in return for services rendered to the lord of the manor. Each village community was self-contained, and had its own officers. Although _Domesday Book_ was not compiled in order to ascertain the condition of the Church and its ministers, and frequently the mention of a parish church is omitted where we know one existed, the _presbyter_, or priest, is often recorded. Archbishop Egbert's _Excerptiones_ ordained that "to every church shall be allotted one complete holding (mansa), and that this shall be free from all but ecclesiastical services." According to the Saxon laws every tenth strip of land was set aside for the Church, and _Domesday_ shows that in many villages there was a priest with his portion of land set apart for his support.