Feudal England: Historical Studies on the Eleventh and Twelfth CenturiesRound, John Horace
History
Feudal England: Historical Studies on the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries
Round, John Horace
Domesday book; Feudalism -- Great Britain; Great Britain -- History -- Norman period, 1066-1154; Normans -- Great Britain
The last Domesday name I shall identify is that of the Abbot's
under-tenant 'Eustacius', who held of him at Polebrook, Clapton
(Northants), and Catworth (Hunts). He was, I believe, the same as that
Eustace who held land, as a tenant-in-chief, at Polebrook, Northants,
and with that Eustace the sheriff ('Vice-comes') who held (at
Catworth, Hunts) also _in capite_. Indeed the abbot's tenant
is identified with the latter in the story of the foundation of
Huntingdon Priory (_Mon. Ang._, vi. 78), where, as in our list, we
find that his two knights' fees soon passed to Lovetot.[21]
We may learn from this identification that two different
tenants-in-chief and at least one under-tenant may prove to be all one
man, just as, on the other hand, we found three distinct Rogers among
the Domesday under-tenants of the Abbot. An additional conclusion
is suggested by the name 'Eustachius de Huntendune', given to this
sheriff in the _Inquisitio Eliensis_.[22] For we find Picot, the
Sheriff of Cambridgeshire, similarly styled in Domesday (i. 200),
'Picot de Grentebrige'. 'Ilbert de Hertford', I think, was the Sheriff
of Hertfordshire,[23] and Hamo, a contemporary sheriff of Kent,
attests a charter as 'Hamo de Cantuaria'. Turold, sheriff of
Lincolnshire, is found as Turold 'of Lincoln' (see p. 255), and Hugh,
sheriff of Dorset, as Hugh of 'Wareham', while Walter and Miles 'of
Gloucester', Edward and Walter 'of Salisbury', are also cases in
point. Hugh 'of Leicester' was sheriff of Leicestershire _temp._ Henry
I, while Turchil 'de Warwic' (D.B., i. 240_b_) may possibly have owed
that appellation to the fact that his father Ælfwine was sheriff of
Warwickshire. Enough, in any case, has been said to show that it was
a regular practice for sheriffs to derive, as often did earls, their
styles from the capital town of their shire.
[Footnote 1: Society of Antiquaries' MS. 60.]
[Footnote 2: Ed. Camden Society.]
[Footnote 3: _Norman Conquest_, iv. 219. We know _aliunde_
that 'Picot filius Colsuani' was the son of Colswegen of
Lincoln. It would seem to be of this estate that we read in
the 'Clamores': 'Abbas de Burg clamat iiii. bov. terræ in
Risun terra Colsuani, et Wap' testatur quod T.R.E. jacuerunt
in æcclesia Omnium Sanctorum in Lincolia.']
[Footnote 4: Society of Antiquaries' MS. 60. Printed by
Stapleton _ut supra_.]
[Footnote 5: But possibly the Robert d'Oilli of our list may
be the _first_ Robert (who, as 'Robertus' in Domesday, held
Cranford of the Abbot), while the tenant of that name in 1125
may be the _second_ Robert, entered in the Pipe-Roll of 1130,
and living _temp._ Stephen.]
[Footnote 6: _William Rufus_, i. 571. He makes it 'Evermouth'
in the _Norman Conquest_.]
[Footnote 7: Envermeu lay on the coast some 19 miles to the
east of Dieppe.]
[Footnote 8: 'The legend of Hereward' (_Norman Conquest_, iv.
[1st Ed.], 805).]
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