LVIII.

THE MANORS OF OSGOLDCROSS, IN DOMESDAY.

In the last part of the "Journal" Mr. Holmes has usefully discussed the Domesday account of the Manors in the Wapentake of Osgoldcross. In the hope that this essay may be followed by similar papers dealing with other Yorkshire Wapentakes, it may be well to take the opportunity of directing attention to certain matters which invite further research.

Mr. Holmes begins his paper with an interesting description of the steps by which he was gradually led to the conclusion, now accepted by all Domesday students, that there is no ascertainable relation between the number of geldable carucates in a manor, as recorded in Domesday, and the acreage of the manor according to modern surveys. In his attempt to solve the difficulty he has arrived at the conclusion that only the profitable portions of the manor were recorded for the purpose of taxation; namely, the terra, or arable land, the pratum, or meadow, which was permanently inclosed and mown for hay, and the silva pastura, or woodland pasture, valuable for feeding swine; while the greater part of the manor, consisting of the unprofitable outlying wastes, are left unrecorded, since they paid no geld.

Thus far Domesday scholars will agree with the results at which Mr. Holmes seems to have independently arrived. But in making his calculations he has fallen into some minor misconceptions, which may easily be corrected. He has, for instance, neglected to take into account the land in fallow, ad warectandum, which, yielding no profit, was not gelded, and was therefore not entered on the inquest. The extent of this fallow depended upon whether the manor in question was cultivated on the three-field or on the two-field system. On the three-field system, with a three-year rotation of crops, such as prevailed in the manors of Adlingfleet, Beal, Roall, Kellington, or Whitley, one-third of the arable was every year in fallow, and therefore not gelded or entered in Domesday, while on the two-field system, with a two-year rotation, which prevailed in Burghwallis, Kirk Smeaton, Hampole,

Knottingley, or Womersley, one-half of the arable was in fallow, and therefore escaped geldation.

This system of cultivation in two or three open fields has been thoroughly explained and established by Mr. Seebohm, in his epoch-making book on the "Village Community in England," as well as by Prof. Nasse, in his work on the "Agricultural Community of the Middle Ages," by Thorold Rogers ("Agriculture and Prices"), and also by Mr. Round and myself, in the first volume of "Domesday Studies."

A clear understanding of this important subject may be said to be the key to the comprehension of Domesday. It also explains another matter which has troubled Mr. Holmes. He says, very justly, that he finds it difficult to accept the statement of some authorities that the Domesday carucate was invariably 120 acres. Of course it was not so, since the number of acres in the carucate necessarily depended on the method of culture and the mode of reckoning. According to our oldest authorities on early English agriculture, Fleta and Walter of Henley, whose statements have been fully borne out by recent investigations, we learn that in a threefield manor the carucate consisted of 60 acres in each field, or 120 acres in the two fields that paid geld, or 180 acres if the fallowed portion of the carucate were included in the reckoning, whereas in a two-field manor the carucate was 80 acres in each field-80 in the gelded field and 80 in the field in fallow, or 160 acres if reckoned in both fields.

A more serious error into which Mr. Holmes has fallen is the identification of the waste untilled outlying moorlands with these fields, which, though unenclosed, were the only parts of the manor under tillage. He says that these "fields" could not by any possibility have been taken into calculation at the time of the Survey, whereas as a matter of fact the whole of the gelded arable, which is the chief thing recorded in Domesday, lay in one or other of the two or three "fields" of each manor. In fact, the terra, or arable land of Domesday, as distinguished from the pratum and pastura, is the same thing as the "fields" of succeeding centuries. If Mr. Holmes will refer to Du Cange, s. v. Campus, he will read campus planities terræ dicitur, cui cultura adhibetur, et quæ excolitur ab agricolis. The campus or field is thus expressly defined not as waste or moor,

but as the arable land in tillage. How these fields lay in reference to the village, not far off, like the moor, but close at hand, he will see by reference to the Map of the fields in Burton Agnes, given on p. 55 of "Domesday Studies," and explained on pp. 164, 180.

ISAAC TAYLOR, Litt.D., LL.D.

In Patrictone (Patrington), with four berewicks, Wistede (Winstead), Halsam (Halsham), Torp (Welwick Thorpe) [and] Toruelestorp (Tharlesthorpe. Lost), there are thirty-five carucates and a half and two bovates and two parts of one bovate for geld. There is land to thirty-five ploughs. This manor was, and is, the Archbishop of York's.

Now, two ploughs are there in the demesne, and eight villanes and sixty-three bordars having thirteen ploughs. Six sokemen with two villanes and twenty bordars have there five ploughs and a half. Thirtytwo acres of meadow there.

Of the land of this manor, two knights have six carucates, and two clerks two carucates and three bovates and the third part of one bovate. They have there four sokemen and five villanes and three bordars with five ploughs. T. R. E., it was worth thirty pounds; now, ten pounds and five shillings. Arable land three leugæ in length and one leuga and a half in breadth.

