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 comparison of these two lists suggests some interesting
conclusions. Roger de Laci, forfeited early in the reign for treason,
had been succeeded by his brother Hugh. 'Punher' supplies us with the
transitional form from the 'Ponther' of Domesday to the 'Puher' of
the reign of Henry I. The identity of the names is thus established.
Walter fitz Roger has already assumed his family surname as Walter
de Gloucester, and his uncle Durand has now been succeeded by a son
Roger, whose existence was unknown to genealogists. The pedigree of
the family in the Norman period has been well traced by Mr A. S. Ellis
in his paper on the Gloucestershire Domesday tenants, but he was of
opinion that Walter de Gloucester was the immediate successor in the
shrievalty of his uncle, Durand, who died without issue. This list, on
the contrary, suggests that the immediate successor of Durand was his
son Roger, and that if, like his father, he held the shrievalty, this
might account for the interlineation remitting, in his case, the sum
due. In this Roger we, surely, have that 'Roger de Gloucester' who was
slain in Normandy in 1106, and whom, without the evidence afforded by
this list, it was not possible to identify.[282]
The chief difficulty that this list presents is its omission of the
principal tenant of the see, Urse d'Abetot. One can only assign it to
the fact of his official position as sheriff enabling him to secure
exemption for himself, and perhaps even for his brother, Robert
'Dispensator'. Their exemption, however accounted for, involved an
arbitrary assessment of all the remaining tenants, irrespective of the
character or of the extent of their tenure. With these remarks I must
leave a document, which is free from anachronism or inconsistency, and
as trustworthy, I think, as it is useful.
It is my hope that this paper may increase the interest in the
forthcoming edition of the _Liber Rubeus_ under the care of Mr Hubert
Hall, and that it may lead to a reconsideration of the problems
presented by the feudal system as it meets us in England. Nor can
I close without reminding the reader that if my researches have
compelled me to differ from an authority so supreme as Dr Stubbs, this
in no way impugns the soundness of his judgment on the _data_ hitherto
known. The original sources have remained so strangely neglected,
that it was not in the power of any writer covering so wide a field
to master the facts and figures which I have now endeavoured to set
forth, and on which alone it is possible to form a conclusion beyond
dispute.
[Footnote 1: Reprinted, with additions, from the _English
Historical Review_.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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