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
Every English See then in existence is thus accounted for with the
solitary and significant exceptions of Carlisle and Rochester. The
latter See, we know, had enfeoffed knights for their names (_temp._
Henry I, I think, from internal evidence) are recorded in the _Textus
Roffensis_ (p. 223);[63] the former had been created after the date
when, as I shall argue, the Conqueror fixed the knight service due
from the fees.
In the above list the figures in brackets refer to the assessments
previous to 1166. Three changes were made at, or about, that date. The
Bishop of Worcester, in accordance with the protest he had made from
the beginning of the reign, obtained a reduction of his quota from
sixty knights to fifty; while the Archbishop of York's _servitium_
was raised from seven knights to twenty, and that of the Bishop of
Chichester from two knights to four. These changes are known to us
only from the details of the prelate's scutages; there is nothing to
account for them in the relevant _cartae_, and we can only infer from
the formula _quos recognoscit_ that the two bishops whose _servitia_
were increased acquiesced in the justice of the crown's claim.
Proceeding to the 'service' of the religious houses:
HOUSE SERVICE DUE HOUSE SERVICE DUE
knights knights
Peterborough 60 Wilton 5
Glastonbury 40 [60] Ramsey 4
St Edmundsbury 40 Chertsey 3
Abingdon 30 St Bene't of Hulme 3
Hyde 20 Cerne[64] 2 [3]
St Augustine's 15 Pershore 2 [3]
Westminster 15(?) Malmesbury 3
Tavistock 15(?) Winchcombe 2
Coventry 10 Middleton 2
Shaftesbury 7 [10] Sherburne 2
St Alban's 6 Michelney 1
Evesham 5 Abbotsbury 1
The changes of assessment on religious houses were few, and are thus
accounted for. Glastonbury, which paid on sixty knights in the first
two scutages of the reign, paid on forty in the third and in
those which followed. Pershore paid on three in the first scutage,
protesting that it was only liable to two, and from 1168 it was only
rated at two. Shaftesbury, which had paid on ten knights in the first
scutage, was assessed at only seven in the third scutage and those
which followed. Cerne also succeeded in getting its assessment reduced
from three knights to two. With these changes should be compared the
letter of Bishop Nigel of Ely to Ramsey Abbey certifying that it was
only liable to an assessment of four knights. Two cases remain which
require special treatment--Tavistock and Westminster.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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