37

In Suuine (Swine), with four berewicks, there are ten carucates and two bovates of land for geld. Land to eight ploughs. This manor was, and is, the Archbishop of York's. Now, he has there in the demesne one plough, and eight villanes and six bordars having three ploughs and a half. A priest [is] there with half a plough. Thirty acres of meadow there. Three leugæ in length and one in breadth. T. R. E., it was worth one hundred shillings; now, forty shillings.

In Brunebi (Burnby), four carucates for geld. Land to four ploughs. This manor was, and is, the Archbishop of York's. Now, Goisfrid, the Archbishop's homager, has in the demesne two ploughs, and fourteen villanes and four bordars with six ploughs, and one mill of six shillings [annual value]. T. R. E., it was worth (blank).

38

In Coletun (Colton, par. Hovingham), the King's vill, the Arch

33 Orig., fo. 302a, col. 2.-Facsimile Edit., page ixb. There is no number prefixed to this heading.

34 Thomas of Bayeux, Archbishop from 1070 until his death in 1100. (Sec Fasti Ebor., i., 146, and the Yorks. Arch. and Top. Journal, iv., 116.)

35 Tharlesthorpe was swept away by the Humber in 1393. "Its site may be placed to the west of Patrington haven, on the Ottringham side of Winestead

VOL. XIII.

clough" (Poulson's Holderness, ii., 528). 36 This land was distributed thus:Patrington, 15 car., 2 bov.; Winestead, 7 car.; Halsham, 7 car., 2 bov. and 2 parts of 1 bov.; Thorpe, 3 car. ; Tharlesthorpe, 2 car., 6 bov.

37 The berewicks were Skirlaugh, 9 bov., Marfleet, 1 bov., Sproatley, 1 bov., and Danthorpe, 1 car. See the Recapitulation. 39 See page 339, antea.

K K

The Archbishop of York.

bishop has half a carucate of land, of which the soke belongs to Almeslai (Helmsley 39), a manor of the King's.

II. LAND 40 OF THE ARCHBISHOP OF YORK.

In Scireburne (Sherburn, W.R.), with its berewicks," there are, for the King's geld, four score and sixteen carucates of land, in which sixty ploughs may be. This manor was, and is, in the demesne of the Archbishop of York. In it, he has now seven ploughs in the demesne, and thirty villanes and eight bordars with ten ploughs and a half, and six sokemen and fifteen bordars having six ploughs and a half. Two churches are there, and two priests with one bordar having one plough. One mill rendering ten shillings. In the whole manor, three hundred and fifty acres of meadow. Wood, pasturable, eight leugæ in length and three leugæ in breadth, and underwood, four leugæ in length and one in breadth. Plain, [or champaign], land five leugæ in length and two [leuge] and one quarenteen in breadth.

42

Of this land, the Archbishop's knights have fifty-two carucates, where they have in the demesne sixteen ploughs and sixty villanes and seventyfive bordars having thirty-four ploughs. Of the same land, one thane has five carucates and one bovate, where he has two sokemen and six villanes and eighteen bordars having seven ploughs. Of the same land, two clerks have six carucates, where they have in the demesne two ploughs and a half, and five villanes and five bordars having four ploughs. Of the same land, the Abbat of Salebi 3 (Selby) has seven

carucates.

This manor, T. R. E., was worth thirty-four pounds and six shillings; now, the same, and it is in Barchestone Wap' (Barkston-Ash wapentake).

44

The Archbishop has near the city fifteen carucates for geld, which fifteen ploughs may till. He has there in the demesne two ploughs and sixty acres of meadow. This land has one leuga in length and one in breadth. That, and this, [is] all that he has in the city. T. R. E., it was worth eight pounds; now, ten pounds.

Arch

In Elgendon (Elloughton) and in Walbi (Wauldby) there are seventeen carucates of land for geld, where nine ploughs may be. bishop Eldred held these for one manor. Now, Archbishop Thomas has [them], and Goduin of him. He has there one plough, and thirty-six villanes and three bordars having eleven ploughs. Of the same land, one knight has two carucates and one plough there. A priest is there,

39 See page 339, antea.

40 Orig., fo. 302b, col. 1.-Facsimile Edit., page x.

41 The names of the berewicks are not given in the Recapitulation. Perhaps they were Burne, Burton Salmon, Gateford, Lennerton, Lotherton, Lumby, South Milford and Steeton, which formed part of the Archbishop's barony of Sherburn in 1285.

42 One of these churches was at Sher

burn: the other may have been at Church Fenton, which was within the Archbishop's barony.

43 The Abbat of Selby is not mentioned elsewhere in the Survey. Part of what he held was probably at Lumby.

44 The district now known as " Bishop Fields," on the west side of the city, and adjoining the river Ouse, would doubtless be included in these 15 carucates.