Domesday book and its compilation. William and the Church. Royal forests and forest law

1. William‟s Realm
• Church
• Forest
• Field
• Domesday Book

2. William and the Church

3. Papal Support for the Conquest?
• Harold broke a sacred oath
• Expectation that William
– Would grant England as a fief to the Pope X
– Would pay Peter‟s Pence to the Pope ✔
– Would replace Stigand ✔

4. William and the Popes
Alexander II ((1061-1073)
Gregory VII (1073-1086) (formerly
Archdeacon Hildebrand)
• Attendance at Rome
• Authority of Rouen
• Fealty – St. Peter‟s Pence

5. William and the Popes
1070 Penitence laid on those who had fought
1070 Papal legates recognize William:
Stigand replaced by Lanfranc
1072 Accord at Winchester establishes
primacy of Canterbury
1080 William refuses aid in Pope‟s dispute w.
Henry IV of Germany

6. Accord of Winchester

7. Changes in the English Church
• Replacement of English prelates with
Norman
• Replacement and rebuilding of churches
• Norman church organization.

8. Lanfranc

9. Church Design
Norman ≡ Romanesque
• Liturgical Base
• Scale – Bulk
• Rounded arches, barrel vaults,
• Geometric ornament – zig-zag patterns

10. Norman south doorway
St Michael and All Angels Church,
Guiting Power,
Gloucestershire,

11. Rebuilding the Church
Canterbury

12. Canterbury

13. Abbey of Saint-Etienne
(Abbaye aux Hommes), Caen

14. Canterbury crypt

15. The King‟s
Own

16. Other Churches

17. England
Forest and Field
1086

19. Royal Forests
• Afforestation
• 1079 New Forest
• 2006 New Forest
National Park

20. Royal Forests
Foris – [L] outdoors or
outside
• Outside the Common Law
Preserve
• Hunting
• Revenue source from
„vert‟ and „venison‟
• Revenue source from fines

21. Forest
Law
Fallow Deer Red Deer
Roe Deer
Wild Boar

22. Definition
What is the Forest of the King, and what the reason of this
name?
M. The forest of the king is the safe dwelling-place of wild
beasts; not of every kind, but of the kinds that live in woods
D. Is there a forest of the king in each county?
M. No; but only in the wooded ones, where the wild beasts can
have their lairs and ripe nourishment: nor does it matter to whom
the woods belong, whether to the king, or to the nobles of the
kingdom, the wild beasts can none the less run around
everywhere free and unharmed.
Dialogue of the Exchequer, 1179
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/medieval/excheq.asp

23. Evolution of Forest Law
• Cnut- “…everyone is to avoid trespassing
on my hunting, whenever I wish to have it
preserved, on pain of full fine.”
• William – “He made many deer-parks; and
he established laws therewith; so that
whosoever slew a hart, or a hind, should be
deprived of his eyesight.”

24. Other Aspects of Forest Law
• Limitation on
– gathering acorns by humans or swine
– enclosures
– cutting trees for timber, firewood or for
agricultural land
– rights of warren - hunting small game
• Independent of land possession

25. Enforcement
• Forest wardens
• Agisters (use of pastures)
– road kill
– commoning - fees
– supervise roundups
• Verderer‟s court
– policy and regulations

26. Domesday

27. Predecessors
• Fyrd rolls.
• Geld rolls.
• Writs.

28. Geographical Structures
• County -shire
• Fief – land owned by one tenant-in-chief
• Hundred – local administrative unit
• Vill –smallest administrative unit
• Manor (demesne)– house and attached land

29. Exon
Domesday
Book

30. Questions and Answers
What is the manor called? Who held it in the time of
King Edward? Who holds it now? How many hides?
WDEHAM [Woodham (Walter)], which was held
by Leveva as a manor and as 7 hides, is held of
R[alf] by Pointel.
How many ploughs on the demesne?
Then as now 3 ploughs on the demesne. Then 4
ploughs belonging to the men ; now 1

31. Questions and Answers
How many men? How many villeins? How many
cottars? How many slaves? How many freemen? How
many socmen?
Then 12 villeins ; now 6. Then as now (semper) 4
bordars. Then 6 serfs ; now 4.
How much wood? How much meadow? How much
pasture? How many mills? How many fish ponds? How
much has been added or taken away?
(There are) 24 acres of meadow, (with) wood(land)
for 500 swine. Then 1 mill ; now 2.

32. Questions and Answers
How much, taken together, was it worth and how much
now? How much each freeman or socman had or has?
Then 2 beasts (animalia) and 7 swine, (and) 37
sheep ; now 8 beasts, 21 swine, 6 asses, 130 sheep,
(and) 13 hives of bees. It was then worth 8 pounds ;
and when received, 40 shillings (₤2); it is now worth
7 pounds.
All this at three dates, to wit, in the time of King
Edward and when King William gave it and as it is now.
And if it is possible for more to be had than is had.

33. Video

34. Domesday Land Use
Arable 35%
Pasture / Meadow 25%
Woodland 15%
Other 25%

35. Land Ownership – Domesday
Highest level
% of land owned
King and family 17%
Bishops and abbots 26%
Tenants-in-chief 54%

36. T e na nts
O th e r
Hierarchy - Fle m is h
Subtenants B re to n
E n g lis h
N o rm a n

37. O th e r
Classes S la v e s
10%
5%
Class Land
V ille in s
(acres) F re e P e a sa n ts
40%
15%
Villein 30
Bordar 5
Cottar <1
C o tta rs a n d
B o rd a rs
30%

38. Significance of the Domesday Book
• Public accountability is the hallmark of modern
democratic governance
• All property holders to render a count of what
they possessed.
• Census … a foundation of the royal governance
• In the early twelfth century this evolved into a
highly centralized administrative kingship that
was ruled through centralized auditing and semi-
annual account-giving.
Mark Bovens Utrecht School of Governance

39. Significance (2)
This accounting was instrumental in
carrying forward the idea that there is a link
between population and resources.
Thomas Dietz, Sociology and Anthropology, George Mason University;
Eugene A. Rosa, Sociology, Washington State University “Rethinking
the Environmental Impacts of Population, Affluence and Technology”
Human Ecology Review, Summer/Autumn, 1, 1994

40. Errors and omissions
• Clerical
• Rounding
• Estimation in terms of subjective measures
• Omit towns

41. Domesday book after 1086
• Copies made – Abbreviato
• Kept under lock and key (3 locks) until
1600
The book is very ancient and hard to be read,
and who so findeth anything must pay for the
copy of every line 4d. . . (A reader in 1589)

42. „Second‟ Domesday book?
• The hundred rolls of 1279-80
• Owners of Land 1872–3
• Valuation Office Survey 1909–15
• The National Farm Survey, 1941-1943