In Tudenham Geroldus i. lib' In Tudenham i. li. homo Ælfric' hominem ... comend' Saxæ de commend' S. Ædel' xii. ac' et iii. abbate T.R.E. xii. ac' pro man', b. et i. c. et iii. ac' prati et iii. bord' Semp' i. car. ii. ac' val. viginti iii. s. prati ... val. iii. sol.; et in eadem ii. liberi homines comend' In eadem i. l. ho' hedric'[236] i. sancte Æ. et alter comend' commend' S. Ædel' viii. ac' et val' heroldi x. ac', et dim. car. et xx. den. Hoc tenet R. de Raimes val. ii. sol. Hoc tenet Geroldus (p. 151). de R. [de Raimes] (ii. 423_b_). One knows not, truly, which blunder is the worst, that of the Domesday scribe, who has converted a probable 'S. æ',[237] i.e. Ely Abbey, into 'Saxæ', or that of the compiler of the I.E., who, by interpolating the word 'viginti', has converted three shillings into three-and-twenty. But the point is that the latter could name the Abbot's sokeman (nameless in Domesday) and could supply his acreage and the value of his holding. The actual details seem to have been: Acres Pence Abbot's sokeman 8 20 Harold's sokeman 2 4 --------------- 10 24 Domesday records the totals only. Enough has now been said of the twelfth century transcripts in which alone are preserved to us the contents of the _Inquisitio_. We have seen that they point to the existence of some common original, which, while closely parallel with Domesday, as a record of the Abbey's possessions, contained certain special features and additional information. Why, when, and from what sources that original was compiled, I shall now endeavour to explain. XVIII. THE ELY RETURN The theory I propound for the origin of the so-called _Inquisitio Eliensis_ is that it was the actual return ordered by that writ of the Conqueror,[238] of which a copy is given in all three MSS. (A, B, C) and which is printed in Mr Hamilton's book, on p. xxi (No. VIII). I give the wording of the writ, followed by the heading to the _Inquisitio_ with which it should be closely compared. Willelmus Rex Anglorum Lanfranco archiepiscopo salutem.... Inquire per episcopum Constantiensem et per episcopum Walchelinum et per ceteros qui terras sanctæ Ædeldrede scribi et jurari fecerunt, quomodo jurate fuerunt et qui eas juraverunt, et qui jurationem audierunt, et qui sunt terre, et quante, et quot, et quomodo vocate [et] qui eas tenent. His distincte notatis et scriptis fac ut cite inde rei veritatem per tuum breve sciam. Et cum eo veniat legatus abbatis. RETURN